News & events
Kent State choose Sustainable Minds and SM partner, MAGNET, is teaching the course.
Learn more >
Kenneth Wong from Desktop Engineering interviews Ken Harris, fredsparks design, about how they use Sustainable Minds to drive greener product innovation. See the full greener eyewear story here >
Commentary on this article from Sustainable Minds:
Including Solidworks' and Autodesk's sustainability products in this article nicely conveys the options a design engineer has for making informed decisions while working in CAD.
Sustainable Minds users include CAD users, but many are not, or they are not using CAD at the point in the development process when they are using Sustainable Minds. Additionally, Sustainable Minds is used to design non-mechanical products, like flooring, packaging and apparel.
Sustainable Minds is eco-concept modeling software that delivers actionable LCA-based results. Product teams can benchmark, create and compare an unlimited number of concepts, changing up any input in any stage of the product's lifecycle, not just an alternative to a part or sub-assembly.
Sustainable Minds is used by product manufacturing teams to:
• Benchmark existing products
• Win new business (See Spartech strategic customer announcement >)
• Drive product innovation in R&D and concept development
• Analyze feasibility of logistics & reuse
• Respond to customer reporting requirements
Sustainable Minds' focus this quarter will be on data. Watch for our release later this month. Sustainable Minds is a SaaS solution and our ability to create and add custom data for users, specific to their supply chain or manufacturing processes, is key.
Core77 asked 5 students to take Autodesk's Sustainability Workshop for a test spin, investigating the workshop and using Sustainable Minds software to incorporate what they'd learned in a re-design of a commonplace object. In the fourth installment of the series, Core77 looks at San-Francisco-based Marc Levinson (California College of the Arts, B.F.A. in Industrial Design) and his Lili Tea Infuser.
Great article by Bresslergroup and their process for pioneering product innovation through environmental performance. Read on Sustainable Brands >
Join SM CEO Terry Swack in this panel session on strategic partnerships. They might be the most critical business decision your company can make. Strategics help you create a realistic vision, develop new markets and distribution channels, connect with the right people, and provide capital. As clean energy venture and government funding becomes more elusive, strategics can be essential to your growth -- but your company could become a comma in their business plan. How do you navigate these waters to create success for both companies?
Join us to hear the experiences and challenges of folks who have been on either side of the table. In a candid conversation, you will learn:
* Will a strategic alliance really help your start-up grow?
* How do you determine your best partner?
* What are Strategics looking for in an entrepreneur?
* Key factors for getting the most value from your strategic alliance.
* Critical lessons learned - what they would do differently the next time.
Location: UK Trade & Investment, 7th Floor, One Broadway, Cambridge, MA
Moderator:
Bic Stevens, Principal, Stevens Capital Advisors
Speakers:
Entrepreneurs - ·
Terry Swack, Founder and CEO, Sustainable Minds ·
John McCarthy, CEO, Qteros
Strategics - ·
Domenic Armano, Director of Strategy and Innovation, Johnson Controls ·
Heather Takle, Director, M&A and Corporate Development, Ameresco
Join SM LCA Technical Expert, Joep Meijer at the Research, Innovation and Science for Engineered Fabrics conference, the premier event for the nonwovens industry. Joep will be teaching the ground-breaking workshop 'Greener Product Development for the Nonwovens Industry' to equip companies with the knowledge and skills to look at raw materials processes, fabric production, product packing and product supply to understanding the environmental performance of its products.
To register visit http://www.inda.org/events/rise11/
Join SM CEO Terry Swack at the American Center for Life Cycle Assessment's annual international event. Terry will be teaching the workshop 'LCA for Product Design', an introduction to eco-concept modeling and LCA for product development professionals.
