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Get a free Expo pass or $50 off a Conference pass on us and join us in Booth #637 https://greenbuild24.nvytes.co
Sustainable Minds and IDSA invite you to reimagine the toaster to differentiate and position an existing kitchen appliance manufacturer, or a new company that you imagine, as a leader in high-performance home appliances with environmental performance’ as a key component of the story.
https://grabcad.com/challenges/boast-your-toast-reinvent-the-toaster
Schedule
This challenge ends on May 24th, 2020 (23:59 EST.)
Finalists will be announced on June 1st, 2020
Winners will be announced on June 4th, 2020.
Join Sustainable Minds and other carbon leaders as this first-of-its-kind event will explore how-to plan, design, build, and manufacture a Carbon Positive future.
Sessions, speakers and exhibitors will showcase the most effective building materials, construction methods, design tools, architecture and planning strategies, practices and policies for dramatically and rapidly reducing the embodied and operational carbon emissions that will stem from unprecedented global construction and urbanization over the next four decades.
Register now! https://carbon-positive.org/
Product transparency was first introduced in the 2012 LEED v4 draft with credits for using products where the environmental performance (EPDs) and material health (HPD, Declare, C2C and others) have been disclosed. Product transparency has since gone from early adoption to early mainstream, and now to becoming a specification requirement.
Join us to learn about the evolution of product transparency and why it’s important to specify greener and healthier products for high-performance building projects — and reward MFRs for making them. Visit www.transparencycatalog.com to learn more.
ABOUT NUSBO:
NUSBO is affiliated with the Massachusetts Chapter of USGBC and is the official Northeastern University ASHRAE Student Branch. The mission is to engage and connect members interested in the field of sustainable building and foster multi-disciplinary relationships between students, educators and professionals in the industry. Although founded from students in the Sustainable Building System program, NUSBO is open to students in any department or program and embraces the interdisciplinary nature of the community.
https://web.northeastern.edu/nusbo/
https://web.northeastern.edu/nusbo/speakers_events/sustainable-minds-topic-title-tbd/
Download the event location map
Greenbuild is the premier event for sustainable building. Schedule a meeting or visit us!
Greenbuild is the largest annual event for green building professionals worldwide to learn and source cutting edge solutions to improve resilience, sustainability, and quality of life in our buildings, cities, and communities. This year’s event theme is “A New Living Standard.”
The green building movement embraces all of humanity by making sustainable buildings and environments accessible to everyone, and in doing so, benefits the natural environment all around us. We are helping people understand their role in protecting and preserving the natural environment and leveraging the built environment to:
- Enhance human health and wellbeing
- Ensure resiliency
- Mitigate climate change
- Enhance community and social equity
- Restore and protect our ecosystems
- Enhance building efficiency and performance
- Promote sustainable design
The future of the human race is interlaced with the future of the planet, and the sustainable practices we celebrate and advance at Greenbuild remind us that our success as sustainability advocates, practitioners and professionals is more than a movement, it is a responsibility.
Join Sustainable Minds and other leaders in green at NZ19, the world’s largest net zero building conference and expo. A hub for thought-leaders and industry-shapers in the Energy, Water, Waste, Transit, and Carbon sectors, NZ19 will bring 1,200+ green building pioneers from around the world to Southern California to inspire, educate, and evolve our built environment.
The three-day event will feature exciting keynotes from ILFI CEO Amanda Sturgeon and Architecture 2030 CEO & Founder Ed Mazria, panels and workshops from innovative leaders in sustainability, Los Angeles-area green building tours, premium networking opportunities, and an expo hall featuring 100+ exhibitors.
CEUs will be available for AIA, GBCI, and LFA credential holders.
Visit www.NetZeroConference.com to learn more and register.
Meet us and our strategic customer Knauf Insulation at this multi-region Construction Specifications Institute event that will be attended by hundreds of building industry professionals: architects, specifications writers, designers, facilities construction teams & engineers who specify construction products.
We’ll be showing how we’re bringing together specification and product transparency in the Knauf Project Builder/Configurator & Library AND the Sustainable Minds Transparency Catalog v2.0, now with CSI MasterFormat filtering and every EPD in North America.
Join us for a night of presentations, networking (and pizza!) with some of the leading organizations in the Cambridge cleantech and sustainability innovation ecosystem.
https://www.eventbrite.com/e/2019-cambridge-innovation-party-with-cleantech-open-tickets-56501861589
Calling all cleantech entrepreneurs, students, and industry champions–Join us for a night of presentations and networking with some of the leading organizations in the Cambridge cleantech and sustainability innovation ecosystem. Co-hosted by CIC Cambridge, Cleantech Open Northeast, and Sustainable Minds, this event is a great opportunity to learn more about what these organizations are currently doing and all they have to offer. Leave with a handful of new friends and ways to get involved. Pizza will be provided.
Meet leaders from the following organizations:
Greenbuild is the premier event for sustainable building. Schedule a meeting or visit us in booth #1015!
The theme for Greenbuild 2018 is Human By Nature // The Intersection OF Humanity & the Built Environment. The green building movement embraces all of humanity by making sustainable buildings and environments accessible to everyone, and in doing so, benefits the natural environment all around us. We are helping people understand their role in protecting and preserving the natural environment and leveraging the built environment to:
- Enhance human health and wellbeing
- Ensure resiliency
- Mitigate climate change
- Enhance community and social equity
- Restore and protect our ecosystems
- Enhance building efficiency and performance
- Promote sustainable design
The future of the human race is interlaced with the future of the planet, and the sustainable practices we celebrate and advance at Greenbuild remind us that our success as sustainability advocates, practitioners and professionals is more than a movement, it is a responsibility.
Join SM CEO Terry Swack at the American Center for Life Cycle Assessment’s LCA XVIII presenting two papers were presented in this session: EPDs and PEFs.
- Creating and Comparing to Product Group Benchmarks Learn about this work >
- Integrating ISO 21930:2017 into the 2018 SM Transparency Report™ / EPD Framework Learn about this work >
Whether you are new to life cycle assessment (LCA) or an LCA expert, everything you need to know can be found at LCA XVIII. With practical learning and insights from over 60 speakers and attendees from across industry, academia, government and NGO’s, and the very best in networking: LCA XVIII is simply the best opportunity to learn about the state of the art in LCA.
Knauf Insulation and Sustainable Minds will be together demonstrating the Knauf Project Builder / Configurator & Library in the Sustainable Minds Transparency Catalog. Knauf products meet the rigorous requirements of the Living Building Challenge.
The Living Product Expo is the leading event for healthy products. Join us to connect with 700+ industry leaders who are all part of a movement to bring beautiful + healthy materials into the places we live, work, and play.
Cleantech Open is delighted to announce the addition of new national sponsor Sustainable Minds. The Boston-based cloud software and services company operationalizes environmental performance into mainstream product development and manufacturing in an accessible, empowering, and credible way.
Ron Blank & Associates, GreenCE, and Sustainable Minds will be at the AIA Conference on in Booth 811. We invite you to come visit and learn about our new product transparency go-to market program, a comprehensive end-to-end range of solutions to get your products selected and specified.
AIA Conference on Architecture this year’s theme is: Blueprint for Better Cities
At A’18, some of the most creative architects, designers, and firms will share how they’re creating their own blueprint and making a difference in cities all over the world, from London, Arkansas to London, England.
Knauf Insulation and Sustainable Minds will be together demonstrating the Knauf Project Builder / Configurator & Library in the Sustainable Minds Transparency Catalog. Knauf products meet the rigorous requirements of the Living Building Challenge.
Living Future unConference is the leading event in regenerative design. In May 2018, a global community of changemakers will converge at the Oregon Convention Center in Portland to turn ideas into action!
Avitru and Sustainable Minds® have partnered to bring the Sustainable Minds Transparency Catalog™ to architects, engineers and contractors to find, understand, select and specify products with transparency information to construct higher-performing, greener and healthier buildings. The Catalog also makes it easy for manufacturers’ employees, distributors and partners to find all their products, all in one place.
Knauf Insulation North America is the first fiberglass insulation manufacturer to provide comprehensive environmental and material disclosures all in one place with Sustainable Minds Transparency Reports and Material Health Overviews
Shelbyville, Ind. (November 9, 2017) – Knauf Insulation North America (KINA) is simplifying the process of researching and specifying building products that meet today’s most stringent green building rating systems through an innovative partnership with Sustainable Minds (SM).
Collaboration will simplify finding and specifying building products that contribute to greener and healthier buildings
Boston, Nov. 8, 2017 – Avitru and Sustainable Minds® today announced at the Greenbuild Expo (booths #2019 and #1742) a new partnership that will enable the sharing of environmental product transparency data so architects, engineers, and contractors (AECs) can access in one place the information they need to construct greener and healthier buildings.
