Circular Innovation Challenge Alumni Design Sprint 2024: Empowering youth to address sustainability challenges

Bangkok, December 5, 2024 -- Indorama Ventures Public Company Limited, a global sustainable chemical company, in partnership with the School of Global Studies at Thammasat University, announces the successful completion of the Circular Innovation Challenge (CIC) Alumni Design Sprint 2024, which empowered past-winners to address real-world environmental challenges and drive global circularity.

This five-week intensive program brought together past CIC winners from 2021–2023 to further refine their sustainability solutions. Indorama Ventures plays a pivotal role in supporting these emerging changemakers, ensuring their innovations are not only market-viable but also impactful on a global scale.

The CIC Alumni Design Sprint 2024 is a platform for collaboration, providing participants with essential tools, expert feedback, and resources to finetune their projects and prototypes. The Sprint continued the mission of the Circular Innovation Challenge, a competition supported by Indorama Ventures and Thammasat University to engage young innovators from Southeast Asia through sustainability workshops and design-thinking boot camps, preparing them to develop tangible solutions and concrete business plans to address for real-world environmental problems.

This year’s CIC Alumni Design Sprint pushed participants to improve their original ideas through a structured process following the SPRINT method,. Three exceptional projects were selected for their potential to drive meaningful social and environmental change and feasibility in terms of their business models:

• Recyso (2021 Winner) – Eco-Shield Pro: A group of Thai innovators from the Battery and New Energy Science and Technology Institution at Khon Kaen University, Thailand, created an eco-friendly, non-toxic radiation protection solution made from recycled solar panel waste, designed for use in medical settings.
• Impact: Upcycling solar waste, supporting renewable energy, reducing hazardous waste, creating jobs, and lowering healthcare costs.
• Waste to Planter (Youth Prize 2021) – A group of high school students from Plapak Wittaya School, Nakhon Phanom province, Thailand. Their planters are made from recycled agricultural HDPE plastic waste, targeting eco-conscious consumers while promoting sustainable agriculture.
• Impact: Reducing plastic waste, engaging communities, cutting carbon emissions, and creating economic opportunities for farmers.
• SCPB (2023 Winner) – A group of Thai founders from Phytavaren Technology, a proptech startup based in England. Their passive brick made from seashell calcite, ocean plastic, and concrete aggregate, is designed to reduce thermal bridges and enhance energy efficiency in buildings.
• Impact: Enhancing building safety and energy efficiency, reducing marine pollution, and supporting sustainable infrastructure development.

Mrs. Suchitra Lohia, Deputy Group CEO and Chairperson of the Corporate Social Responsibility Committee at Indorama Ventures, said "Indorama Ventures is proud to support the next generation of innovators who are shaping a circular economy that our PET and polyester value chain can benefit from. Through the Circular Innovation Challenge Alumni Design Sprint, we see young talents turning their ideas into actionable solutions, particularly those that address the challenges within the PET industry and tackle plastic waste. We are honored to support these bright minds on their journey and look forward to the positive, lasting changes their innovations will bring.”

Assistant Professor Dr. Prapaporn Tivayannond Mongkhonvanit, Dean of the School of Global Studies at Thammasat University, added, "As educators, we are honored to play a role in empowering young people to transform their ideas into impactful, real-world solutions. The three projects emerging from this initiative hold remarkable promise to become businesses that create meaningful social and environmental change across Southeast Asia and beyond. We extend our heartfelt thanks to Indorama Ventures and our partners for inspiring these young leaders to embrace circularity and shape a future they can truly be proud of."

The Circular Innovation Challenge Alumni Design Sprint stands as a testament to the potential of youth-driven initiatives to address sustainability issues that span across industries. By equipping young innovators with the skills and support they need to develop scalable, impactful solutions, Indorama Ventures and its partners are helping to create a pathway toward a sustainable and circular future.

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