To register visit http://lcacenter.org/lca-xi.aspx
Collaboration Creates Comprehensive Data Set for Plastics Processors,
Read press release >
Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) is increasingly pushing towards the cloud and Software as a Service (SaaS). Al Dean takes a look at one of the industry’s pioneers. Read more >
Sustainable Minds enables product development teams to rapidly model the environmental performance of new product concepts in the earliest stages of design. Key to this process is to have access to a broad and deep set of current life cycle environmental impact data. Science improves and so does the data. Sustainable Minds’ SaaS delivery means data can continually be updated and new data added so product teams have what they need, when they need it.
Join SM CEO Terry Swack, and other leaders in environmental performance software at The Design and Sustainability (DaS) Symposium. DaS is a leadership exploration of the future of design and sustainability software for sustainable products, infrastructure, and environments. COFES is a unique gathering of leaders representing diverse industry sectors with strategic interest in software. The DaS Symposium exists within that community to focus on sustainability. It reaches across disciplines and industries as it explores solutions to the sustainability challenge.
The goal of the DaS Symposium is to bring sustainability to the forefront of the conversation among software developers and to look for opportunities and issues that may be best served by the industry as a whole, rather than by individual players within the industry. We hope to inspire, raise awareness, build relationships and seek sustainable synergies.
Founding members of The DaS Symposium include Autodesk, buildingSMART Alliance, CIFE, Cyon Research, Gensler, PTC, Siemens, SolidWorks, and Sustainable Minds.
It's fun & you might find out a few sustainability facts you didn't know. Please download and review!
Terry Swack will be following James Carville, 'America’s Best-Known Political Consultant', on the PMI Spring Conference Agenda.
PMI is a trade association of plumbing products manufacturers. Its member companies produce most of the nation’s plumbing products. The association functions as a sounding board for its members, a source for industry and market information, and as a coordinating and decision-making body for dealing with industry issues. It is active in many arenas as it helps develop and maintain standards and codes, and works closely with government agencies at all levels – federal, state and local.
Membership in PMI is open to manufacturers of plumbing industry products including potable water supply system components, fixture fittings, waste fixture fittings, fixtures, flushing devices, sanitary drainage system components, and plumbing appliances, which are marketed and sold within the territorial limits of the NAFTA countries.
Sustainable Minds is proud to be sponsoring Compostmodern 2011, a conference dedicated to transforming products, industries, and lives through sustainable design choices. Presented by AIGA San Francisco, this interdisciplinary design conference is a world-class event and a reference point for the design profession.
The two-day event, building upon the success of the conference in 2009, will have an inspiring line-up of speakers, as well as networking sessions, opportunities for open discussion, and platforms for launching real-world projects.
Join Sustainable Minds in helping design a more sustainable future. For tickets and more information visit www.compostmodern.org.
Would you like to work with Sustainable Minds? Two positions are available: Sales & Business Development Lead and Inside Sales Representative. Learn more >
Join SM CEO, Terry Swack, at the KEEN Faculty Workshop where she'll be teaching a module on greener product innovation. This workshop is made possible by The Kern Family Foundation, who created the Kern Entrepreneurship Education Network (KEEN)
in 2005 as a collegiate initiative to complement efforts at the K-12 level to increase the quantity and quality of U.S. engineering talent. KEEN's mission is to graduate engineers equipped with an action-oriented entrepreneurial mindset who will contribute to business success and transform the U.S. workforce.
The long-term goal is for these new engineers to catalyze a transformation in the workforce and to build economic and technical commerce in their communities. This focus on entrepreneurial leaders is increasingly important as the U.S. competes to maintain its economic position in a global marketplace based on innovation.
This faculty short course has been developed for faculty members who fully accept that entrepreneurial education should be incorporated into the undergraduate engineering and technical curriculum.
To register, please email Karen Cartwright, kcartwright-at-kffdn.org.
