Festival visitors Le Guess Who? test sustainable and social innovations: a modular sofa, AI-powered waste bin and special chocolate
From Nov. 9 to 12, visitors to Utrecht music festival Le Guess Who? can help entrepreneurs by testing their sustainable and social innovations and providing feedback. The entrepreneurs, who can be found at festival headquarters TivoliVredenburg, want to use their innovative products to make a positive change in the sectors in which they operate. For example, circular sofa maker Kairos aims to reduce waste in the furniture industry, Sealed Cycle's artificial intelligence (AI)-driven waste bins help reduce the amount of residual waste from public spaces, and Mesjokke makes exceptional chocolate from a fair and transparent production process. The tests are accompanied by Innofest, which increases the success rate of innovation by giving entrepreneurs the chance to test their products and services at festivals.
During Le Guess Who? the following entrepreneurs are testing their innovation:
Kairos
The furniture industry has major challenges in terms of sustainability and circularity. In the Netherlands alone, we collect 247 million kilos of furniture waste annually. Only 10 percent of this huge mountain of discarded furniture is recycled, the rest ends up mainly in the incinerator. Kairos believes this should change and therefore developed a radically sustainable sofa. The seating is modular and made of high-quality and durable materials that retain their value. In this way, the sofa should last a lifetime. At Le Guess Who? they will explore with visitors how best to communicate their story and mission. During the festival Kairos will be on the second floor of TivoliVredenburg, against the glass wall.
With proper waste separation at the source, up to 85 percent of residual waste in (semi)public areas can be recycled. Yet this more often than not does not happen, resulting in valuable raw materials ending up in incinerators or landfills. This causes unnecessary CO2 emissions, fewer recycling options and higher waste disposal costs. Sealed Cycle has come up with a solution: a bin that makes it easier to separate waste using artificial intelligence (AI) At Le Guess Who? visitors can test the ease of use of this bin and provide feedback. Sealed Cycle will be on the sixth floor of TivoliVredenburg during the festival.
Mesjokke
The cocoa trade is opaque, with too many links between producer and consumer. Partly because of this, chocolate is a bulk product, with flavor variety minimized to sweet or bitter. The production chain also harbors various abuses, from child labor and modern slavery to exploitation and deforestation. Mesjokke does things differently. They buy only special varieties of cocoa, where the taste depends on the country of origin, the type of soil and the way the cocoa is fermented. For this cacao, they pay a fair price. Moreover, they make sure that they know exactly where it comes from and that there are good working conditions in the production chain. At Le Guess Who? they are testing a new product: the Mesjokke Couverture. This chocolate was created to be further processed by food professionals, for example into a cup of hot chocolate. Visitors can taste and judge this new product. Mesjokke will be on the second floor of TivoliVredenburg during the festival, against the balcony.
These tests are made possible by Gemeente Utrecht, Hogeschool Utrecht, ROM Utrecht Region, Startup Utrecht, Le Guess Who? and Innofest.