Can we grow rather than manufacture materials? Why does a labor union chief care about green and regenerative manufacturing? How are 3D printing and the circular economy revolutionizing our currently industrial economy? These questions and other provocative topics are on the table at the second annual Living Product Expo, hosted by the International Living Future Institute September 13-15, 2016, in the heart of America’s steel belt, Pittsburgh. For more information, or to register, visit the website.
“In our second year, we’re ready to explore the outer edges of product manufacturing with a goal to both inspire and enable corporations to create products that function as elegantly as anything found in the natural world,” said James Connelly, Director of the Living Product Challenge for the Institute. “The pioneering companies at the Expo are writing a new chapter in industrial design and challenging the status quo when it comes to how products are designed, sourced and manufactured. We’ll award the first full Living Product certifications at the conference, recognizing both redesigned, regenerative products as well as new, bio-based products that perform on par with their petroleum-based, toxic counterparts.”
The Living Product Expo will feature keynote speakers including:
Living Future Institute Founder Jason McLennan and Leo Gerard, International President of United Steelworkers, who will be in conversation with Khari Mosely, Pennsylvania Regional Programs Manager for the Blue Green Alliance. The three will reflect on how Jason and Leo’s shared experience of growing up in Sudbury, an area in Canada ravaged by industry, shaped both their world views and their shared commitment to challenging the old paradigms while at the same time trying to preserve and rejuvenate American ingenuity.
Other topics and speakers will bring new thinking and innovation into focus, including:
- Better Future Factory, a sustainable innovation and engineering studio that uses 3D printing and social entrepreneurship to turn waste streams into innovative solutions.
- The “body burden” of toxicity that is generated by healthcare systems – and how Healthcare without Harm is rethinking hospitals and their unintentional negative impacts.
- A social venture created by Ugandan refugee Chris Ategeka that is helping rural communities get better access to healthcare through mobile facilities.
- A new framework for business that favors collaboration over competition and empowerment over entitlement.
- A conversation about our ability to mimic nature’s design principles to rethink our traditional take-make-waste linear manufacturing, and move towards a circular economy.
- How grown and bio-based materials perform in the built environment.
About the Living Product Challenge
The Living Product Challenge re-imagines the design and construction of products to function as elegantly and efficiently as anything found in the natural world. The creation of this program kicked off a groundbreaking new event that brought together leading minds in the product industry to inspire a revolution in the way materials are designed, manufactured and delivered: the Living Product Expo.At the first event in 2015 sustainability directors from the world’s leading design firms, prominent manufacturers and sustainability consultants learned about and shared game-changing innovations in product design.
This second annual event moves from inspiration to action. The Expo is an opportunity for participants to share and discover disruptive new ideas and technologies that are reshaping the materials landscape, accelerating the pace of innovation and making Living Products possible today. Join us, and together we will craft the future of materials.
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