The THRIVE project would like to extend our warm gratitude to Eléonore Blondeau & Rowan Blizzard for being guest presenters at our July  Thrivability Matters webinar. The theme of this webinar was the United Nations Sustainability Development Goal, SDG9 (Industry, Innovation, and Infrastructure).

About our speakers

Eléonore Blondeau is the co-founder of Collectif Startups Industrielles France, an organisation that aims to highlight the existence and help the development of the national startup ecosystem in favour of industrial projects, while supporting the industrial transition towards the integration of the pillars of the circular economy.

In 2015, she created CleanCup®, a turnkey solution that automatically distributes, collects, and washes reusable glasses on-site. Her goal is to eliminate the use of disposable cups. As well as improving how people consume them on campuses, businesses, and communities in the mean time. 

Rowan Blizzard is a sustainable housing expert with extensive experience in small businesses, materials supply, and providing technical advisory to the construction industry.

Rather than a conventional single strategy approach, he adopts a holistic multi-stakeholder approach to delivering change by working collaboratively across the entire supply chain. Our Thrivability Matters Podcast with Rowan on “Building Inclusive and Sustainable Cities”  can be found here.

Rowan brings diverse expertise to the table with knowledge and experience gained from over 30 years in the industry. Spanning from customer service, training, and development, sales and construction, business planning, accounts, and marketing. He has won several awards for personal, professional, and business achievements.

Summary of the webinar

Eléonore Blondeau on the topic of Circular Industry

Eleonore started her presentation with an introduction to the circular industry. As well as its role in driving change, and the associated impacts, both good and bad. She then went on to highlight the challenges around re-industrialisation, sovereignty, ecological transition, and digitalisation. 

Eleonore brought the audience through three use cases of circular industry, highlighting the various aspect of its application:

• Her first use case showcased R&D / Prototyping, pre-industrialisation, and mass production. 
• The second use case highlighted an eco-design approach at each value stage.
• Her last use case discussed the benefits of using a zero packaging supply chain.

Her presentation and final thoughts can be found here.

Rowan Blizzard on the topic of Innovation Starts From Within

Rowan commenced his presentation by explaining infrastructure and how the majority of the world’s resources are tied up in housing. He then went on to highlight that the best way for nature to thrive is not in such infrastructure locations.

Rowan then highlighted how we generally blame “large” corporations as a dominant player in the problem. However, it is also up to individuals to take on the responsibility, as consumers are the drivers of demand that fuels these big companies.

He then concluded that the solution to the issue is to identify what exactly our needs are in terms of housing or infrastructure, and then satisfy only those needs.

Conclusion

In summary, both Eleonore and Rowan concluded that we as individuals are part of the process and that it is up to us to combat and come up with solutions. Solutions don’t have to be expensive or highly technical, but collaboration amongst individuals and with companies is essential. 

If you missed out on the presentations or the live Q&A session, you could view the recording on our YouTube channel once it’s released.

Thanks, and do keep on thriving!

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Coming Up Next Month

Next month, we’re focussing on SDG14: Life Below Water and SDG15: Life On Land. We have an international ocean and environmental governance expert, Sunil Murlidhar Shastri, in the house as the first presenter at our webinar. Sunil will speak on the topic of “One Ocean, Three Approaches, Five Issues, Seven Solutions”. Register below and save the date!