Transformative partnership with Sustainable Minds takes center stage at world’s largest expo dedicated to green building
Shelbyville, Ind. (November 7, 2017) – Knauf Insulation North America (KINA) is preparing to set a new standard in product transparency at the 2017 Greenbuild International Conference and Expo, November 8-10 at the Boston Convention and Exhibition Center. KINA (booth #1743) will announce an innovative partnership with Sustainable Minds (SM), launching a new Project Builder / Configurator & Library function within the SM Transparency Catalog.
West Chester, Ohio – ClarkDietrich Building Systems, the construction industry’s largest manufacturer of cold-formed steel framing products, has partnered with Sustainable Minds® for inclusion in its Transparency Catalog. The effort is part of ClarkDietrich’s commitment to make it help AECs meet green building rating system requirements by making it easy to find all its steel framing products with environmental product declarations (EPDs) and Health Product Declarations (HPDs). To date, the company is the only manufacturer of steel construction materials to participate in this valuable initiative.
AIA Conference on Architecture this year will explore this theme ‘Anticipating a better tomorrow’ and what it means to anticipate need, challenge, and change in architecture and design. Come visit Sustainable Minds in the GAF booth #1955.
Learn more GAF’s “Leaders in Materials Transparency” story by visiting sustainableminds.com/showroom/gaf/ and gaf.com/roofing/commercial/green_roof_central
With over 125 years in the industry, GAF has become the largest roofing manufacturer in North America. Products include comprehensive portfolio of steep-slope and commercial roofing systems, supported by an extensive national network of factory-certified contractors. GAF developed Advanced Protection shingle technology, providing superior durability and wind resistance, reducing the use of scarce natural resources; developed single-ply and asphaltic membranes with superior durability and high reflectivity meeting rigorous industry standards, helping commercial property owners and designers reduce energy consumption.
Providing A & D Community with Environmental and Material Disclosures about Tarkett
SOLON, Ohio (March 14, 2017) — Tarkett, a worldwide leader in innovative and sustainable flooring and sports surface solutions, today announced it has partnered with Sustainable Minds (SM) to provide a simple and easy way for architects and designers to find material and environmental product transparency information on more than 850 Tarkett products across all its North American brands — Tandus Centiva, Johnsonite and Desso — and all in one place: the SM Transparency Catalog.
Green building organization for K-12 schools retiring its High Performance Products Database and introducing the SM Transparency Catalog in its place.
The Collaborative for High Performances Schools (CHPS) and Sustainable Minds® (SM) have partnered to promote the use of products with environmental and material health disclosures in K-12 educational facilities. CHPS is a leading national organization working to improve student performance by building the best possible schools, incorporating integrated design, sustainable products, and leadingconstruction practices. Sustainable Minds is the first cloud software solutions provider and program operator to deliver simple, understandable and meaningful product environmental reporting.
Sustainable Minds® has just launched a catalog of products that meet the most rigorous environmental and material health reporting standards in the building industry. The catalog is free to building professionals – architects, engineers, and construction – who would otherwise spend hundreds of hours searching for products that qualify for LEED v4, Green Globes, the Well Building Standard and the Living Building Challenge. For manufacturers who have made the commitment to product transparency, the Transparency Catalog™ provides a way to market their products, and presents their information in a simple, standardized and consistent way. Tune in as we talk with Sustainable Minds® CEO, Terry Swack, about how this new catalog will transform the green, healthy building movement, and how it could affect everyday people in their offices, homes and schools.
Greenbuild is the premier event for sustainable building. Featuring three exhilarating days of uplifting speakers, unmatched networking opportunities, showcases, LEED workshops and tours of green buildings in Los Angeles, Greenbuild offers a place for thousands to gather and renew their commitment to the green movement.
Schedule a meeting or or visit us in booth #2921!
Join LCA Analyst & SM Transparency Report Coordinator Kim Lewis on Thursday, September 27 at 10:30am ET to hear her talk about standardizing and aligning PCR programs. Whether you are new to Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) or an LCA expert, everything you need to know can be found at LCA XVI. With practical learning and insights from over 60 speakers and attendees from across industry, academia, government and NGO’s, and the very best in networking: LCA XVI is simply the best opportunity to learn about the state of the art in LCA.
We’re excited to introduce Doug Mazeffa and Birdie Carpenter as the two latest additions to the Technical Advisory Board (TAB). The TAB maintains Part A and its alignment and harmonization with applicable standards and guidelines.
Doug is an Environmental Project Manager at the Sherwin-Williams Company who contributes LCA knowledge from a manufacturer’s perspective and as an expert in the coatings industry. Birdie is a Life Cycle Engineer at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) who brings her vast knowledge of LCI data use and quality. Doug and Birdie’s understanding of industry and data will improve how we interact with manufacturers and the quality of our database.
Learn more about the Program Operator Consortium and our goal to provide simpler, standardized and more useful environmental product transparency solutions and to reduce complexity in the marketplace.
See why we formed, and learn about our PCR creation process aligned around a common foundation of LCA calculation rules and report requirements .
For the first time, find in one place all the PCRs for North America in the PCR Catalog. Also for the first time, find all the EPDs and Transparency Reports from POC member customers. Let us hear your questions and comments: Contact us >
Representatives from each Consortium member presented the Program Operator Consortium to the industry. We invite you to watch the webinar replay to meet the members and learn what working with the Consortium can do for you.
Watch the webinar >
Join us for this PACNEXT webinar to learn about the fundamentals of using life cycle thinking and tools to help you and your company evaluate, compare and improve product and packaging environmental performance. Edouard Clement and Terry Swack will take you through the basics of LCA tools and how and when to use them to communicate the benefits of change in the supply chain to both internal and external decision makers.They will also share examples of how to integrate these tools into the product development process to make decisions to design, market and purchase/specify greener products and to generate reports that explain what the environmental impacts mean and what the manufacturer is doing to improve. Register >
Speakers:
Edouard Clément - Vice President, Corporate Responsibility Services Groupe AGÉCO
Terry Swack - Founder & CEO, Sustainable Minds
Bios
Facilitated by Alan Blake & Rachel Morier
When
Tuesday, May 17, 2016 2pm - 3pm Eastern
Price:
PAC NEXT Members: Free
Non-Members: $99
For a number of years there has been a need to centralize and track all current North American PCRs. Sustainable Minds and the Program Operator Consortium have launched this project on behalf of the industry. We invite you to browse the catalog and see if there's a PCR that's right for your product transparency reporting requirements. Browse the catalog >
The Program Operator Consortium convened 15 manufacturers and industry representatives from around the worldto hear their needs for enhancing product transparency and stewardship. During the roundtable, the consortiumannounced that its four members have aligned how they develop PCRs and declarations, giving greater flexibility and visibility for manufacturers and decision-makers who are tasked with finding, comparing, and selecting products for projects.
Learn more >
Join Elixir Environmental’s Tara Blank & SM's CEO Terry Swack for a how-to discussion for manufacturers to create value with product transparency while building a greener brand.
The most prominent design firms are requesting product transparency documentation, such as EPDs and HPDs. If your company does not comply, your product will not be specified. Reporting product material health is essential. LEED v4 encourages manufacturers to disclose the material contents and related health hazards of their products. However, manufacturers are having difficulty producing these disclosure reports, and AEC professionals are challenged as to what the information means. Our team will provide you with significant specification strategies in regards to product transparency to help your company succeed in the marketplace.
The most prominent design firms are requesting product transparency documentation, such as EPDs and HPDs. If your company does not comply, your product will not be specified. Reporting product material health is essential.
Wednesday, Feb 24 at 10AM PT/1PM ET
Registration coming soon
Sustainable Minds was featured as a provider of voluntary product stewardship solutions (vs. compliance-based solutions) along with 7 other companies including industry staples PRé Sustainability, Quantis International and thinkstep. Learn more >
Greenbuild is the premier event for sustainable building. Schedule a meeting or visit us in booth #3552!
Featuring three exhilarating days of uplifting speakers, unmatched networking opportunities, showcases, LEED workshops and tours of green buildings, Greenbuild offers a place for thousands to gather and renew their commitment to the green movement.
Join SM CEO Terry Swack and a compelling roster of presenters at this mega-conference and a broad-ranging festival. SUSTAINATOPIA brings together the global ecosystem of social, financial and environmental sustainability & impact like no other singular event. Founded in 2009, SUSTAINATOPIA remains one of the leading events in the world for social, financial and environmental sustainability & impact. Attendees have participated from more than 60 countries.
The Association for the Advancement of Sustainability in Higher Education’s (AASHE) Annual Conference & Expo brings together sustainability professionals, senior leaders, students, faculty, staff, businesses and media to celebrate and inspire campus sustainability innovations. This year’s theme is Transforming Sustainability Education.
Meet us at the ESW Engineering Meetup networking session at AASHE to learn why leading engineering programs across the globe are adopting Sustainable Minds Eco-concept + LCA software to teach life cycle thinking to freshmen and post-graduates alike.