This conference will explore the environmental challenges facing users and producers of plastics packaging and identify innovative solutions that meet demanding sustainability and economic criteria. Join SM CEO, Terry Swack, to learn how to 'Design greener products right, from the start .' http://www.sustainableplasticspackaging.com/
Designing greener products is not a one-size-fits-all tool kind of problem. Join Cadalyst editor-in-chief Nancy Johnson for a stimulating panel discussion. Panelists will include software executives and product managers who have been selected for their divergent software solutions. Plenty of time will be allotted for attendees to lob questions at the panel. Register for free >
PMI's first Career Clinic of the 2010-2011 season will focus on how to better transition a career from industry to industry. Join SM CEO, Terry Swack, as she shares her insights on 'Making a Career that Matters'. http://www.pmimassbay.org/content/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=182&Itemid=315
Sustainable Minds is sponsoring American Business Conferences’ ninth event in its International Sustainability Series. This summit has evolved to meet the demands of today’s environmental affairs and CSR leaders, and for the first time engineering and product design experts as well.
Based on feedback from the previous eight events, and months of in depth research with multi-national companies in the consumer goods, electronics and industrial markets, this event aims to present a truly unique approach to addressing companies’ sustainable product design objectives. The Summit offers an incredible line-up of practitioner-led industry case studies analyzing sustainability throughout the product life cycle.
Registrations received by August 20, 2010 are entitled to a $400 discount.
Organizations that wish to learn more about how product design can contribute to sustainability are encouraged to attend the Summit in teams – Sustainability Directors attending with members of their Design team may apply for a further, team discount.
For more information on this groundbreaking Summit, visit the website, email info[at]American-business-conferences.com or call 800 721 3915.
Tune in at 11:00 -12:00pm PT to hear Joep Meijer present a technical demonstration of Sustainable Minds. Novedge, the leading CAD e-tailer, has been fostering a community of CAD professionals and students through online collaboration, communication and connection for some time now. Their efforts include creating and managing VectorWorking.com, RhinoJungle.com, SpaceClaiming.com as well as a slew of webinars and training sessions. Register here >
Taking their leading involvement in this endeavor to the next level, Novedge has announced the launch of its The Best of the Best Webinar Series. This ongoing, bi-weekly series will feature some of the leading CAD educators as well as tutorials on a variety of products.
An example of topics covered include:
- Architecture
- BIM
- Sustainability
- Engineering
- Landscape Design
- 3D Modeling
- Rendering
- Light Design
Novedge LLC is a privately held company based in San Francisco, CA whose mission is to revolutionize the way people buy design software. Through its state of the art online web store, Novedge offers the largest selection of design, animation and graphics software while providing customers with more options and freedom in selecting the best products for their needs. Combining its large catalog and extensive knowledge of design software Novedge is also uniquely able to offer unbiased advice to customers looking for new solutions.
Through Novedge customers can now find the best design software for their needs and have it delivered to their desks faster and better than it was ever possible.
Meet all of the PRG's members in an informal setting and learn about the services PRG has to offer, including the new PRG Certificate Program. Join Sustainable Minds at the CleanTech Roundtable which includes representatives from Ops A La Carte, NPI Solutions, Product Management Consulting Group, Wright Engineered Plastics and SolarVision.
Visit website >
If you're attending the IDSA International Conference in Portland, Oregon, we invite you to join us on a private Willamette River cruise to Modern Edge, one of Portland's leading strategic product design firms, while enjoying vistas of Portland and Mt. Hood with your fellow designers. Contact us to RSVP.
Design Greener Products Right – From the Start There is no such thing as a 'green' product. All products use materials and energy, and create waste. There is no explicit definition of what ‘green’ means. Industry groups and third-party certifiers are working on definitions and standards, but, as yet, there is no standardized set of metrics to qualify a product as ‘green.’ The best we can do is make products greener than the ones we make today!
Taking a life cycle approach, you can use multiple strategies in multiple life cycle phases to improve environmental performance. This webinar is designed for members of a project, management and consulting teams. They will to gain greater insight into how to integrate and measure ecodesign and DfS strategies.
Join our director of Sustainability Services, Kimi Ceridon at the Aspen Ideas Festival. On July 9, she will be discussing "Creating Sustainable Systems: How Do We Green Our Supply Chains?" with Coca-cola, Walmart and Mars. It is sure to be a lively discussion. Keep your eye out for a roundtable that is coming together for the festival on 'What does sustainability mean to you?'
