The Sustainability Camp organised by Schroeder & Associés in collaboration with the House of Startups provided a wealth of ideas and innovations from a dozen teams, resulting in ingenious, feasible and viable projects.
Engineering with impact
This was the inspiring theme of the Sustainability Camp recently organised by Schroeder & Associés in collaboration with the House of Startups.
About 50 participants among the employees of Schroeder & Associés, several engineering students included in the teams and a dozen experts from the startup ecosystem gathered in the House of Startups. Their mission was to develop a roadmap on the pillar of sustainability, the first pillar of Schroeder & Assoicés’ new 2030 strategy, unveiled last January.
With the motto “Engineering the Future Together”, the design office is showing its renewed ambition to put sustainability, respect for the environment and the well-being of all at the center of its projects. This desire to act at the source of problems to create a sustainable transition echoes the approach of the House of Startups in this area.
“We have the means and the responsibility to change things and it is our duty to do so for the next generations.”
Thierry Flies, Managing Director at Schroeder & Associés
Multi-sector innovation
A flagship project of the Luxembourg Chamber of Commerce, the House of Startups brings together actors of the Luxembourg startup and innovation ecosystem around technological development for a forward-looking economy. The House of Startups reflects one of the many facets of the Grand Duchy’s “pro-business” spirit, which has dynamic partners to support companies in their environmental and societal challenges. It is based on the Luxembourg Sustainable Principles, which mobilise Luxembourg companies around a common course for 2030 for this major strategic subject.
In his welcoming remarks, Philippe Linster, CEO of the House of Startups, said he was “delighted to contribute to a positive impact on decarbonisation, natural habitat and the circular economy,” the focuses chosen by the partners. He confirmed that “grasping the issues on the ground and analysing them through the startup prism, to test a solution according to agile principles, can only enrich the sustainable offer and its viability in an otherwise proven market.”
The House of Startups supports more and more companies in their innovation needs. As an example of open innovation, the “hackathon” is part of the range of expertise and services made available to partners. It highlights the unifying role of HoST, which does not hesitate to mobilise its expert contacts from the entire innovation ecosystem around a promising theme. Inviting students to the exercise reflects the desire to promote entrepreneurship among young people and to help train the talents of tomorrow.
Acting at the source
As essential links in the sustainable value chain, the employees of Schroeder & Associés were in the spotlight (at work and at the challenge too) during these two days to express their engineering creativity and propose new projects, divided into 10 interdisciplinary teams under the eye of one of the key players of the event at Schroeder & Associés, Martine Schummer.
“Because we are convinced that each of us must act at his or her own level to make things happen, we can, as a design office, act at the source of the problems to create the transition. We have the means and the responsibility to change things and it is our duty to do so for the next generations”, summarises Thierry Flies, Managing Director at Schroeder & Associés, echoing the 2030 Strategy of the socially responsible company.
Each team worked on an innovative project, in the presence of a dedicated coach from the world of innovation and partner of the House of Startups, to guide them according to the principle of the sustainable business model canvas. This model represented the whole business model; once completed, it allows participants to define the priorities by showing the steps to be taken and the areas of progress. The ideas were structured in the corridors and meeting rooms, at the food trucks on site for the occasion or by consulting experts, all in a cheerful and committed atmosphere. The Sustainability Camp was approached like a sporting events, combining performance and endurance.
At the end of two days, the Schroeder & Associés teams pitched their projects to a jury of five experts representing the engineering, circular economy and sustainable development ecosystem. Thierry Flies, Paul Schosseler, Michelle Friederici, Anne-Marie Loesch and Félix Giorgetti agreed to award the prize for the most innovative project to the Greengineers team for BI(O)M and its slogan “Seeding Nature Digitally”.
The most sustainable project title was awarded to the Impact team with the human being at the centre for an interdisciplinary advice and a transversal follow-up of the projects.
Finally, the proposal of “Heich eraus” won the public vote, in particular for its suggestions for risk mapping and solutions to be implemented in the PAPs.
The results were received with great enthusiasm and the three winning teams won invitations to the Change Now conference to be held in Paris in May.
The participants and organisers of the Sustainability Camp continued their discussions in a friendly atmosphere over cocktails at the end of the event.