Where and when: Tuesday, 10/27 @ 12:30 PM, Minneapolis Convention Center Room 101A.
Join Sustainable Minds for the introduction of our new SM Transparency Product, the Material Health Overview at the International Living Future Institute’s inaugural groundbreaking event.
The Living Product Expo will bring together leading minds in the product industry and ignite a revolution in the way materials are designed, manufactured and delivered. The Expo seeks to provide attendees with an opportunity to collaborate and learn. The goal is to inspire manufacturers to think differently about every part of the product creation process.
Attendees will learn:
- How to reduce the impacts of your supply chain
- Identify new suppliers for your materials sourcing
- Apply practical tools and quantify new metrics to set and manage corporate sustainability goals
- How to measure and communicate the ROI of sustainability initiatives and innovation within your supply chain
- Bridge the gaps between your sustainability teams, operations teams, suppliers and marketers
Building Brand Equity With LCAs And Product Transparency – Kelly Eisenhardt
"Building brand equity is critical to increasing revenue and staying profitable in competitive environments. Many companies are focusing on product transparency and leveraging innovative tools like life cycle assessments (LCA). A fine balance between insight and innovation is beginning to shift corporate practices.
Terry Swack is the Founder and CEO of Sustainable Minds®, the first company to offer a streamlined eco-concept modeling and LCA software solution for product teams to use in early stage product development. Her new quest is to rethink how to scale engagement in environmental product transparency reporting by lowering the barriers to getting started, streamlining and harmonizing the standards process, and creating reports that are valuable for marketers, sales reps, distributors, and customers. "
Recognized as an Exemplary Product for Impactful Innovation in Product Transparency Reporting that Creates Business Value
CAMBRIDGE, MA (PRWEB) April 02, 2015
Sustainable Minds®, a B2B cloud provider of environmental product transparency applications, data and services, today announced that the Sustainable Minds Transparency Report™ Program received a Top Product of the Year Award in the Environmental Leader Product & Project Awards. Judges considered it to be an exemplary product.
The Environmental Leader Product & Project Awards is a program recognizing excellence in products and services that provide companies with energy and environmental benefits, or in projects implemented by companies that improved environmental or energy management and increased the bottom line.
“We had more entries than ever this year, and competition was tough. The winners showed innovation and the ability to help transform the fields of energy and sustainability management,” says Paul Nastu, publisher of Environmental Leader. “Entries that were awarded Top Product or Project of the Year are those that should be carefully considered by companies seeking to improve operations and boost the bottom line.”
One judge said: “Good focus on sustainable design for product stewardship and great alignment with ISO 14025 for environmental declarations. Ease of use, scalability and cloud-based are plusses. Good focus on reliable, actionable intelligence to make decisions as opposed to just box checking.”
Another added, “Life cycle assessment has not been successfully adopted by many companies because of the complexity and resources needed to undertake the LCA. Product category rules and environmental product declarations (EPDs) have also been slow to develop in the US. A software solution like this will be very helpful to utilize the competent expert input. It’s a great idea that could prove very useful for companies who want to produce lots of EPDs and have the LCA expertise.”
The SM Transparency Report Program is a step-change innovation of a global standards process to create the first comprehensive and user-friendly solution for product manufacturers to market and design greener products. It delivers an SM Transparency Report™, an EPD++ that presents both functional and environmental performance/material health information in a branded, three-page, cloud-based report. The data is presented in an understandable format and made meaningful by enabling manufacturers to describe what they are doing to improve. Credible and effective marketing tools, they bring consistency and standardization to environmental product transparency reporting to inform greener purchase decisions.
“We are extremely honored to receive Environmental Leader’s Product of the Year Award,” Terry Swack, Sustainable Minds Founder & CEO, said. “It’s time for environmental performance and material health reporting to achieve real scale. For that to happen, the value proposition for manufacturers must become more obvious, the process more flexible and the deliverables more useful. We’re getting tremendous market response and this is another proof-point.”
Scores were determined by a panel of independent judges headed by Paul Leavoy of LNS Research and also including judges from AECOM Technology Corp.; Anheuser-Busch InBev; Bayer MaterialScience; ConAgra Foods; ConEdison Solutions; Environmental & Operational Risk Management (EORM); GlaxoSmithKline; Owens Corning; RegScan; Salazar Packaging; TruPoint Advisors; University of California, Berkeley; Verdantix, Williams Creek Consulting; and YES Bank.
Learn more about the Sustainable Minds 2015 Transparency Report Program. Sign up for the webcast, Thursday, April 9 or 16, 2pm ET/11 am ET. http://www.sustainableminds.com/weekly-webinar
About Sustainable Minds®
Sustainable Minds is a B2B cloud provider of environmental product transparency applications, data and services to help product manufacturers across the value chain, design and market greener products. The company is dedicated to operationalizing environmental performance in mainstream product development and manufacturing in an understandable, empowering and credible way. Used in industry and education in more than 850 locations in 80 countries since 2010, Sustainable Minds’ easy-to-use, standardized solutions make it possible for manufacturers to drive revenue and growth through greener product innovation.
About Environmental Leader
Since 2006, Environmental Leader's website and daily email newsletter have provided the definitive and objective voice in reporting on business-related energy, environmental, and sustainability issues, while Energy Manager Today is the leading daily trade publication keeping corporate executives informed about energy management news. For more information visit http://www.environmentalleader.com or http://www.energymanagertoday.com.
About the Environmental Leader Product & Project Awards
In its second year, the Environmental Leader Product & Project Awards recognize excellence in products and services that provide companies with energy and environmental benefits, or in corporate projects that improved environmental or energy management and increased the bottom line. It is a five-point rating system designed to offer companies feedback and recognition. Third-party judges came from the following companies: AECOM Technology Corp., Anheuser Busch InBev, Bayer MaterialScience, ConAgra Foods, ConEd Solutions, Environmental & Operational Risk Management, GlaxoSmithKline, LNS Research, Owens Corning, RegScan, Salazar Packaging, Trupoint Advisers, the University of California Berkeley, Verdantix, Williams Creek Consulting, and YES Bank.
For a complete list of winners, visit http://www.environmentalleader.com/environmental-leader-product-project-awards/
Join Elixir Environmental’s Tara Blank & SM's CEO Terry Swack, an SM Partner Series Webcast, Tuesday at 2–3 pm EST for a how-to discussion for manufacturers to create value wth product transparency while building a greener brand.
Reporting environmental performance AND/OR material health of products is rapidly becoming a specification requirement for LEED v4 projects. There are a range of options for earning these credits. Reporting both gives a comprehensive view of what's in a product & why.
The Product Category Rule Guidance Development Initiative has added Sustainable Minds to its list of ISO 14025 program operators in North America. The initiative was developed in response to the lack of strong consensus on how to develop sound and consistent PCRs as well as the need to increase productive cross-recognition of PCRs between various programs. The objectives of the SM Transparency Report™ Program align with those of the initiative, making Sustainable Minds a natural fit to this effort.
Learn more >
Join Elixir Environmental’s Tara Blank & SM's CEO Terry Swack, Tuesday at 1–2 pm EST, to learn about the Health Product Declaration (HPD) and Environmental Product Declaration (EPD). Rapidly becoming a specification requirement for LEED v4 projects, just as 3-part guide specifications are required by design teams, these product declarations will become mandatory for product selection. Register now >
Plumbing Manufacturers International (PMI) is the voluntary international industry association of the manufacturers of plumbing products. Their members produce 90% of the products used in the USA. They’re advocates, not plumbers.
Product transparency is an important topic this year with LEED v4 encouraging manufacturers to report LCA results. The agenda includes a panel discussion on LCA in the technical track of the program. Sustainable Minds will be there to demonstrate the Transparency Report Program and showcase TOTO USA’s new Transparency Reports for toilets, urinals and flush valves. Visit TOTO’s SM Showroom >
Greenbuild is the premier event for sustainable building. Featuring three exhilarating days of uplifting speakers, unmatched networking opportunities, showcases, LEED workshops and tours of green buildings in New Orleans, Greenbuild offers a place for thousands to gather and renew their commitment to the green movement.
Schedule a meeting or visit us in booth 616!
The SM TR Framework is a 2-part PCR process that provides a common basis for consistent, robust and quality-assured LCAs. It builds on the work being done in Europe and North America on product category rules (PCR) and environmental product declarations (EPD) and in particular the EN15804 standard. We are excited to reach this milestone and invite your review and comments.
Learn more >
New forms of business value are being required by today's business leaders. Managing this means crafting smart new metrics. Join SM CEO Terry Swack along with over 60 experts and leaders from Bloomberg, Deutsche Bank, GlobeScan, L'Oréal, HP, World Resources Institute and others and learn how they are capturing new forms of value and taking steps toward adjusting the set of metrics they use to guide their business forward. Expand how your business interprets true costs and benefits via three days of critical thinking in Boston this fall. http://www.sustainablebrands.com/events/newmetrics14
Terry Swack, Sustainable Minds CEO, is honored to participate in the TCF Green Conference 2014 organized by the Technical Textiles & Nonwovens Association.
