Sustainability Space Day at the Swedish Pavilion, Shanghai World Expo 2010
At the Sustainability Space Day in Shanghai on Oct 10, innovation and sustainability project Down To Earth gathered top stakeholders from industry, government and academia. The purpose was to discuss how commercialized space technologies can generate a more sustainable world, while creating growth, innovations and new jobs. For both states and corporations, space technology transfer is becoming big business. A calculation made by the European Space Agency, ESA, shows that every Euro invested in space provides a return of 20 Euros in spin-offs in other businesses and parts of society. This and the pressure to develop more sustainable products and services to meet higher market expectations, have raised the interest in space technology transfer amongst both industry, academia and society.
Open innovation concepts launched
Down To Earth is a 10 year initiative founded in Sweden, a country known for its high profile within both space technology, sustainability and innovation. The project has developed a multi-disciplinary open innovation process for commercializing materials, technologies and solutions from space. It aims to generate new innovations and ideas with focus on sustainability, and the first innovation conceps are presented in Shanghai today at the Swedish Pavilion ”Spirit of Innovation”.
- Sustainability Space Day is about showing key stakeholders of society that they can benefit from solutions in space. We meet global topics such as education, household services and city development with innovative ideas inspired by space, says Cecilia Hertz, co-founder of Down To Earth and Managing Director of space design company Umbilical Design.
”The Kitchen of The Future” innovation concept was developed for household appliance world leader Electrolux. The appliance maker draws valuable learnings on how space technology can help develop more sustainable products to meet future consumer needs.
- The overal objective of Electrolux is to serve our consumers with household appliances that make every-day living a little easier. We should develop products that satisfies needs and wishes consumers may not even know they have. To learn from the space industry is a different and exciting perspective and fits well with sustainability already being a vital part in our strategy. We have learned that Down To Earth is an exciting project for us that can translate to future business opportunities, says Christina Lindstedt, General Manager New Business Areas at Electrolux.
NASA technology based success story
Swedish entrepreneur Dag Landvik have vast experience in space technology transfer, after having built up Fagerdala World Foams. The company is an international group specializing in high technology polymer foams and a world wide success story in using space technology after developing the “Tempur” foam based on NASA technology. The ”Tempur” foam was accepted to the NASA Hall of Fame in 1998.
- The space sector is fantastic to understand and use for innovations, and as a source for inspiration. At Fagerdala we managed to find the right application for NASA’s technology in our own state of crisis and the successes have inspired us to continue apply space technology for other business areas. Examples are boat hulls and light weight components for the car industry, where we use material from space, says Dag Landvik, key note speaker.
Mind challenging initiative with high ambition
The project is founded by space design company Umbilical Design and Jönköping International Business School, with the overall objective to stimulate industry to create new exciting jobs for young people based on sustainable technologies.
- Down to Earth is a mind challenging initiative and a chance for industry, academia and society to work around real global challenges and explore new innovative business opportunities. As an educator of tomorrow’s international business developers it is important for us to be part of driving this kind of development, says Professor Niclas Adler, co-founder of Down To Earth and Dean and Managing Director of Jönköping International Business School in Sweden.
For more information please contact
Erik Lindgren
Project Manager
+4670-743 11 33
erik.lindgren@downtoearth.se
Ebba Kierkegaard
Project Coordinator
+4670-679 37 60
ebba.kierkegaard@downtoearth.se
SUSTAINABILITY SPACE DAY 101010
SPEAKERS BIOGRAPHY
Cathy Huang is the founder and president of China Bridge International, a 7-year-old
design research and design strategy consulting company in Shanghai. She is a
respected Thought Leader in the design industry and has judged numerous
renowned design awards and is a frequent guest speaker at international
conferences in America, Europe, Asia as well as at leading colleges and universities
around the world.
Cecilia Hertz is founder and Managing Director of Umbilical Design and one of the
Down To Earth initiators. She is the industry designer from Lund Technical
University, Sweden, who created history when starting the first ever space design
company in Sweden in 2001. She has done her graduation project working for NASA
and is today considered a key Swedish ambassador within space technology.
Professor C.S. Kiang is Founder and Dean of the College of Environmental
Sciences at Peking University, CEO of Sustainable Development Technologies and
Vice Chairman of Global Urban Development. He is a Councilor of the World Future
Council, a member of Advisory Board of the Climate Change Capital, a member of
International Council of Asia Society and a member of the Global Agenda Council fo
Climate Change of the World Economic Forum.
Dag Landvik is the founder of Fagerdala World Foams, an international group
specializing in high technology polymer foams with operations in 26 factories in 11
countries. The group developed the “Tempur” foam based on NASA technology that
became recognized as inducted technology in NASA’s Hall of fame 1998.
Guo Jianping is the Deputy Director General of International Cooperation Dept. Of
China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation (CASC)
Jan Stael von Holstein, in China known as Yuen Shi Dao, is the founder and cochairman
of The Network with a Silver Lining with 15 offices around Europe and the
USA. TM&N and Bamboo communications in Hong Kong, PG Design and Branding
and CBI in Shanghai, make up for a strong presence in China. Having spent more
than thirty-five years in the design business, he is now a world authority in Corporate
and Brand Identity creation and Design Management.
Dr. Jean Marie Cishahayo received his PH.D in Business Administration from
Washington Intʼl University (USA) in 2004, specializing in Private sector
development policies and Sustainable Development. His research topic was
“Globalization and Future trends of China Sustainable Development: A Sustainable
Development Approach”. He is a distinguish lecturer at Beijing University Shanghai
University, Hong Kong Business School and others.
Jimmy Xia is the Manager of Swedish Space Corporation’s Beijing Office,
responsible for representation and public relations with Chinese Government
Bureaus and Space Companies.
Professor Maria Nyström is a professor in Design in Urban Development at
Chalmers University of Technology, Sweden. She has working experience in
developing countries concerning urban areas and living spaces, mainly in
cooperation with University of Houston and NASA.
Professor Niclas Adler is the Dean and Managing Director of Jönköping
International Business School, and one of initiators to Down To Earth. He has cofounded
14 companies as well as co-founded and managed research centers such
as Stockholm School of Entrepreneurship and FENIX Centre for Innovations in
Management. He is an active management consultant and a Director with Truepoint
Partners, Boston.
Nina Ekstrand is the Deputy Commissioner General at the Swedish Committee For
Expo 2010 in Shanghai.
Tony Meurke is a Programme Manager in International Affairs with the Swedish
Agency for Economic and Regional Growth. He holds a bachelor in system
development and have a background in public and private sector as well as an
entrepreneur. Today he focuses on the area of health care and sustainable growth
for Swedish companies.
The Down to Earth team
About Umbilical Design
Umbilical Design is a Swedish company in the area of design for space applications and for technology-transfer from the space sector to other industries. Umbilical Design has worked with NASA, ESA and with projects across many industries. The company was founded 2001 by space designer Cecilia Hertz. See the full story at: www.umbilicaldesign.se
About Jönköping International Business School (JIBS)
JIBS works in partnership with more than 200 universities all around the world, is one of the world leading when it comes to research in entrepreneurship and business renewal and has more than 400 students as exchange students from about 80 different countries as taking part in JIBS education programs every semester. Read more at: www.jibs.se
