Crafting Tomorrow’s Luxury : Kering x Plug and Play Sustainable Innovation Award
Kering Generation Sustainable Innovation Award in China.
About Kering
A global Luxury group, Kering manages the development of a series of renowned Houses in Fashion, Leather Goods, Jewelry and Watches: Gucci, Saint Laurent, Bottega Veneta, Balenciaga, Alexander McQueen, Brioni, Boucheron, Pomellato, DoDo, Qeelin, Ulysse Nardin, Girard-Perregaux, as well as Kering Eyewear. By placing creativity at the heart of its strategy, Kering enables its Houses to set new limits in terms of their creative expression while crafting tomorrow’s Luxury in a sustainable and responsible way. We capture these beliefs in our signature: “Empowering Imagination”. In 2020, Kering had over 38,000 employees and revenue of €13.1 billion.

What is the focus?
- The second edition of the Kering Generation Award focuses on biodiversity and beyond,seeking startups working in the areas of ensuring clean water, building healthy soil,supporting wildlife and animal welfare as well as empowering people withknowledge of links between fashion and nature:
- Ensuring clean water: Freshwater ecosystems and the wildlife that depend onthem are some of the most endangered in the water. One of fashion’s biggestimpact is through the chemical pollution that flows from some of itsmanufacturing processes into river and the ocean. Innovations of printing &dyeing, tanning process, green chemistry can avoid chemical pollution.
- Building healthy soil: Healthy soil is the most fundamental “ecosystem service”,as much of food and fashion material are produced through agriculture.Innovation of regenerative agriculture and precision agriculture can improve soilhealth in agriculture.
- Supporting wildlife and animal welfare: Most farming does not allow nativewildlife to flourish and/or move across the landscape. Also, many modern dayintensive farming practices are fundamentally not suited to ensuring the bestwelfare for animals. Innovative approaches can support conservation of natureand animal welfare.
- Empowering people with knowledge of links between fashion and nature:Ultimately the only way to transform fashion’s impacts on nature to somethingpositive will be through building awareness with clients and consumers. Innovative communication on “authentic” sustainability, sustainable design andtraceability can educate and inspire consumers for their fashion choices that cansupport nature.
What is the prize for the three winners?
Targeted introductions
Targeted introductions to industry leaders and investors, as well as access to funding opportunities
Meetings and mentorship from Kering Group members
Meetings with and mentorship from Kering sustainability experts and other industry experts
Access to Kering and Plug and Play’s network
Access to Kering and Plug and Play’s network
Introduction to investors and funding opportunities
Tap into our contacts and meet the investors in our network.
About Plug and Play
The former entity of Plug and Play was founded at No. 165 University Avenue, Palo Alto, CA in 1998. We have successfully invested and incubated a number of Internet giants including Google, PayPal, and Dropbox. Plug and Play was formally established in Silicon Valley in 2006. Now we have co-working spaces and regional offices in more than 28 countries and regions worldwide. We have invested in nearly 1,000 startups and provided innovation services for over 300 Fortune 500 Companies.
Founded in 2015, Plug and Play China currently has four innovation centers in Beijing (headquarter), Shanghai, Chongqing, and Shenzhen. There are five main business sectors across our platform including investment, corporate innovation, startup incubation and acceleration, cross-border innovation, and co-working space. We have formed China's leading innovation ecosystem online and offline, and
created a multi-dimensional open innovation platform including university, government, venture capital, innovation research lab, and city innovation partner.

About China Europe International Business School (CEIBS)
China Europe International Business School (CEIBS) was co-founded by the Chinese government and European Union (EU) in 1994, with Shanghai Jiao Tong University and the EFMD serving as its executive partners. CEIBS has campuses in Shanghai, Beijing, Shenzhen, Accra in Ghana, and Zurich in Switzerland. As China’s only business school to originate from government-level collaboration, CEIBS is committed to educating responsible leaders versed in “China Depth, Global Breadth” in line with its motto of “Conscientiousness, Innovation and Excellence”. Leaders from the Chinese central government and the EU, respectively, have lauded CEIBS as “a cradle of excellent executives” and “a role model of EU-China co- operation”. Over the past quarter century, as the Chinese economy has gained more global influence, CEIBS has evolved from introducing and interpreting classic management theory from the west, to shaping and disseminating Chinese management expertise in an era of globalization. It has grown into not only a leading business school in Asia, but also an important platform for economic and cultural exchange between China, the EU, and the world.

How does it work?
We are looking for seeking early-stage innovations in the areas of ensuring clean water, building healthy soil, supporting wildlife and animal welfare, as well as empowering people with knowledge of links between fashion and nature. Candidates should be incorporated in the Greater China area or who have at least one key team member in the region.
The jury consists of leading industry figures in the fields of fashion, luxury, entrepreneurship, academia, sustainability and innovation, in addition to an advisory board comprising leaders in business and sustainability. With the help of the advisory board, the jury will determine finalists against five criteria: innovation, relevance to fashion, impact, maturity and cost-efficiency.
Finalists will be invited to attend an Accelerator Workshop, co-organized by CEIBS and Kering for entrepreneurship capability training. The finalists will also attend a Pitch Day hosted by Plug and Play to present in front of the jury members. There will be three winning start-ups.
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