Eight Innovative Design Teams Named Winners of The Sustainable Markets Initiative’s 2024 Climate and Biodiversity Competition, Founded by His Majesty King Charles III and Designer Sir Jony Ive

• The Terra Carta Design Lab, judged by designer Sir Jony Ive, is a global competition inviting art and design students to design high-impact solutions to the climate and biodiversity crisis.
• 2024 winners include a solution to reduce the fuel consumption of container ships by up to 5%; an intelligent speed and animal detection system that prevents human-wildlife vehicle accidents; and a smart device that uses data on air pollution to assist patients with respiratory disease and inform policy decisions about air quality.
• Entrants come from the Dubai Institute of Design and Innovation (UAE), the National Institute of Design Ahmedabad (India), Rhode Island School of Design (USA) and the Royal College of Art (UK).

London, UK – December 9, 2024 – The Sustainable Markets Initiative’s Terra Carta Design Lab, launched in 2021 by His Majesty King Charles III and designer Sir Jony Ive, today announces the eight winners of its 2024 global design competition seeking student-led solutions to the climate and biodiversity crisis.

This year’s winners, chosen from a shortlist of 40 finalists, present solutions to a range of climate and biodiversity concerns including air pollution, wildfires, and circular fashion. They have been selected by Sir Jony Ive, designer of some of Apple’s most iconic products, Chancellor of the Royal College of Art, and founder of design collective LoveFrom; and Jennifer Jordan-Saifi, CEO of the Sustainable Markets Initiative. The winners are: 

• Airofi: A smart device for patients with chronic respiratory disease that collects real-time data on air pollution (Dubai Institute of Design and Innovation)
• BIOPOD: Ecosystem modules designed to remediate water quality and reintroduce vital fringe marshes into urban environments. (Rhode Island School of Design)
• BlueNose: Solutions to improve the aerodynamics of vessels, particularly container ships, in order to reduce their fuel consumption by up to 5%. (Royal College of Art)
• Fuze: A power-harnessing system that efficiently transforms energy generated while cycling into usable electricity (Dubai Institute of Design and Innovation)
• Pyri: An innovative, low-cost, wildfire detection system designed with remote, unprepared, and vulnerable communities in mind. (Royal College of Art)
• Shellf Life: A biomaterial made from discarded mollusk shells, offering a sustainable and visually striking alternative for use in construction and design. (Rhode Island School of Design)
• Statement Denim: A sustainable denim brand that turns post-production denim waste into stylish, affordable clothing while reducing industry waste. (National Institute of Design Ahmedabad)
• WildWatch: A speed control and wildlife detection system for animal crossing corridors on forest roads. (National Institute of Design Ahmedabad)

The winners of the Terra Carta Design Lab competition will each receive £100,000 in funding and mentorship to further develop their innovations, enabling the designs to be scaled and taken to market to tackle the issues they identify.

Jennifer Jordan-Saifi, CEO of the Sustainable Markets Initiative, said: “At the Sustainable Markets Initiative, we always want to drive ambitious and practical action to help the private sector accelerate its progress towards a sustainable future. The Terra Carta Design Lab competition truly exemplifies the possibilities of tackling the climate and biodiversity crisis when connecting design, engineering, innovation, technology and art, to develop impactful and commercially viable solutions.

“I want to congratulate the winners of the competition for their innovative and commercially-minded designs. Their optimistic, multi-disciplinary and multi-generational approaches to a variety of climate- and biodiversity-focused issues are truly inspiring and demonstrate the power of collective ideas and co-creation in transitioning to a sustainable future.”

Sir Jony Ive, Chancellor of the Royal College of Art and Terra Carta Design Lab Global Judge, said: “We are delighted with the momentum and impact of the Terra Carta Design Lab. The teams created innovative and practical solutions  describing their thinking and design proposals with a compelling clarity. This collective body of work is made more powerful and relevant with the perspectives of students from India, Dubai and the US, as well as the UK developing locally relevant ideas and approaches.”

Crystal Williams, President of Rhode Island School of Design, said: “It has been an incredible honour for RISD to participate in The Sustainable Markets Initiative’s second Terra Carta Design Lab competition. We congratulate the winning teams and are immensely proud of all RISD entrants and finalists. These RISD students and alums are putting our question-based approach to problem solving and solution finding into practice to envision a more equitable and sustainable world. I look forward to witnessing the development of RISD’s winning proposals, as well as the outcomes from projects by the Terra Carta Design Lab’s global cohort of innovative thinkers and makers.”

