Nike’s search for innovative materials heads to Nordic region
A project spearheaded by Nike, NASA, the US Agency for International Development and the US Department of State has cast its net wider in search of sustainable materials with the launch of the REACH initiative in the Nordic region.
Sweden’s IKEA and Demark’s Novozymes, Kvadrat, Arla have teamed up with government institutions to promote the programme, which has tasked companies around the world with creating innovative, sustainable materials.
“The LAUNCH approach has been successful in identifying and supporting powerful innovations,” said Hannah Jones, Nike’s vice-president of sustainable business and Innovation. “By bringing LAUNCH to the Nordic region, which is a hub for sustainability and design, we believe we can unlock new ideas and technologies that will revolutionise sustainable materials and manufacturing systems.”
LAUNCH Nordic was officially launched on March 14 at a summit in Copenhagen where 120 global and Nordic industry stakeholders, materials specialists, designers, researchers, innovators and policy makers met to discuss the project.
"We know first-hand how important collaboration can be in bringing new innovations and technologies to scale,” said Håkan Nordkvist, head of sustainability innovation at Ikea. “Together with our partners from LAUNCH and LAUNCH Nordic, we can participate in the identification and development of transformational innovations that can help solve global sustainability challenges.”
During the summit, the project was opened to individuals and teams, start-ups and established companies with an application deadline of June 1. In August, the strongest innovations will be selected and participants will take part in a programme that provides access to capital, creativity and capacity building.
Image: Nike athlete, Sweden and Paris St Germain striker Zlatan Ibrahimovic