In her web presentation: ‘Operationalizing greener product innovation in the technical textile industry,’ Terry will be demonstrating how Sustainable Minds can help manufacturers overcome the two key problems they face when it comes to building a greener brand: designing greener products and then credibly marketing them.
Sustainable Minds has been working with INDA for several years to understand the product sustainability landscape for nonwovens, and is ready to provide industry-tailored solutions to help manufacturers across the value chain achieve their product sustainability and transparency goals.
The Technical Textile and Nonwoven Association (TTNA) is a membership organization advancing the interests of the Australian technical textile industry worldwide. The TCF Green Conference 2014 will be addressing sustainability challenges in the fibre, textile, carpet and apparel industries will profile how putting environmental and social responsibility at the heart of management practices is key to the future.
Join the Sustainable Minds team in Chicago at NeoCon 2014. We’ll be there with our verification and certification partner, NSF Sustainability. Come talk to us our abo ut our newly introduced SM Transparency Report™ program, the first comprehensive solution for product manufacturers to Design and Market greener products.
With the launch of LEED v4 and the focus on transparency, there is confusion and anxiety in the building prod ucts industry around PCR’s, EPD’s and LCA. In response, Sustainable Minds has expanded its software and service solutions to enable transparent reporting of a product s’ environmental performance. Sustainable Minds new Transparency Datasheets and Transparency Reports provide manufacturers, across the value chain, a way to communicate about the environmental performance of their products in an effective, credible, comparable and affordable way.
NeoCon® is North America’s largest design exposition and conference for commercial interiors, annually attended by over 40,000 architecture and design professionals. With over three days of non-stop resources, energy and ideas, NeoCon is the single most important industry event of the year and your one-stop destination.
Learn more about NeoCon >
Join CEO Terry Swack at The Design and Sustainability Symposium. Also presenting this year are Sustainable Minds customers Bill Strang, President Operations, TOTO USA; Mark Alan, Senior VP, Product Management and Development, InPro Corp; and Sustainable Minds' green building technical expert, Paul Shahriari, CEO, GreenMind.
DaS is a leadership exploration of the future of design and sustainability software for sustainable products, infrastructure, and environments. COFES is a unique gathering of leaders representing diverse industry sectors with strategic interest in software. The DaS Symposium exists within that community to focus on sustainability. It reaches across disciplines and industries as it explores solutions to the sustainability challenge.
The goal of the DaS Symposium is to bring sustainability to the forefront of the conversation among software developers and to look for opportunities and issues that may be best served by the industry as a whole, rather than by individual players within the industry. We hope to inspire, raise awareness, build relationships and seek sustainable synergies.
Founding members of The DaS Symposium include Autodesk, buildingSMART Alliance, CIFE, Cyon Research, Gensler, PTC, Siemens, SolidWorks, and Sustainable Minds.
Terry Swack is honored to be invited to participate in Cornell's first conference on women in leadership. Conference goals are to 'inspire with role models, inform on career journeys, instruct on career skills, unite women’s groups around campus.' Terry will be participating in the panel session: Entrepreneurship: Where Are Women In The Startup World?
Learn more >
Company Innovates a Solution and Goes Beyond Compliance in Response to LEED v4's 'Building Product Disclosure and Optimization' Option
MORROW, Ga., Nov. 20, 2013 /PRNewswire/ -- TOTO announced today that it is introducing an innovative, new way to report product transparency that enables customers to earn LEED v4 credit for select high-efficiency toilets.
In response to market demand and the release of LEED v4, LCA software pioneer Sustainable Minds has launched an innovative new way for manufacturers to transparently report the environmental performance of their products. SM Transparency Reports™ is a new alternative to environmental product declarations (EPD) — with equivalent credibility and superior distillation of technical information for end users. NSF International, industry leader in product certification, is providing the LCA verification and report certification.
Join the Sustainable Minds team in Philadelphia at Greenbuild 2013, for the introduction of our new Transparency Products. With the official launch of LEED v4 and the focus on transparency, there is confusion and anxiety in the building products industry around PCR’s, EPD’s and LCA.
In response, Sustainable Minds has expanded its design better solutions to include market better solutions that enable transparent reporting of a products’ environmental performance. Sustainable Minds new Transparency Datasheets and Reports provide manufacturers, across the value chain, a way to communicate about the environmental performance of their products in an effective, credible, comparable and affordable way.
If you're attending Greenbuild, visit us at booth #2253 to learn about how Sustainable Minds software and services can help you better design and market your greener products.
Contact us TODAY if you’d like a ticket to the Exhibition – we have a few left! sales@sustainableminds.com
Building on the success of ESW teams in 2012-13, the challenge has been reissued to invite more teams from more schools to make a difference.
Sustainable Minds and ESW are pleased to announce the 2013-2014 edition of the Life Cycle Assessment + Universities (LCA+U) challenge, which invites student teams to design more sustainable alternatives to current campus activities using Sustainable Minds LCA software. Teams are invited to work with their campus communities to develop proposals for meaningful, realistic sustainability solutions on their campuses, with the top proposals receiving training and access to software. Selected teams will present their work to a national audience, and all teams will have support in implementing the results of their projects and creating a data-driven impact on campus.
In the design process, engineers often consider many long-term factors of designs: degradation of performance, resilience, reliability, and other objectives all impact the final solution to a challenge. Increasingly, LCA is playing a role in these decisions to allow engineers to understand the full environmental, economic, and health impacts of their solutions and decisions. As leaders in sustainable engineering, ESW members should be well versed in the methods and tools of LCA. This will enable them to utilize and advocate for consideration of LCA alongside traditional objectives and metrics at their universities and in their careers.
If you're interested in learning more about ESW initiatives or other ways that Sustainable Minds is supporting educational initiatives please contact sales (at)sustainableminds.com.
Read the RFP and apply now! For more information about LCA+U, contact Erin Lennox at erlennox (at) eswusa.org.
Join the Sustainable Minds team at INDA RISE 2013 where they will be rolling out the plan for Building a LIfecycle Dataset of Greener Nonwoven Brands.
Using Sustainable Minds' Branded Data program, an innovative brand-building & lead generation solution, manufacturers can get their brands and products in front of customers who need and want to credibly measure and substantiate the environmental performance of their products. The program features SM's new Transparency Datasheets & Reports enabling manufacturers to present all the performance attributes of their products and to present lifecycle data in a credible, cost-effective, secure and standardized way.
Manufacturers getting involved now can become a Premier Participating Brand, a special offer to showcase brands that are leading the way. It includes enhanced visibility & recognition, preferred pricing, Sustainable Minds software & services and a seat at the table to define the roadmap.
If you're attending RISE, Sustainable Minds would like to invite you to lunch, Wednesday, October 2, 12–1:30pm, for an in-depth discussion about the plan and opportunity to become a Premier Participating Brand. Come talk to us at our tabletop so we can count you in. Data is being sourced for all nonwovens markets, with a focus on processes, diapers, baby wipes, surgical and building products. If you make raw materials, roll goods, finished products or process equipment for these categories this is your opportunity become a Premier Participating Brand.
Lean more about RISE 2013: inda.org/events/rise13
Join us for this INDA/Sustainable Minds webcast to introduce our Branded Data Program in the Nonwovens Industry. BECOME A PREMIER PARTICIPANT.Join Sustainable Minds CEO Terry Swack and nonwoven material innovation expert Rich Chapas, Principal of Chapas, Chinai & Associates, to learn how you can benefit from this groundbreaking relationship.
Register >
No magic formula… but Sustainable Minds is removing the complexity and cost of LCA for the nonwovens industry.
This month Sustainable Minds was featured in Sustainable Nonwovens, the leading publication for the twenty-eight billion dollar global nonwovens industry.
At this year's IDEA 2013 Conference & Expo in Miami, it was announced that nonwovens industry body INDA is joining forces with Sustainable Minds (SM) – the global leader in cloud-based life cycle assessment software. Sustainable Nonwovens editor, Adrian Wilson, caught up with SM’s CEO Terry Swack to find out how the company’s nonwovens solution is progressing and its industry sponsor relationship with INDA.
New in SM v3.0 is SM2013, a major update to SM’s impact assessment method, which combines TRACI 2.1 and LCI data from the current version of ecoinvent and other sources for more globally harmonized LCA results.
More and better data.
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An expanded dataset for the Nonwovens Industry, over 350 impact factors for bio-based oils, organic chemical, inorganic chemicals and fibers. Learn more about the SM’s industry sponsor INDA, the global association for the Nonwovens Industry and building the first industry-defined lifecycle dataset for nonwovens.
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Branded Data Program – the innovative next phase in SM’s Custom Data Program. Manufacturers across the value chain can quickly get their new greener materials information in front of customers who care.
