The second edition of the GI goes business award is over. We would like to thank everyone who applied for the award and wish them every success in their future work. It was a pleasure to accompany our amazing winners for a short while on their way and to support the development of their exciting business models with our coaching.
All the best and see you soon!
The GI goes business team
Review Awarding Ceremony and Networking Session
On 4 May 2023, the GI goes business community met for the Awarding Ceremony of the Green Infrastructure goes business award at the Munich Urban Colab. A total of 8 winning teams (see below) presented their business models and projects and received loud applause. They were presented with a certificate and an apple tree seedling by Robert Winkler (Bavarian State Ministry of the Environment and Consumer Protection StMUV) and Ulrich Santa (Agency for Energy South Tyrol - CasaClima). The seedlings were grown by the StMUV itself and represent a symbol for the topic of green infrastructure and the growing community.
In addition to this year's winners, two 2022 award winners were also present (Stadtpflanzen and Transition Woods). Many members of the EUSALP Action Group 7 'Green Infrastructure' were on site, who initiated the Award and provide individual jury members. The team from Macra, a village in western Piedmont, had the longest journey of almost 12 hours. The 60 participants from all the Alpine countries created a great international spirit and an atmosphere of optimism.
It was emphasised how urgent the issue of climate change and the loss of biodiversity are and therefore the development, implementation and scaling of good ideas and business models should be accelerated. Entrepreneurial solutions help to build sustainable bridges between the economy and natural resources. The GI goes business award has established itself as a format for this. The exchange between the winners and participants from EUSALP and other organisations was very fruitful and the Alpine-wide networking was advanced. The goal of building and expanding a community on Green Infrastructure and business met with great interest. The exchange of good entrepreneurial solutions makes us want to do more.
Photos © StMUV
Winners 2023
Almost 40 start-ups, established enterprises and creative minds from Austria, France, Germany, Italy, Slovenia and Switzerland submitted their products, services and ideas to the second Green Infrastructure goes business award.
We want to thank you all for working towards a Green Economy in the Alpine macro-region! There were many good ideas and a broad variety of submitted issues and business approaches in order to create a positive impact on GI and the climate.
The international jury has selected six winning teams and two projects with special recognition. CONGRATULATIONS TO ALL!
Winners
Grün statt Grau - Begleitung zum naturnah gestalteten Betriebsgelände (Austria)
Helix Pflanzensysteme (Germany)
MACRA DEVELOPMENT 2030 Project (Italy)
Un cercle immense / the great circle (France)
VAIA (Italy)
Valorization of wetlands “wastes” for fertilizing soils and improving carbon sequestration (Switzerland)
Special Recognition
The FunDAMental Change (Slovenia)
More information about the winners is available in the hall of fame.
What is the GI goes business award?
The Green Infrastructure goes business award supports innovative ideas, products and services for a Green Economy and promotes sustainable development in the area of the EU Strategy for the Alpine Region (EUSALP). The second edition of the international competition starts on 24 November 2022 and calls particularly for solutions with benefits for climate change mitigation and adaptation.
EUSALP is the European strategy for sustainable and innovative development of the Alpine Region. EUSALP links cities, plains, valleys and mountains to find solutions to challenges we can solve only together - in 48 regions of 7 countries: Austria, France, Germany, Italy, Liechtenstein, Slovenia and Switzerland.
The GI goes business award was initiated by the EUSALP Action Group “Green Infrastructure”. The pilot edition ran from autumn 2021 to spring 2022. The second edition is financed by the Autonomous Province of Bolzano and the Bavarian State Ministry of the Environment and Consumer Protection.
What are we looking for?
The GI goes business award is looking for innovative ideas and sustainable products, services and business models with positive impacts on Green Infrastructure in the Alpine macro-region. The award 2023 calls particularly for solutions with benefits for climate change mitigation and adaptation.
The competition is basically open to everyone. You are a start-up, a scale-up or a long-established company? Your products and services are still under development or already on the market? Or do you only have a good business idea, which is not yet concretely developed? It doesn’t matter: You can participate in any case!