Co-sponsored by MAGNET, the Cleveland Engineering Society, PDMA NE Ohio Chapter, WIRE-Net and Sustainable Minds, this two-part webinar and workshop, you will learn how companies are developing a competitive advantage with eco designed products. http://www.magnetwork.org/email/100601_webinar/100601_webinar.html
Join the Los Angeles chapters of PDMA and IDSA in an evening exploring best practices in sustainable product development - industry experts share their tools, tips, tricks and secrets. Sustainable Minds is proud to be the sponsor of this event! http://www.pdma.org/chapter_events_detail.cfm?pk_event=574
LCA Sustainable Supply Chain Summit, in Chicago, explores how leading multinationals are accounting for and reducing the life cycle impacts of their products. Case studies: BT Americas, Alcatel, Texas Instruments, Verizon and Motorola share their experiences in attempting to reduce their social and environmental impacts. Sustainable Minds is an exhibitor along with other notable companies such as CA and PricewaterhouseCoopers.
The IDSA Northeast District Conference in Union, NJ is themed “CoCreate” and offers a stellar speaker roster including presentations by and about leading companies like Sesame Street, Project H, Converse, Fast Company and Sustainable Minds. Read more >
COFES/DaS Symposium in Scottsdale, AZ, which explores the intersection of design, simulation, and sustainability for the built and manufactured environment, Terry Swack, founding member and Sustainable Minds CEO will present on the integration of sustainability into the design process and design software. Read more >
The 2010 IDSA Southern District Conference In Charlotte is themed “Mass Reduction: The Economy of Design” and features speakers like Marty Gage, John Bielenberg, Paul Reeder and Sustainable Minds CEO Terry Swack. The conference explores the idea that good design is as little design as possible. Read more >
Prelude to COFES 2010: Terry Swack on Sustainability [Podcast]
Cleveland OH: Develop critical ecoDesign skills at a workshop sponsored by MAGNET and Sustainable Minds. Learn how to apply ecoDesign principles into the product innovation process, and gain a practical understanding of life-cycle assessment (LCA) in the design process. Learn more >
Cambridge, MA: WebInno invites the area’s top web and mobile tech startups to demo their products at their monthly event. SM will provide informal demonstrations to the networking crowd.
Register to attend — it’s free >
New York, NY: Greener Gadgets Conference tackles all of the issues surrounding energy efficiency and sustainable design, from innovative advances in packaging and product manufacturing to end-of-life recycling solutions. It also highlights ways in which electronics make a major impact by utilizing renewable energy in developing nations. Visit us in our booth!
Join panelists, including Nobel Prize winner Dr. Woodrow W. Clark II, and Terry Swack, CEO of SM, to discuss what it means to be green today, market drivers and the evolution of corporate-level green initiatives. Learn more >
MAGNET (The Manufacturing Advocacy & Growth Network) is focused on helping manufacturing and technology-based companies in Ohio adopt innovative methods and technologies. This partnership will bring ecodesign and sustainability practices, expertise and software to help advance the adoption of greener product design practices for manufacturers.
Learn more >
PLM industry analyst, Jim Brown, in his blog ‘Clarity on PLM’ (Clarity on software for innovation, product development, engineering, and manufacturing) recently reviewed Sustainable Minds. His review focuses on the LCA concepts embodied in Sustainable Minds LCA software. Notable quote: “The key to what Sustainable Minds offers is the ability to help companies make design trade-offs based on objective impact criteria.” Read >
This IDSA/Sustainable Minds partnership brings together LCA software, and ecodesign information and education to help IDSA members get the knowledge, tools, and value systems in place to support greener product design practices. Read the full press release >
Industry thought leaders will come together at UCLA to explore the latest in sustainable strategies and discuss the emerging best practices for growth in the new green economy. Visit us in our booth!