Performance and user experience enhancements that help keep Sustainable Minds the #1 cloud LCA software in industry and education!
CAMBRIDGE, MA – MAY 7, 2013 – Sustainable Minds, a provider of life cycle assessment software solutions, was named one of Gartner’s 2013 Cool Vendors in Product Design and Life Cycle Management for. The list of Cool Vendors is designed to highlight interesting, new and innovative vendors, products and services. The company was recognized as a distinguished source of software tools and knowledge regarding product design and environmental life cycle assessment.
Gartner suggests managers responsible for developing positive brand image and ensuring best environmental design practices across all manufacturing industries, should prioritize the use of Sustainable Minds.
“This vendor is cool because it enables product lifecycle stakeholders including business analysts, product managers, marketers, and R&D team members such as engineers and designers, to make sustainable design choices early in product development before manufacturers make commitments to materials, manufacturing processes, service operations, modes of usage, or disposal methods that might be less than environmentally friendly,” said Marc Halpern, VP Research Manufacturing Advisory Services, Engineering, R&D, PLM.
Sustainable Minds software platform helps companies operationalize environmental performance into the early stages of product development to benchmark products and identify hotspots. The hotspots identify what’s causing the major contributions; identify greatest opportunities for improvement, and what primary and supply chain data to acquire to model products as the manufacturer makes them. Using a simplified and standardized methodology, with science from government sources, the complexity of the life cycle impacts are presented in easy to interpret visual results, with the capability to rapidly evaluate and compare product variations and options.
“We consider our inclusion in Gartner’s Cool Vendor report confirmation of our mission to enable customers, from the earliest design stages, to leverage the power of environmental performance metrics to model and improve overall product and business performance,” said Terry Swack CEO and Founder of Sustainable Minds. “We continue to innovate while we execute on our product development roadmap, exemplified with the launch this month of SM v3.0 with an expanded data set, specifically targeting the nonwovens and building product industries. We will continue to deliver a truly revolutionary product, that will maintain our position as a though leader and the #1 cloud based LCA software.”
Disclaimer: Gartner does not endorse any vendor, product or service depicted in its research publications, and does not advise technology users to select only those vendors with the highest ratings. Gartner research publications consist of the opinions of Gartner's research organization and should not be construed as statements of fact.
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Sustainable Minds® is the #1 cloud life cycle assessment (LCA) software for greener product innovation used by industry and education in 600 locations in 60 countries worldwide. Sustainable Minds’ easy-to-use, standardized solution makes it possible for manufacturers across the value chain – large and small – to dynamically evaluate, compare and improve their products' environmental performance by integrating life cycle thinking and LCA into their product development processes. The company has been recognized by Gartner® in its 2013 Cool Vendor Report as ‘innovative, impactful and intriguing.’ To learn why, visit www.sustainableminds.com or call 617 401-2269.
Sustainable Minds on Twitter @sustainablemnds
© 2009-2013, Sustainable Minds and sustainableminds.com are registered trademarks of Sustainable Minds, LLC.
For more information, contact:
Terry Swack, CEO & Founder
Sustainable Minds
One Broadway
Cambridge, MA 02140
617-401-2269
www.sustainableminds.com
terry@sustainableminds.com
Join CEO Terry Swack and the Sustainable Minds team at INDA IDEA13 where they'll be announcing the Industry Sponsorship relationship and solutions for nonwovens.
At 8:00am Wednesday and Thursday, Terry will be joined by nonwovens industry expert Rich Chapas, Chapas, Chinai, & Associates, to present 'Using LCA for Greener Product Innovation.' In a fast -paced session they will be discussing Sustainable Minds LCA software and how it can be used to make greener product decisions, innovations in non woven materials and building a nonwovens dataset for the industry.
Visit Terry, Rich and the team at the SM booth #80, to discuss how Sustainable Minds can help you operationalize greener product innovation in your organization.
Lean more at IDEA website: www.inda.org/idea13/conference.html
Join Sustainable Minds, a founding member, at The Design and Sustainability Symposium. DaS is a leadership exploration of the future of design and sustainability software for sustainable products, infrastructure, and environments.
COFES is a unique gathering of leaders representing diverse industry sectors with strategic interest in software. The DaS Symposium exists within that community to focus on sustainability. It reaches across disciplines and industries as it explores solutions to the sustainability challenge.
The goal of the DaS Symposium is to bring sustainability to the forefront of the conversation among software developers and to look for opportunities and issues that may be best served by the industry as a whole, rather than by individual players within the industry. We hope to inspire, raise awareness, build relationships and seek sustainable synergies.
Founding members of The DaS Symposium include Autodesk, buildingSMART Alliance, CIFE, Cyon Research, Gensler, PTC, Siemens, SolidWorks, and Sustainable Minds.
Created and taught by technology industry veteran Pito Salas, FBE stands for Fundamentals of Business Entrepreneurship. Pito invites his friends to come talk about their personal experience, and from which they derive lessons or insights or rules of thumb. "The space of green technology is of great interest to many Olin students," said Pito, so we'll see how many emerging engineers Terry can influence to go green.
http://bit.ly/Tg1beA
https://sites.google.com/site/olin2013entrepreneurship/home
Join us for the second PDMA Sustainable Innovation Webinar featuring Bill Strang, President TOTO Americas, and Sustainable Minds advocate.
As the world’s largest manufacturer of bath products, TOTO USA is a leader and innovator in minimizing the impact of its products and manufacturing processes on the environment. Conserving water and energy in everything the company does has become an integral piece of product design and evolution at TOTO. Join us in learning key principles that Bill Strang, President, Americas – Operations Group and Chairman of TOTO Mexico, used in leading TOTO on its award-winning journey to leadership in ecological responsibility…
Date: Tuesday March 19, 2013
Time: Presentation & Q&A 11:00am eastern daylight time
Location: go-to-meeting access to be sent to you prior to the webcast after registration.
Fees: Online registration
- $10 for members (log-in to register), and students
- $25 for non-members.
As the world’s largest manufacturer of bath products, TOTO USA is a leader and innovator in minimizing the impact of its products and manufacturing processes on the environment. Conserving water and energy in everything the company does has become an integral piece of product design and evolution at TOTO. Join us in learning key principles that Bill Strang, President, Americas – Operations Group and Chairman of TOTO Mexico, used in leading TOTO on its award-winning journey to leadership in ecological responsibility.
This webinar’s topics include:
- Thinking beyond compliance keeps you ahead of the design innovation curve
- Eco-design coupled with the discipline of LCA creates the benchmark for bringing products to market
- Bio-mimicry inspires and refines designs
- People Centered Design and the use of empathic feedback
For more information about Bill’s sustainability efforts at TOTO and the concept of totology, watch this short video.
About the speaker
William (Bill) L. Strang President, Americas – Operations Group and Chairman of TOTO MexicoBill has responsibility for all operations, including supply chain, design and development engineering, Quality, ISO, Environmental and management of the five TOTO North America plants: Morrow, GA; Lakewood, GA; Fairburn, GA; and Ontario, CA, Monterrey Mexico with 1.8 million sq ft under roof.
Under Bill’s leadership, TOTO has received awards for 5S implementation, US EPA Water Efficiency Leadership Award, Georgia Governor Sonny Perdue’s Water Conservation Leadership Award, the Argon Award, the City of Atlanta Phoenix Award, and Chattahoochee Riverkeeper sustainability award. TOTO is one of the largest users of Green Energy from Georgia Power.
TOTO USA has also developed secondary uses or recycling channels for the waste streams from the manufacturing process, converting them from waste to raw material feed stocks for other manufacturers.
ESW created the Life Cycle Assessment Plus Universities (LCA+U) Challenge! as the first project in our partnership with Engineers for a Sustainable World. This joint initiative challenges students to work with campus staff and sustainability lifecycle assessment software to identify solutions or improvements to campus operations that have quantifiably lower environmental impacts. The project accepted proposals through February 15th.
The process of team selection has begun with exciting and thoughtful submissions ranging from solar panels on bus shelters to new types of service-ware in the cafeteria. Watch this space for announcements soon.
Could great design be the answer to helping cleantech succeed? Come and join SM CEO Terry Swack, design experts, investors and clean energy companies who have made design a key element in their clean technology product development. Design is more than just making products 'beautiful' – it's building solutions that actually work to solve customer's problems.
Register now >
Could great design be the answer to helping cleantech succeed? Can product design make a energy innovation attractive to investors and customers? As a cleantech company, when and should you hire a design firm? Is design important for business-to-business products that aren't sold at retail?
Come and join in our panel discussion to hear from design experts, investors and clean energy companies who have made design a key element in their clean technology product development. Design is more than just making products “beautiful" - it's building solutions that actually work to solve customer's problems.
