At the first days of December LaFutura and Swarovski invited to PLANET CENTRIC INNOVATION a congress focusing on sustainability. The location could not have been more appropriate at this time oft he year. Surrounded by snowy mountains LaFutura has invited to PLANET CENTRIC INNOVATION at Swarovski. The audience was  impressed by the literally sparkling location at the headquater of Swarovski in Wattens. Not less sparkling was the innovation talk with Daan Roosegaarde a dutch artist and innovator. His fascination for nature and technology is reflected in his iconic designs and he is as inspirating as hell. He was talking about his innovative projects like :

Waterlicht: a virtual flood to create awarenesss for the global warming

Smart Highway: roads that charge from sunlight and glow at night

Smog Free Project: an outdoor air purifier and jewellery that is created from smog

Beside the impressive projects for me the most important message was that everybody has to contribute to sustainability and that you should not allow „YES BUTS“ in innovative discussions.

On the first evening Swarovski proofed that the company is just a perfect host. The dinner took place next to the Kristallwelten – perfect culinary offered in an impressive sparkling location and enough time for networking.

Innovate the sustainalbility

The second day offered more information according to different approaches to sustainability. Sure the focus was on fashion and retail  but still very interessting. Innovation and the way to innovation had been a main topic and when you see how innovative other companies are you get highly motivated to take this feeling and loads of ideas  with you.

Ralf Weinberger from Swarovski told us a lot about the future trends in fashion. This was also very interesting for me as a consumer because with the insides which brands are working hard on sustainability I can decide if I want to buy this brand or not. For me personally the pattern „sustainability“ is definitely a reason to buy or not.

Hannes Erler, also from Swarovski, offered some insides about the access to innovation the company is working with. The history of Swarovski proofs, that it depends on innovative, creative and brave people to become an future-orientated company.

Highly impressive were the insides from Raphael Gielgen from Vitra. One nice fact about him is, that he tries to live a sustainable life at his little farm (!). Rapha, as he calls himself, is a restless and curious trendscout and a storyteller who predicts the future of our workplace. That would be definitly the right expert to desings new workplaces also in our company.

Last but not least I want to mention  is Klaus Rolshoven from Adidas who told us the story of the first 100% recyclable running shoe. I hardly can’t wait to see them in the stores.

In summary I had a pretty good time in Wattens. The organisation was perfect – thanks to LaFutura, the hosting was stunning – thanks to Swarovski and all the speakers had been inspiring and great personalities. I came back with a lot of ideas form my work at Next Incubator and highly motivated to life my life even more sustainable than before.

Barbara Haubmann