BIOPOD: "This milestone fuels BIOPOD’s dedication to develop ecological solutions that bridge technology and traditional wisdom. Together, we are excited to heal our Earth through collaborating with ecosystems for generations to come. We are honored and excited to bring BIOPOD to the world!"
Co-founders: Manini Banerjee 24 ID, Avantika Velho 22 ID
Team members: Malvika Agarwal 22 GD, Skylar Perez MArch 23, Joel Yong 25 ID

Shellf Life: "Winning the Terra Carta Design Lab confirmed what I suspected – sometimes the most powerful innovations are the simplest ones. I looked at our empty oyster, mussel, and clam shells differently. Instead of seeing trash, I saw everything we needed – strength, beauty, and a material that's been perfecting itself for millions of years. Now those shells that protected ocean life are protecting our homes, and our planet gets a little better and more beautiful with every seafood dinner."
Founder: Felicia Neuhof MArch 24
Team members: Jason Connell MFA 24 FD, Aleza Epstein MArch 24

For more details about each of the winning designs, visit here. 

– ENDS –

Media contacts

Sustainable Markets Initiative

James Kavanagh
Email: j.kavanagh@sustainable-markets.org

Jennifer Smit
Email: j.smit@sustainable-markets.org 

Notes to editors

About the Terra Carta Design Lab
Launched in 2021 by His Majesty King Charles III and Sir Jony Ive, in partnership with the Royal College of Art, the Terra Carta Design Lab recognises the opportunities of art and design in helping to address the climate crisis. With many traditional approaches falling short in addressing the dual threats to climate and biodiversity, making innovation from emerging talents more essential than ever. It is aligned to the Terra Carta, the guiding mandate of the Sustainable Markets Initiative. Read more about the Terra Carta: https://www.sustainable-markets.org/terra-carta/

About the Sustainable Markets Initiative
Founded by His Majesty King Charles III in 2020, then the Prince of Wales, the Sustainable Markets Initiative has become the world’s ‘go-to’ private sector organisation on transition.  Launched in 2021, the Terra Carta serves as the Sustainable Markets Initiative’s mandate with a focus on accelerating positive results for Nature, People and Planet through real economy action. Complementing the Terra Carta, the Astra Carta was launched in 2023 to support a default sustainable approach to space while leveraging space resources for sustainability on Earth.  Read more: www.sustainable-markets.org

About Sir Jony Ive and LoveFrom 
Sir Jony Ive KBE is a designer.

He joined Apple in 1992. As chief design officer, Jony was responsible for all hardware, user interface and packaging design, as well as the major architectural projects Apple Park and Apple retail stores. He led the design team for more than two decades, creating the iMac, PowerBook, MacBook, iBook, iPod, iPhone, iPad, AppleWatch, AirPods and HomePod. Co-founder Steve Jobs referred to Jony as his creative partner.

He holds more than 14,300 patents worldwide, uniquely spanning both software and hardware design. Jony currently serves as chancellor of the Royal College of Art, is frequently voted one of Britain’s most culturally influential figures.

In 2019, Jony gathered the creative collective LoveFrom, which includes designers, architects, musicians, filmmakers, writers, engineers and artists. The combined experience, achievement and recognition of these creatives is without precedent.

The collective has been working quietly together since 2019, announcing multi-year collaborations with Airbnb and Ferrari. It has studios in San Francisco and London.

About Rhode Island School of Design
RISD (pronounced “RIZ-dee”) is a creative community founded in 1877 in Providence, Rhode Island. Today, we enroll 2,518 students hailing from 57 countries. Led by a committed faculty, they are engaged in 44 full-time bachelor’s and master’s degree programs and supported by a worldwide network of over 31,000 alumni who demonstrate the vital role artists and designers play in today’s society. 

Beyond facts and figures, what is the spirit of this community? Through a cross-disciplinary curriculum of studio-based learning and rigorous study in the liberal arts, RISD students are encouraged to develop their own personal creative processes, but they are united by one guiding principle: in order to create, one must question. In cultivating expansive and elastic thinking, RISD seeks to activate a critical exchange that empowers artists, designers and scholars to generate and challenge the ideas that shape our world. RISD’s mission, at both the college and museum, is not only to educate students and the public in the creation and appreciation of works of art and design, but to transmit that knowledge and make global contributions. Visit risd.edu to learn more.