Panelists:
Matthew Nordan, Vice President, Venrock
Terry Swack, Founder and CEO of Sustainable Minds
Ben Einstein, Founder and CEO of Bolt Hardware Accelerator
James Bleck, President, Bleck Design Group
Mark West, Principal at Continuum
Details:
Thursday, January 10, 2013
Greentown Labs, 2nd Floor, 337
Summer St., Boston MA 02210
5:30 - 6:00 pm Networking
6:00 - 7:30 pm Panel Discussion
7:30 - 8:30 pm Networking
Sponsors:
Massachusetts Clean Energy Center. Created by the Green Jobs Act of 2008, the Massachusetts Clean Energy Center (MassCEC) has as its mission to foster the growth of the Massachusetts clean energy industry by providing seed grants to companies, universities, and nonprofit organizations; funding job training and workforce development programs; and, as home of the Massachusetts Renewable Energy Trust, supporting the installation of renewable energy projects throughout the state. Visit our website at www.MassCEC.com or follow us on Twitter @masscec.
Greentown Labs provides entrepreneurs the research and development space they need to launch their clean technology ventures. Currently housing 24 early stage companies in 20,000 square feet of lab and office space, and located in downtown Boston's Innovation District, Greentown Labs is a not-for-profit organization that sprung from a grassroots cluster of award-winning clean technology companies looking for low-cost working space near MIT. Follow us on Twitter @greentownlabs or like us on Facebook. facebook.com/GreentownLabs
Engineers for a Sustainable World and Sustainable Minds partner to increase awareness and education of sustainable product development and life cycle assessment.
Engineers for a Sustainable World (ESW) is a chapter-based organization with more than 1,000 members, and 2,500 alumni based throughout North America. As technically-minded students and professionals, ESW works on forging lasting solutions to sustainability challenges through technical design projects and educational initiatives. Through a combination of chapter-based service learning projects, education on sustainability principles and design techniques, training on leadership and sustainable engineering skills, and a national community, ESW is helping to create the next generation of technical leaders for a more sustainable world.
Join Alexander Dale (in his role as a PhD student in Sustainability and Green Design at the University of Pittsburgh) and Terry Swack for ESW's skills webinar on Monday, November 14 from 4PM PST / 7EST.
Life Cycle Assessment is one of the most important tools in answering a question that always comes up when pursuing sustainability: How do we measure how sustainable something is? In this webinar, we will cover why you might want to use LCA, what you can measure, the basic steps, and what the results might look like. Then we'll move into practical matters, talking about using software to make the process much easier, and about communicating your results to a non-technical audience.
If you've heard of LCA but haven't gotten a chance to learn more, or might be interested in using it in a project, this is your chance to learn more about this key tool of sustainable engineering.
Register at https://www1.gotomeeting.com/register/477475769 to reserve your spot now!
Join SM CEO Terry Swack and INDA leadership at the introduction of the INDA Greener Product Innovation Initiative (GPII). RISE is the leading event for the nonwovens industry that inspires new, innovative processes and products and provides information on the latest technical innovations and new market applications. The GPII will create an innovative technology platform for standardizing 'greener' in the nonwovens industry. Learn more >
Join Sustainable Minds, sustainability leaders and educators at the Association for the Advancement of Sustainability in Higher Education's national conference. This organization is growing at rapid rate empowering higher education to lead the sustainability transformation. Learn more >
Even if you've got a great idea, and customers who are on board to buy your product, you still need to get that product in a form that is ready to go to market. This takes time and money, and can be a complicated process.
This workshop brings together technology development and prototyping experts, including SM CEO Terry Swack, to learn about process and pitfalls product development and validation from experts in the field. Learn more >
August 15th, 12:00-2:30pm
The Syracuse Technology Garden
Center State Corporation for Economic Opportunity
235 Harrison Street
Syracuse, NY
Sustainable Minds gets some visibility in the regional business press. Interesting how many people saw this and sent us email. Read >
Join Fraunhofer CSE, the world-renowned research organization, and technology development and prototyping experts including SM CEO, Terry Swack, to learn about product development and validation process and pitfalls from experts in the field. Learn more >
August 1st, 5:00-7:30 pm with networking afterwards till 9pm at nearby Meadhall. At UK Trade and Investment One Broadway, Cambridge MA.
Featuring:
- Wayne Sula, Mass Manufacturing Partnership (MEP), Innovation Business Development Mgr.
- Patrick Kiely, Cambrian Innovation, VP of R&D
- Geoffrey Kinsey, Fraunhofer CSE, PV Group Leader
- Terry Swack, Sustainable Minds, CEO & Founder
After the workshop there will be time for networking with our speakers as well as other invited guests!
Tony Kingsbury, Director of the Sustainable Products & Solutions Program at UC Berkeley's Haas School of Business, also leads Dow's global engagement with The Sustainability Consortium. He sets the context for his SB '12 workshop with this quote: "There is no such thing as a green product," as Terry Swack, CEO of Sustainable Minds, states in the demo video for the company's LCA software, as all products require materials and energy to produce.
Read >
Energy Efficiency & Technology - June News: A lesson in sustainable design
Good review of Sustainable Minds with a focus on our Educational webcast and programs.
Read >
Join SM CEO Terry Swack at this Harvard Business School Women's Association panel event featuring the advice, perspective and best practices from successful women entrepreneurs who are at different stages of building and scaling entrepreneurial ventures. Come early for CIC's Venture Café & Tour of Facilities.
Join us at the Cambridge Innovation Center for the second program in HBSWA's Women Entrepreneurs Series -- a panel of female entrepreneurs at different stages of building their businesses. Gain exposure to the broader Boston entrepreneurial scene at CIC's Venture Café and enjoy complementary wine and beer.
Join SM Technical Expert, Joep Meijer at the NE IDSA regional conference where he'll be teaching a workshop and giving a general session presentation on 'The Biggest Innovation Driver of 2012: Environmental Performance'.
This year's conference theme is: Forward Thinking Through Vintage Perspectives. Getting design right is recognized as essential for business success and equally beneficial in the social domain. How are design practices evolving to meet expanding demands and opportunities?
At the Northeast Design Dialogue Conference, a fantastic group of featured keynotes and other top-notch presenters will share and guide you on a journey to what the future looks like through the lens of how we got to where we are today. The Northeast is full of history, daily reminders of how an entrepreneurial spirit built this nation and how innovation and design thinking have shaped and grown our country. Join us for this journey from the past, through the present and into the future of the design practice.
At this year's DaS, SM CEO Terry Swack will present on the current trends in LCA, data and emerging metrics in product development. DaS is a leadership exploration of the future of design and sustainability software for sustainable products, infrastructure and environments. Sustainable Minds is a founding member of The DaS Symposium along with Autodesk, buildingSMART Alliance, CIFE, Cyon Research, Gensler, PTC, Siemens and SolidWorks.
COFES is a unique gathering of leaders representing diverse industry sectors with strategic interest in software. The DaS Symposium exists within that community to focus on sustainability. It reaches across disciplines and industries as it explores solutions to the sustainability challenge.
The goal of the DaS Symposium is to bring sustainability to the forefront of the conversation among software developers and to look for opportunities and issues that may be best served by the industry as a whole, rather than by individual players within the industry. We hope to inspire, raise awareness, build relationships and seek sustainable synergies.
Kent State choose Sustainable Minds and SM partner, MAGNET, is teaching the course.
Learn more >
Kenneth Wong from Desktop Engineering interviews Ken Harris, fredsparks design, about how they use Sustainable Minds to drive greener product innovation. See the full greener eyewear story here >
Commentary on this article from Sustainable Minds:
Including Solidworks' and Autodesk's sustainability products in this article nicely conveys the options a design engineer has for making informed decisions while working in CAD.
Sustainable Minds users include CAD users, but many are not, or they are not using CAD at the point in the development process when they are using Sustainable Minds. Additionally, Sustainable Minds is used to design non-mechanical products, like flooring, packaging and apparel.
Sustainable Minds is eco-concept modeling software that delivers actionable LCA-based results. Product teams can benchmark, create and compare an unlimited number of concepts, changing up any input in any stage of the product's lifecycle, not just an alternative to a part or sub-assembly.
Sustainable Minds is used by product manufacturing teams to:
• Benchmark existing products
• Win new business (See Spartech strategic customer announcement >)
• Drive product innovation in R&D and concept development
• Analyze feasibility of logistics & reuse
• Respond to customer reporting requirements
Sustainable Minds' focus this quarter will be on data. Watch for our release later this month. Sustainable Minds is a SaaS solution and our ability to create and add custom data for users, specific to their supply chain or manufacturing processes, is key.
Core77 asked 5 students to take Autodesk's Sustainability Workshop for a test spin, investigating the workshop and using Sustainable Minds software to incorporate what they'd learned in a re-design of a commonplace object. In the fourth installment of the series, Core77 looks at San-Francisco-based Marc Levinson (California College of the Arts, B.F.A. in Industrial Design) and his Lili Tea Infuser.
