Industry Blog > Contributors

Inês Sousa
Sustainable Minds

Inês Sousa has a track record of connecting product design and engineering with sustainability. In 2007, Inês co-founded Sustainable Minds, a software and information services company enabling product design organizations to create innovative and sustainable products. The company's mission is to bring sustainable product design into the mainstream in an accessible, empowering and credible way.

For her doctoral dissertation, Inês created a new approach based on machine learning algorithms to allow companies the timely incorporation of environmental assessment and lifecycle thinking up-front in their product development cycles. While at MIT she sparked relationships and managed collaborative work between the MIT CADlab, leading manufacturing and design companies, and European academic institutions. She worked with a number of companies, including Ford Motor Company, Scania (Södertälje, Sweden), Polaroid and Pininfarina (Torino, Italy), advising senior management and working in multi-disciplinary product design groups towards a systems approach that integrates environmental performance evaluation of product concepts with business goals and regulatory requirements.  Inês also integrated workshops, round tables and open discussions with the MIT Alliance for Global Sustainability (AGS) partners – academia, industry, government and civil society – as an active contributor to AGS initiatives putting forward methods and tools to support technology, policy design and education.

Prior to co-founding Sustainable Minds, Inês lead the knowledge management and intellectual property division at YDreams, a technology company headquartered in Portugal that is focused on the creative use of interactive media, location-based services and augmented reality. Previously, she worked with J. Ottman Consulting in New York City, a pioneer company in Green Marketing and Eco-Innovation, and was an independent consultant for Tellus Institute in Boston in a project spurring sustainable business practices in Mozambique. In addition, Inês has been volunteering for a number of environmental and community development non-profit organizations in the US, Brazil and Kenya.

Inês has published in a variety of internationally refereed journals and conference proceedings. She is currently a member of the American Center for Life Cycle Assessment (ACLCA) Certification Management and Technical Criteria Committees developing the management system and technical criteria for certification of Life Cycle Assessment Professionals in the US. Inês holds a Ph.D. in Environmental Systems Design, and a Master of Engineering in Environmental and Water Quality Engineering, both from MIT.

 

Selected publications:

Sousa, I. and Wallace, D., “Product Classification to Support Approximate Life-Cycle Assessment of Product Concepts”, Technological Forecasting and Social Change, 73(3), 2006, pp. 228-249.

Sousa, I., Eisenhard, J., Wallace, D., “Approximate Life-Cycle Assessment of Product Concepts using Learning Systems”. Journal of Industrial Ecology vol.4 issue 4, MIT Press, 2000, pp. 61-81.

Sousa, I., Lagerstedt, J., Luttropp, C., Wallace, D., “Functional and Environmental Product Attributes for New Car Concepts”, Proceedings 5th Intl. Conference on EcoBalance, Tsukuba, Japan, November 2002.

Sousa, I., Wallace, D., Borland, N., Deniz, J., “A Learning Surrogate LCA Model for Integrated Product Design”, Proceedings of CIRP 6th International Seminar on Life Cycle Engineering, Kingston, Canada, June 1999, pp. 209-219.
 

Top of mind

  • Technology and The Environment Sessions at the International Consumer Electronics Show hone in on some of the most important steps forward the CE industry has taken, from Energy Star advances to best practices in recycling and energy consumption. Las Vegas, Nevada, January 8-11, 2009

  •  Eco-designers are invited to submit their consumer electronics innovations for prizes and recognition at the Greener Gadget Conference, where industry luminaries meet to discuss the future of CE sustainability. Entry deadline is January 15, 2009. Conference will be held in New York, NY, February 27, 2009.

  • Americana International combines a conference program, trade show and international business matchmaking forum among environmental industries that include municipal and industrial wastewater, soil remediation and groundwater, ecoengineering, bioeconomy and life cycle analysis. Montreal, Canada, March 17-19, 2009.

  • Ethical Sourcing Forum North America 2009 spotlights sustainable business practices currently transforming global supply chains. Topics include sustainable purchasing, food, agriculture, and beverage sector, environmental measurement and monitoring and supply chain rating/reporting. New York City, March 26-27, 2009.

  • The Green Business Certification Workshop provides seminars on green marketing, developing partnerships and greening your operations. Participants receive Clean Air Green Business Certification from the Clean Air Institute. Ft. Collins, CO, January 30 – February 1, 2009.

  • The Green Travel Summit convenes a forum for corporate travel, meetings and incentive professionals, and progressive travel service providers to discuss the risks and rewards of building a sustainable travel and meetings strategy. Newport, CA, March 22, 2009.

  • The 8th International Electronics Recycling Congress offers a platform for government, business and academic participants to discuss how manufacturers can close the recycling loop. Salzburg, Austria, January 21-23, 2009.

  • 2009 Good Jobs, Green Jobs National Conference will forge an agenda for creating jobs and new technologies to reduce global warming, increase our energy independence and promote a healthful environment. This year's conference will also include a Green Jobs Expo. Washington DC, February 4, 2009.

  • Best marketing for sustainable energy will be awarded at the World Sustainable Energy Days 2009 conference, 25 – 27 February 2009, Wels/Upper Austria. Deadline for submission is 15 January 2009.

  • World Critical Resources Summit brings together 300 world leaders to facilitate solutions to sustain, expand, and protect the world's critical resources, including shelter, water, food, energy, medicine, and children. January 5th, 2009, New York.

  • A Greener Europe. The European Commission proposed a legislative package last month aimed at improving the environmental performance and energy efficiency of products and stimulating their market uptake.

  • Greener Chrysler Plant Expansion. From recycled paint sludge to replanted prairie grass, Chrysler incorporates environmentally friendly features in a Detroit plant.

  • High Tech, Low Marks. Global executives are concerned about climate change, but they aren't taking action in the supply chain that could address the issue and reduce costs, according to a McKinsey & Co report.

  • The Designer’s Field Guide to Sustainability, by our blog contributor Travis Lee, offers practical suggestions for incorporating sustainable thinking in everyday design.

  • Simplicity Saves the Day: BNN speaks with Paul Polak, founder, International Development Enterprises (IDE), a new for-profit company D-Rev, and author of Out of Poverty.

  • Carbon dioxide produced by the high-tech industry is expected to triple by 2020. Here’s how companies like Google, Cisco, HP, Sun, Intel and Microsoft are working to reduce global emissions.

  • A growing movement among designers, engineers, students and professors and architects is exploring designing and developing low-cost solutions for the 'other 90%'.

  • A new milk jug is green in almost every way – except consumers don’t like it. Here's how the manufacturer is educating consumers to change their perception.

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