Businesses can make use of Green Infrastructure to find solutions to reduce greenhouse gas emissions or to adapt to climate change effects like rising temperatures, droughts, and natural hazards. For example, by
fostering ecological restoration and climate protection in forests, peatlands, and river floodplains,
developing natural cooling systems with trees and plants,
nature-based tourism and products or
by providing new services for awareness raising and proactive climate resilience planning.
Who can participate?
The competition is open for everyone interested in and engaged for Green Economy in the Alpine Macroregion:
Start-ups
Established enterprises
Institutions
Associations
Private persons or teams
There is only one precondition: You have to be located in the EUSALP perimeter. Please check your region.
6 winners will be selected by an international jury, comprising representatives of the Alpine countries.
What is the prize?
The winners receive tailor-made business coaching for the further development of their ideas, products, services and business models. The coaching phase runs from February to May 2023. Included (workshop and coaching dates will be coordinated with the winners in February 2023):
3 Workshops for all winners (online, à 3 hours)
3 Individual coaching sessions for each winner (online, à 1 hour)
International networking and matchmaking with other businesses, experts, potential sponsors etc.
Our experienced innovation coaches provide the winners with the support they need. Depending on their specific situation, the support can be very different, for example creating a sustainable business model, testing a minimum viable product, launching or advertising new products and services. Our coaches apply methods from Design Thinking, Lean Startup, and Agile Development.
The winners get the opportunity to present their products, services and ideas to an international audience at a public event in Bavaria in May 2023 (concrete date tbd). Furthermore, we will present the winners on our website.
Schedule
Launch Event
24 November 2022
EUSALP annual forum
Trento, Italy
Submission of applications open
24 November 2022
Submission deadline
31 January 2023
Publication of winners
17 February 2023
Coaching phase
February - May 2023
3 workshops
3 individual coaching sessions
Networking and matchmaking
Awarding Ceremony
4 May 2023,
Munich Urban Colab,
Germany
What is Green Infrastructure?
To put it simply: Green Infrastructure is a network of natural spaces with high ecologic quality, delivering services to society and economy.
Here is the more detailed EU definition:
Green infrastructure is a strategically planned network of natural and semi-natural areas with other environmental features designed and managed to deliver a wide range of ecosystem services such as water purification, air quality, space for recreation and climate mitigation and adaptation. This network of green (land) and blue (water) spaces can improve environmental conditions and therefore citizens' health and quality of life. It also supports a green economy, creates job opportunities and enhances biodiversity.
Please feel free to use the graphic. If you do so, make sure to address copyright issues by using the following sentence:
"All rights reserved – Contracting entity and owner of the graphic is the Bavarian State Ministry for the Environment and Consumer Protection."
Good practice examples
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RUMA (Italy)
RUMA calculates the ecological footprint of architectural and infrastructural projects, events, and systems promoting local emission offsetting projects and strategies.
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Green Sheep (France)
Sheep rental in urban and peri-urban areas for the maintenance of green spaces. Services: Fencing, shelter and monitoring with a local shepherd.
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Distillerie de l'Echelette (Switzerland)
Start-up offering juices and liquor from wild fruit hedges in the Nature Park Chasseral. Awarded in the Swiss “Innovations-Werkstatt Schweizer Pärke” 2021.
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Transition Woods (Germany)
Nature conservation/non-profit organisation which intends to restore the natural plant diversity of forests. They also offer the harvesting of timber in a none invasive sustainable method.
Launch Event
EUSALP Annual Forum, 24.11.2022, Trento IT
The official launch of the GI goes business award 2023 took place in the frame of the EUSALP Annual Forum. More than 50 persons joined the launch at the Teatro Sociale. After thematic inputs and speeches from policy-makers Mario Tonina and Giuliano Vettorato, we held a networking session and discussed the link between business and Green Infrastructure.
Please find a review of the event plus statements from Ulrich Santa (CasaClima) and Sara Favargiotti (RUMA) in the video.