Great article by Bresslergroup and their process for pioneering product innovation through environmental performance. Read on Sustainable Brands >
Join SM CEO Terry Swack in this panel session on strategic partnerships. They might be the most critical business decision your company can make. Strategics help you create a realistic vision, develop new markets and distribution channels, connect with the right people, and provide capital. As clean energy venture and government funding becomes more elusive, strategics can be essential to your growth -- but your company could become a comma in their business plan. How do you navigate these waters to create success for both companies?
Join us to hear the experiences and challenges of folks who have been on either side of the table. In a candid conversation, you will learn:
* Will a strategic alliance really help your start-up grow?
* How do you determine your best partner?
* What are Strategics looking for in an entrepreneur?
* Key factors for getting the most value from your strategic alliance.
* Critical lessons learned - what they would do differently the next time.
Location: UK Trade & Investment, 7th Floor, One Broadway, Cambridge, MA
Moderator:
Bic Stevens, Principal, Stevens Capital Advisors
Speakers:
Entrepreneurs - ·
Terry Swack, Founder and CEO, Sustainable Minds ·
John McCarthy, CEO, Qteros
Strategics - ·
Domenic Armano, Director of Strategy and Innovation, Johnson Controls ·
Heather Takle, Director, M&A and Corporate Development, Ameresco
Join SM CEO Terry Swack at the American Center for Life Cycle Assessment's annual international event. Terry will be teaching the workshop 'LCA for Product Design', an introduction to eco-concept modeling and LCA for product development professionals.
To register visit http://lcacenter.org/lca-xi.aspx
Join SM LCA Technical Expert, Joep Meijer at the Research, Innovation and Science for Engineered Fabrics conference, the premier event for the nonwovens industry. Joep will be teaching the ground-breaking workshop 'Greener Product Development for the Nonwovens Industry' to equip companies with the knowledge and skills to look at raw materials processes, fabric production, product packing and product supply to understanding the environmental performance of its products.
To register visit http://www.inda.org/events/rise11/
Collaboration Creates Comprehensive Data Set for Plastics Processors,
Read press release >
Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) is increasingly pushing towards the cloud and Software as a Service (SaaS). Al Dean takes a look at one of the industry’s pioneers. Read more >
Sustainable Minds enables product development teams to rapidly model the environmental performance of new product concepts in the earliest stages of design. Key to this process is to have access to a broad and deep set of current life cycle environmental impact data. Science improves and so does the data. Sustainable Minds’ SaaS delivery means data can continually be updated and new data added so product teams have what they need, when they need it.
Join SM CEO Terry Swack, and other leaders in environmental performance software at The Design and Sustainability (DaS) Symposium. DaS is a leadership exploration of the future of design and sustainability software for sustainable products, infrastructure, and environments. COFES is a unique gathering of leaders representing diverse industry sectors with strategic interest in software. The DaS Symposium exists within that community to focus on sustainability. It reaches across disciplines and industries as it explores solutions to the sustainability challenge.
The goal of the DaS Symposium is to bring sustainability to the forefront of the conversation among software developers and to look for opportunities and issues that may be best served by the industry as a whole, rather than by individual players within the industry. We hope to inspire, raise awareness, build relationships and seek sustainable synergies.
Founding members of The DaS Symposium include Autodesk, buildingSMART Alliance, CIFE, Cyon Research, Gensler, PTC, Siemens, SolidWorks, and Sustainable Minds.
It's fun & you might find out a few sustainability facts you didn't know. Please download and review!
Terry Swack will be following James Carville, 'America’s Best-Known Political Consultant', on the PMI Spring Conference Agenda.
PMI is a trade association of plumbing products manufacturers. Its member companies produce most of the nation’s plumbing products. The association functions as a sounding board for its members, a source for industry and market information, and as a coordinating and decision-making body for dealing with industry issues. It is active in many arenas as it helps develop and maintain standards and codes, and works closely with government agencies at all levels – federal, state and local.
Membership in PMI is open to manufacturers of plumbing industry products including potable water supply system components, fixture fittings, waste fixture fittings, fixtures, flushing devices, sanitary drainage system components, and plumbing appliances, which are marketed and sold within the territorial limits of the NAFTA countries.
Sustainable Minds is proud to be sponsoring Compostmodern 2011, a conference dedicated to transforming products, industries, and lives through sustainable design choices. Presented by AIGA San Francisco, this interdisciplinary design conference is a world-class event and a reference point for the design profession.
The two-day event, building upon the success of the conference in 2009, will have an inspiring line-up of speakers, as well as networking sessions, opportunities for open discussion, and platforms for launching real-world projects.
Join Sustainable Minds in helping design a more sustainable future. For tickets and more information visit www.compostmodern.org.
Would you like to work with Sustainable Minds? Two positions are available: Sales & Business Development Lead and Inside Sales Representative. Learn more >
Join SM CEO, Terry Swack, at the KEEN Faculty Workshop where she'll be teaching a module on greener product innovation. This workshop is made possible by The Kern Family Foundation, who created the Kern Entrepreneurship Education Network (KEEN)
in 2005 as a collegiate initiative to complement efforts at the K-12 level to increase the quantity and quality of U.S. engineering talent. KEEN's mission is to graduate engineers equipped with an action-oriented entrepreneurial mindset who will contribute to business success and transform the U.S. workforce.
The long-term goal is for these new engineers to catalyze a transformation in the workforce and to build economic and technical commerce in their communities. This focus on entrepreneurial leaders is increasingly important as the U.S. competes to maintain its economic position in a global marketplace based on innovation.
This faculty short course has been developed for faculty members who fully accept that entrepreneurial education should be incorporated into the undergraduate engineering and technical curriculum.
To register, please email Karen Cartwright, kcartwright-at-kffdn.org.
This conference will explore the environmental challenges facing users and producers of plastics packaging and identify innovative solutions that meet demanding sustainability and economic criteria. Join SM CEO, Terry Swack, to learn how to 'Design greener products right, from the start .' http://www.sustainableplasticspackaging.com/
Designing greener products is not a one-size-fits-all tool kind of problem. Join Cadalyst editor-in-chief Nancy Johnson for a stimulating panel discussion. Panelists will include software executives and product managers who have been selected for their divergent software solutions. Plenty of time will be allotted for attendees to lob questions at the panel. Register for free >
PMI's first Career Clinic of the 2010-2011 season will focus on how to better transition a career from industry to industry. Join SM CEO, Terry Swack, as she shares her insights on 'Making a Career that Matters'. http://www.pmimassbay.org/content/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=182&Itemid=315
Sustainable Minds is sponsoring American Business Conferences’ ninth event in its International Sustainability Series. This summit has evolved to meet the demands of today’s environmental affairs and CSR leaders, and for the first time engineering and product design experts as well.
Based on feedback from the previous eight events, and months of in depth research with multi-national companies in the consumer goods, electronics and industrial markets, this event aims to present a truly unique approach to addressing companies’ sustainable product design objectives. The Summit offers an incredible line-up of practitioner-led industry case studies analyzing sustainability throughout the product life cycle.
Registrations received by August 20, 2010 are entitled to a $400 discount.
Organizations that wish to learn more about how product design can contribute to sustainability are encouraged to attend the Summit in teams – Sustainability Directors attending with members of their Design team may apply for a further, team discount.
For more information on this groundbreaking Summit, visit the website, email info[at]American-business-conferences.com or call 800 721 3915.
Tune in at 11:00 -12:00pm PT to hear Joep Meijer present a technical demonstration of Sustainable Minds. Novedge, the leading CAD e-tailer, has been fostering a community of CAD professionals and students through online collaboration, communication and connection for some time now. Their efforts include creating and managing VectorWorking.com, RhinoJungle.com, SpaceClaiming.com as well as a slew of webinars and training sessions. Register here >
Taking their leading involvement in this endeavor to the next level, Novedge has announced the launch of its The Best of the Best Webinar Series. This ongoing, bi-weekly series will feature some of the leading CAD educators as well as tutorials on a variety of products.
An example of topics covered include:
- Architecture
- BIM
- Sustainability
- Engineering
- Landscape Design
- 3D Modeling
- Rendering
- Light Design
Novedge LLC is a privately held company based in San Francisco, CA whose mission is to revolutionize the way people buy design software. Through its state of the art online web store, Novedge offers the largest selection of design, animation and graphics software while providing customers with more options and freedom in selecting the best products for their needs. Combining its large catalog and extensive knowledge of design software Novedge is also uniquely able to offer unbiased advice to customers looking for new solutions.
Through Novedge customers can now find the best design software for their needs and have it delivered to their desks faster and better than it was ever possible.
Meet all of the PRG's members in an informal setting and learn about the services PRG has to offer, including the new PRG Certificate Program. Join Sustainable Minds at the CleanTech Roundtable which includes representatives from Ops A La Carte, NPI Solutions, Product Management Consulting Group, Wright Engineered Plastics and SolarVision.
