Join us at the Circular Economy Roundup – Tuesday, October 16

Come help us celebrate the launch of ATI’s new Circular Economy Incubator! Learn from industry experts and entrepreneurs about real world solutions while moving in circles with Austin’s finest.

Meet leading Circular Economy companies: Wisetek, Remade, re:3D, and Leaf & Flour.

We’ll have food and drink and enjoy the inspiring surroundings of the Impact Hub north location.

Date: Tuesday, October 16
Time: 6:00 to 8:00 PM
Location: Impact Hub Austin, 5540 North Lamar Boulevard, Austin, TX 78756

FREE but please RSVP.

Agenda

6:00-6:15 PM – Introduction, acknowledgements, & incubator launch
6:15-6:45 PM – Keynote by Dr. Ahmed Ali: Circular Design for the Built Environment
6:45-7:15 PM – Company pitches (Wisetek, Remade, re:3D, Leaf and Flour)
7:15-8:00 PM – Panel with companies moderated by Daniel Kietzer

The companies

Wisetek
Christopher Scott, President

Wisetek USA specializes in supporting IT companies, manufacturers, data centers and client users in managing their end of life enterprise equipment to ensure sustainability and value recovery are maximized. Realizing re-use for original purpose or re-purpose is a Wisetek specialty.

Remade
Giulio Pappalardo

Remade is a market leader in the reconstruction and resale of premium smartphones. Since its founding, Remade has sold more than 2M reconstructed smartphones, reused ~65% of manufacturing waste, and by extending the smartphones’ life cycle has prevented more than 70K tons of CO2e from entering the atmosphere, in keeping with Circular Economy principles.

re:3D
Mike Strong, Chief of Staff

re:3D is committed to decimating the cost and scale barriers to industrial 3D printing. After pioneering the world’s first affordable, human-scale industrial 3D printer, re:3D is now enabling 3D printing directly from reclaimed plastics via pellets or regrind. re:3D is a social enterprise with customers in more than 55 countries around the world. Through the Gigaprize Competition, re:3D gives away one printer for every one hundred sold to people and organizations trying to make the world a better place through 3D printing.

Leaf and Flour
Jessica Brown, CEO

Leaf and Flour is designing solar-powered technology to reclaim the water and grain left over from the distilling process to grow produce and create nutritious baking flour. A single distillery in Austin generates over 64,000 gallons of water and grain per month. Leaf and Flour aims to divert these valuable resources from the landfill and create sustainable food for Texans.

The speakers

Ahmed K. Ali
Resource-Based Design Research Lab (RBDR), Texas A&M University

Ahmed K. Ali is an assistant professor of architecture and the founder and director of the Resource-Based Design Research Lab (RBDR) at Texas A&M University. The lab is dedicated to research and develop solutions for building components and assemblies designed and fabricated from the waste-flow and by-products from industrial manufacturing. The lab partners with the United States Business Council for Sustainable Development (US BCSD), the industry and other academic institutions in cross-disciplinary collaboration to design and assess new forms of architecture and products. Dr. Ali is currently leading a project with General Motors and Zahner to develop building skins, envelopes and roofing systems from GM by-product sheet metal.

Natalie Betts
City of Austin

Natalie Betts is the City of Austin’s Recycling Economic Development Program Manager. She oversees a partnership between the City’s Economic Development Department and Austin Resource Recovery to grow the zero waste industry in order to create well-paying local jobs, attract investment, and support the necessary infrastructure for a resilient circular economy in Central Texas. She has worked on economic development for the City of Austin for seven years and is a graduate of Emory University and the Indiana University School of Public and Environmental Affairs.

Daniel Kietzer
US Business Council for Sustainable Development

The US Business Council for Sustainable Development (US BCSD) is a national nonprofit business association focused on developing collaborative platforms, projects and partnerships to create and scale solutions to critical sustainability challenges. As Director of Operations at the US BCSD, Daniel Kietzer helps design and co-create sustainability initiatives with major manufacturers, small businesses, governments, universities, nonprofits and entrepreneurs around the US. This includes multiple Materials Marketplace projects to develop and scale new reuse and recycling market opportunities; reuse and recycling entrepreneurship programming in Austin, Texas; water and coastal resiliency projects for the Louisiana and Texas gulf coast; and energy efficiency in buildings projects in major cities across the US.

Thanks to our sponsors, the City of Austin and Wells Fargo, for their generous support.