Heathrow airport has launched a new Sustainable Innovation Prize, with a prize of £20,000 on offer for the best environmental innovation concept.
UK businesses and organisations are invited to submit ideas on “how to address the environmental challenges of airports and the aviation industry”, under one of three categories:
- Waste as a resource: Concepts that create value from waste water and waste materials at and around airports and in their supply chains.
- Sustainable and low carbon materials: Solutions which transform the environmental impact of the large quantities of construction materials used for Heathrow’s buildings and supporting infrastructure.
- Measuring and enhancing quality of life locally: Concepts that could help measure and improve quality of life for local communities, those living and working around the airport, taking into consideration wide ranging issues such as aircraft noise or employment opportunities.
Entries must be submitted by March 31 at yourheathrow.com/sustainability, and six finalists will be invited to give a ten-minute “Dragon’s Den” style pitch to a panel of senior Heathrow executives.
The winning concept will receive a prize of £20,000, as well as the opportunity to use Heathrow as a “live laboratory” to trial and develop the idea.
Commenting on the prize Heathrow Sustainability Director Matt Gorman said:
“We’re delighted to launch our sustainable Innovation Prize which will help us to uncover a host of creative ideas to solve business challenges and provide benefit to our passengers and local communities.
“This prize is an opportunity for us to attract talented organisations that are passionate about improving our environmental footprint and who can push us to think ‘outside the box’.
“The winning idea will become an integral part of our sustainability strategy – Heathrow 2.0 – and our plans to help us meet growing demand for our airport in a way that creates a positive impact on our community, environment and the UK economy.”
Heathrow recently launched a ten-week public consultation on proposed expansion at the airport – to take part visit heathrowconsultation.com.