The Product Development and Management Association's conference is designed to inspire change within new product development, management, and innovation disciplines, and uncover the next generation best practices. Visit us in our booth!
Sustainable Minds is proud to be the Summit Sponsor! The world's most distinguished academic and professional educators are convening to explore the topic of design education and sustainability and to create a new path for undergraduate and graduate design programs to integrate sustainability.
Terry will be participating in the The Women's Entrepreneurship Panel to discuss the challenges and rewards that women entrepreneurs encounter in their careers. The panel will be moderated by Candida Brush, Chair of the Entrepreneurship Department and founder and Director of the Council for Women's Entrepreneurship and Leadership (CWEL) at Babson.
Environmental life cycle professionals, industry, government, and NGO's come together to discuss life cycle approaches to sustainability, both from a technical and from a practical viewpoint. Visit our display! http://www.lcacenter.org/LCA9/index.html
Domestic and international attendees across diverse disciplines will exchange ideas, opinions and insights. Visit us in the Autodesk booth! http://www.idsa.org/ProjectInfusion/
Join Terry and many notable presenters for case studies and advice to help drive competitive differentiation with individual products and supply chain capability, with particular focus on consumer products and high-tech products. http://www.greentechmedia.com/events/live/greening-the-supply-chain/
Sustainable Minds teams with Autodesk to address growing sustainable product design market opportunity.
Release 1.0 of Sustainable Minds LCA software is almost here. Take a tour with Rob as he learns how to design greener products with SM LCA and Autodesk Inventor.
Net Impact Boston uses the power of business to make a positive social, environmental, and economic impact. Join Terry in Net Impact Boston's CleanTech Dinner Discussion Series for July. http://netimpactboston.org/2009/07/13/july-22-green-product-design-tools-for-making-informed-choices-right-from-the-start/
The pre-eminent event for discussing the rapid rise of sustainability as a driver for revenue growth and brand equity in the 21st century. We announced SM at this event last year. http://www.sustainablelifemedia.com/events/sb09
Wal-Mart, Sustainable Minds and Clear Standards discuss how they are translating the concept of 'sustainability' into success metrics and tools that drive sustainable packaging, design and environmental impact reporting.
Moderated by Marc Gunther, Forbes Magazine with:
• Rand Waddoups, Senior Director of Business Strategy and Sustainability, Wal-Mart
• James Sullivan, Former Director, U.S. EPA Climate Leaders Program Vice President of Advisory Services, Clear Standards/SAP
• Terry Swack, CEO & Co-founder, Sustainable Minds
The Design and Sustainability (DaS) Symposium will explore how different sectors are facing the sustainability challenge and discuss areas of common ground, and the drivers behind an increasing need for a tight feedback loop between software and designers at the earliest stages of design. After keynoting on this topic at COFES last year, Terry will kick off the symposium with the session on ‘Integrating Sustainability into the Design Process’ where she will discuss the ideas behind Sustainable Minds, and introduce the emerging 'sustainability performance software' sector. Founding members of The DaS Symposium include Autodesk, Building Smart Alliance, CIFE, Cyon Research, Gensler, Siemens, SolidWorks, and Sustainable Minds.
Terry to make a guest appearance along with other CAD/CAM industry leaders and luminaries. David Heller, editor at MCADCafe.com says, "I expect a good size audience with lots of questions, and it should be fun!”. Check out the video.
o2NYC has started a learning group whose goal is to understand life cycle assessment, and to develop skills as design professionals to provide the systems thinking approach and holistic understanding that LCA provides. Terry will discuss and demonstrate how or life cycle thinking and assessment can become a key part of the design process.
Terry will be a panelist in this event from TiE's software SIG. The discussion will explore how the power of Information and Communication Technology can be leveraged to fight against climate change while improving quality of life; and how the current economic downturn and President Obama's focus on renewable energy create exciting opportunities in Green IT. http://www.emergingenterprisecenter.com/events/eventsdetail.aspx?eID=2853