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If you're attending the IDSA International Conference in Portland, Oregon, we invite you to join us on a private Willamette River cruise to Modern Edge, one of Portland's leading strategic product design firms, while enjoying vistas of Portland and Mt. Hood with your fellow designers. Contact us to RSVP.
Design Greener Products Right – From the Start There is no such thing as a 'green' product. All products use materials and energy, and create waste. There is no explicit definition of what ‘green’ means. Industry groups and third-party certifiers are working on definitions and standards, but, as yet, there is no standardized set of metrics to qualify a product as ‘green.’ The best we can do is make products greener than the ones we make today!
Taking a life cycle approach, you can use multiple strategies in multiple life cycle phases to improve environmental performance. This webinar is designed for members of a project, management and consulting teams. They will to gain greater insight into how to integrate and measure ecodesign and DfS strategies.
Join our director of Sustainability Services, Kimi Ceridon at the Aspen Ideas Festival. On July 9, she will be discussing "Creating Sustainable Systems: How Do We Green Our Supply Chains?" with Coca-cola, Walmart and Mars. It is sure to be a lively discussion. Keep your eye out for a roundtable that is coming together for the festival on 'What does sustainability mean to you?'
Co-sponsored by MAGNET, the Cleveland Engineering Society, PDMA NE Ohio Chapter, WIRE-Net and Sustainable Minds, this two-part webinar and workshop, you will learn how companies are developing a competitive advantage with eco designed products. http://www.magnetwork.org/email/100601_webinar/100601_webinar.html
Join the Los Angeles chapters of PDMA and IDSA in an evening exploring best practices in sustainable product development - industry experts share their tools, tips, tricks and secrets. Sustainable Minds is proud to be the sponsor of this event! http://www.pdma.org/chapter_events_detail.cfm?pk_event=574
LCA Sustainable Supply Chain Summit, in Chicago, explores how leading multinationals are accounting for and reducing the life cycle impacts of their products. Case studies: BT Americas, Alcatel, Texas Instruments, Verizon and Motorola share their experiences in attempting to reduce their social and environmental impacts. Sustainable Minds is an exhibitor along with other notable companies such as CA and PricewaterhouseCoopers.
The IDSA Northeast District Conference in Union, NJ is themed “CoCreate” and offers a stellar speaker roster including presentations by and about leading companies like Sesame Street, Project H, Converse, Fast Company and Sustainable Minds. Read more >
COFES/DaS Symposium in Scottsdale, AZ, which explores the intersection of design, simulation, and sustainability for the built and manufactured environment, Terry Swack, founding member and Sustainable Minds CEO will present on the integration of sustainability into the design process and design software. Read more >
The 2010 IDSA Southern District Conference In Charlotte is themed “Mass Reduction: The Economy of Design” and features speakers like Marty Gage, John Bielenberg, Paul Reeder and Sustainable Minds CEO Terry Swack. The conference explores the idea that good design is as little design as possible. Read more >
Prelude to COFES 2010: Terry Swack on Sustainability [Podcast]
Cleveland OH: Develop critical ecoDesign skills at a workshop sponsored by MAGNET and Sustainable Minds. Learn how to apply ecoDesign principles into the product innovation process, and gain a practical understanding of life-cycle assessment (LCA) in the design process. Learn more >
Cambridge, MA: WebInno invites the area’s top web and mobile tech startups to demo their products at their monthly event. SM will provide informal demonstrations to the networking crowd.
Register to attend — it’s free >
New York, NY: Greener Gadgets Conference tackles all of the issues surrounding energy efficiency and sustainable design, from innovative advances in packaging and product manufacturing to end-of-life recycling solutions. It also highlights ways in which electronics make a major impact by utilizing renewable energy in developing nations. Visit us in our booth!
Join panelists, including Nobel Prize winner Dr. Woodrow W. Clark II, and Terry Swack, CEO of SM, to discuss what it means to be green today, market drivers and the evolution of corporate-level green initiatives. Learn more >
MAGNET (The Manufacturing Advocacy & Growth Network) is focused on helping manufacturing and technology-based companies in Ohio adopt innovative methods and technologies. This partnership will bring ecodesign and sustainability practices, expertise and software to help advance the adoption of greener product design practices for manufacturers.
Learn more >
PLM industry analyst, Jim Brown, in his blog ‘Clarity on PLM’ (Clarity on software for innovation, product development, engineering, and manufacturing) recently reviewed Sustainable Minds. His review focuses on the LCA concepts embodied in Sustainable Minds LCA software. Notable quote: “The key to what Sustainable Minds offers is the ability to help companies make design trade-offs based on objective impact criteria.” Read >
This IDSA/Sustainable Minds partnership brings together LCA software, and ecodesign information and education to help IDSA members get the knowledge, tools, and value systems in place to support greener product design practices. Read the full press release >
Industry thought leaders will come together at UCLA to explore the latest in sustainable strategies and discuss the emerging best practices for growth in the new green economy. Visit us in our booth!
The Product Development and Management Association's conference is designed to inspire change within new product development, management, and innovation disciplines, and uncover the next generation best practices. Visit us in our booth!
Sustainable Minds is proud to be the Summit Sponsor! The world's most distinguished academic and professional educators are convening to explore the topic of design education and sustainability and to create a new path for undergraduate and graduate design programs to integrate sustainability.
Terry will be participating in the The Women's Entrepreneurship Panel to discuss the challenges and rewards that women entrepreneurs encounter in their careers. The panel will be moderated by Candida Brush, Chair of the Entrepreneurship Department and founder and Director of the Council for Women's Entrepreneurship and Leadership (CWEL) at Babson.
Environmental life cycle professionals, industry, government, and NGO's come together to discuss life cycle approaches to sustainability, both from a technical and from a practical viewpoint. Visit our display! http://www.lcacenter.org/LCA9/index.html
Domestic and international attendees across diverse disciplines will exchange ideas, opinions and insights. Visit us in the Autodesk booth! http://www.idsa.org/ProjectInfusion/
Join Terry and many notable presenters for case studies and advice to help drive competitive differentiation with individual products and supply chain capability, with particular focus on consumer products and high-tech products. http://www.greentechmedia.com/events/live/greening-the-supply-chain/
Sustainable Minds teams with Autodesk to address growing sustainable product design market opportunity.
Release 1.0 of Sustainable Minds LCA software is almost here. Take a tour with Rob as he learns how to design greener products with SM LCA and Autodesk Inventor.
Net Impact Boston uses the power of business to make a positive social, environmental, and economic impact. Join Terry in Net Impact Boston's CleanTech Dinner Discussion Series for July. http://netimpactboston.org/2009/07/13/july-22-green-product-design-tools-for-making-informed-choices-right-from-the-start/
The pre-eminent event for discussing the rapid rise of sustainability as a driver for revenue growth and brand equity in the 21st century. We announced SM at this event last year. http://www.sustainablelifemedia.com/events/sb09
Wal-Mart, Sustainable Minds and Clear Standards discuss how they are translating the concept of 'sustainability' into success metrics and tools that drive sustainable packaging, design and environmental impact reporting.
Moderated by Marc Gunther, Forbes Magazine with:
• Rand Waddoups, Senior Director of Business Strategy and Sustainability, Wal-Mart
• James Sullivan, Former Director, U.S. EPA Climate Leaders Program Vice President of Advisory Services, Clear Standards/SAP
• Terry Swack, CEO & Co-founder, Sustainable Minds
Terry to make a guest appearance along with other CAD/CAM industry leaders and luminaries. David Heller, editor at MCADCafe.com says, "I expect a good size audience with lots of questions, and it should be fun!”. Check out the video.
The Design and Sustainability (DaS) Symposium will explore how different sectors are facing the sustainability challenge and discuss areas of common ground, and the drivers behind an increasing need for a tight feedback loop between software and designers at the earliest stages of design. After keynoting on this topic at COFES last year, Terry will kick off the symposium with the session on ‘Integrating Sustainability into the Design Process’ where she will discuss the ideas behind Sustainable Minds, and introduce the emerging 'sustainability performance software' sector. Founding members of The DaS Symposium include Autodesk, Building Smart Alliance, CIFE, Cyon Research, Gensler, Siemens, SolidWorks, and Sustainable Minds.
o2NYC has started a learning group whose goal is to understand life cycle assessment, and to develop skills as design professionals to provide the systems thinking approach and holistic understanding that LCA provides. Terry will discuss and demonstrate how or life cycle thinking and assessment can become a key part of the design process.
Terry will be a panelist in this event from TiE's software SIG. The discussion will explore how the power of Information and Communication Technology can be leveraged to fight against climate change while improving quality of life; and how the current economic downturn and President Obama's focus on renewable energy create exciting opportunities in Green IT. http://www.emergingenterprisecenter.com/events/eventsdetail.aspx?eID=2853