Our personal data form an incredibly important resource for many technology companies, leading some to regard the massive amounts of data we generate as the 21st century version of oil. Although potentially unlimited from a supply perspective, is our personal data a sustainable resource for the companies that rely on it?

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The phone booth has lagged far behind its mobile cousin, fast becoming a vandalism prone relic of a bygone time. The Smart Booth aims to change that, offering wifi, touch screen enabled local information, pollution monitoring, security surveillance useful to area police, and more.

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MIT issued its third annual Sustainability and Innovation Global Executive Study, which reveals a strong causation and correlation between sustainability and profits.

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Nike has just released its most recent sustainability report, an interactive site that allows visitors to create their own green athletic wear.

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Abbott’s focus on its corporate responsibility agenda lies in four major areas: innovation, access to medical care, supporting consumers and environmental protection.

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Unilever released on Tuesday its first year’s progress report on the progress it made against its Sustainable Living Plan targets. The results so far are mixed – the report shows significant progress in many of the targets as well as real difficulties to move the needle in others. Yet, taking into account the high bar Unilever set up in this plan, with goals like doubling its sales while halving its carbon footprint by 2020, my impression is that the Sustainable Living Plan is so far a success story.

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This is the official entry of Akhila Vijayaraghavan for the Rio Blogger Prize. The winner of the prize gets to go to Rio to cover the climate talks in June. If you like what you read, please support her and like, share, comment and tweet the original on TckTckTck’s website.  One of the biggest deterrents [...]

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What do successful social entrepreneurships have in common? A key element is design. One of the best design concepts is IDEO’s “human centered design” (HCD), a set of design approaches and tools that put the end-users’ needs in the center of design solutions, and ensure that their experiences drive innovation. Now IDEO.org, the social arm of IDEO, is launching a new platform, HCD Connect that brings together people and projects across diverse geography and sectors.

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Kraft Foods recently announced they have cut 45 million pounds of weight from the packaging of their products since 2010. According to their report entitled Creating a More Delicious World, in the last year the company also increased its amount of sustainable agricultural commodities by 36 percent. These have third party verification or certifications. They have [...]

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As part of its efforts to become the greenest brewer in the world, Heineken is taking a broader look at the ways to make beer packaging more sustainable. In what seems to become a common practice lately, Heineken doesn’t leave the challenge only to its R&D people, but invites everyone to give it a try on Ideas Brewery, an open-innovation platform, offering $10,000 to the best idea. Is the company’s American Idol style of crowdsourcing a better way to generate new ideas or just a marketing gimmick?

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NASA and NIKE kicked off “LAUNCH: Beyond Waste Challenge” to find 10 “game changing” innovations that could revamp current waste management systems.

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An outdoor snuggie for the homeless.

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Unilever has a vision of a better future for our world and its business and it needs your help to make it happen. The company unveiled a new Open Innovation website to gather and assess ideas from external resources, inviting “anyone who has a fresh, serious approach to new thinking” to pitch in. What do you get in return? The opportunity to make a difference to millions of people’s lives and a financial reward if Unilever decides to pursue your idea. Some would say it’s a great way to generate the sort of innovation Unilever needs to meet the ambitious goals it set in its Sustainable Living Plan. Others would argue it’s a waste of time and the company should look inside and not outside for solutions. So which one is it? Or in other words, can crowdsourcing really work for Unilever?

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Launch is a one-of-a-kind public-private partnership between NASA, USAID, US State Department, and Nike to use the “power of prizes” to encourage startups to develop an innovative solution that addresses the needs of the developing world. Next up: waste issues.

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For almost half a century GE has been on the front lines of cancer research, combining technology and a culture innovation to fight against cancer.

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In 1905 GE established its financial services business with the launch of a small utility finance company. Now as we face an uncertain 21st century, GE is now a global green business financier.

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Bill Gates is dedicating an increasing amount of time and resources in pursuit of clean energy solutions. His goal is to get the world’s emissions to zero within 75 years.

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By G. Nagesh Rao Social media has transformed the outlook for entrepreneurs and for innovation as a whole. The speed at which knowledge and information is spread around the globe has pulled down barriers and leveled the playing field for would-be entrepreneurs everywhere. At the same time, silos that separate businesses and economies are also [...]

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Second in our GE Technology for Good Series, Leon Kaye explores the company’s long journey from incandescent light bulbs to LED technologies that push the bounds of innovation.

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Last month at the White House’s Science, Technology, and Innovation Summit for Global Development, UnderSecretary of Commerce for Intellectual Property David Kappos launched a novel program created by the USPTO called the Patents for Humanity Challenge.

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This is the first in a series of Technology for Good: A Historical Perspective From GE. We start with the toaster, which for over 100 years has been a driver of GE’s innovation. After Thomas Edison spent several years developing a wire that could heat without melting in the open air, GE’s first electric toaster was released to market in 1905.

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After getting tired of writing and characterizing the baby boomers and generation X, trend spotters and researchers have focused in the last years on the next in line – generation Y, or the Millennials. Who are you people and what you want from life are the questions everyone try to answer. The latest attempt was of 3 scholars whose prognosis was that the Millennials are the MacGyvers of business, on in other words “like MacGyver, the resilient DIY generation believes in doing more with less.”

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Friction creates sparks. And successful innovation often comes from culture clashes. But can this lead to better sustainability programs? See what Hyatt Hotels discovered about culturally customizing CSR.

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As part of the Bard MBA Sustainable Business Series, I am holding a “Conversation with Hunter Lovins” next Monday night (March 5th) in New York City, and I’d love to know what you would ask Hunter if you had the chance to sit down with her.

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Heralding the need for a second industrial revolution for clean, affordable energy, Steven Chu stated “America is the most innovative company in the world. There is a huge market out there so let’s not blow it.”

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According to the latest PwC Annual Global CEO Survey sustainability is still far from being on the radar of most CEOs worldwide. Looking at the key findings we show why it shouldn’t be this way.

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Put your CFL into a big slot in the vending machine, a video camera fitted inside identifies the bulb so it can be sorted, and then you receive a voucher for a free cup of coffee.

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Innovations sometimes fail not because of any inherent fault of their own. And if they do fail once, they’re seldom given a second chance. Which, in many cases, is a terrible waste of a good idea.

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While Harvard’s most well-known innovative (droped-off) student was at the center of media frenzy last week, the university is already thinking on the new Zuckerbergs. Harvard is hoping to nurture the culture of innovation in campus through a new innovation lab (i-lab), aiming to foster team-based and entrepreneurial activities and deepen interactions among Harvard students, faculty and entrepreneurs.

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Leon Kaye explains that Masdar City does not have it all right, nor should it: at a fundamental level, it is an experiment. And that is why this UAE hub is a leader.

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