GI goes business Award 2022
GI goes business Award 2022
The Green Infrastructure goes business award was initiated by EUSALP (EU Strategy for the Alpine Region) Action Group 7 “Green Infrastructure” (GI). The pilot edition, running from autumn 2021 to spring 2022, received almost 40 submissions from six alpine countries. An international jury selected six winner teams plus two projects with special recognition. The winners received a business coaching and participated in the Awarding Ceremony in Bolzano in May 2022.
The pilot was financially supported by the German Federal Agency for Nature Conservation.
Winners 2022
CONGRATULATIONS!
BIDI Biodiversitätsgutscheine (Switzerland)
Biodiversity in the hands of farmers; Gebrüder Woerle (Austria)
Bramberger fruit press (Austria)
RUMA - Rural Urban Metabolism Agency (Italy)
Stadtpflanzen (Germany)
Transition Woods (Germany)
More information about the winners is available below.
Special Recognition
Two further submissions were ranked high by the jury due to their positive impact on green infrastructure. They are not among the winners since they focus less on the business aspect. However, we would like to acknowledge their work. Congratulations!
CANALE GRANDE | Gerold Strehle - Büro für Architektur und Umweltgestaltung (Austria)
Kulturlandschaftspreis (Switzerland)
Awarding Ceremony 2022
The awarding ceremony took place on 13 May 2022 in Bolzano, Italy. The winning teams met the members from EUSALP Action Group 7 “Green Infrastructure” and the EUSALP Youth Council. The teams pitched their business and what they have learnt from the coaching process. The certificates were handed to the teams by Dr. Bettina Hedden-Dunkhorst (German Federal Agency for Nature Conservation) and Robert Winkler (Bavarian State Ministry of the Environment and Consumer Protection).
After the ceremony we held a networking session at a local winery. The teams exchanged their business ideas with like-minded experts from different alpine countries. It was a great success and we were honoured to have Arno Kompatscher (President of the Autonomous Province of Bolzano) at the event.
Article about the ceremony by Südtirol News (in German).
Winners
BIDI Biodiversitäts-gutscheine
Get BIDI for working to increase biodiversity. Then use the BIDI to buy stuff in local shops. Fee on transactions converts BIDI to SFR. This allows the local circular economy to generate a monetary value for biodiversity. It also creates a sense of identification of people with their local biodiversity.
Biodiversity in the
hands of farmers
Protecting natural areas for insects and preserving diversity. In 2019, Gebrüder Woerle GmbH has launched the lighthouse project "Biodiversity in the hands of farmers" together with its farming families. Companies, farmers and external experts work together with the regional population to counteract the dramatic decline of native animal and plant species.
Bramberger fruit press
Various projects around the apple serve to raise awareness for regionality, climate and environmental protection, the preservation of orchard meadows and for sustainability and grandchild-friendly management. Particularly noteworthy is the project "apple pomace powder", where a high-fiber food (upcycled food) is created from the fruit press residue of apple juice.
RUMA - Rural Urban Metabolism Agency
RUMA calculates the ecological footprint of architectural and infrastructural projects, events, and systems promoting local emission offsetting projects and strategies.
Stadtpflanzen
Our future is edible! Stadtpflanzen provides sustainable solutions for food growing, delivers hands on education and workshops and creates edible and insect-friendly spaces in urban areas. Edible landscaping is an innovative field of business and research, in order to adverse the impact of climate change and critical logistic factors.
Transition Woods
We are a nature conservation/non-profit organisation which intends to restore the natural plant diversity of forests. Forests are (likewise) habitat for animal, plants and humans. Our approach is to provide all of the above mentioned products, we also offer the harvesting of timber in a none invasive sustainable method.
Special Recognition
CANALE GRANDE
An ecological and functional improvement of the Vorarlberg Rheintal Binnenkanal. With one single measure (within the current “RHESI” flood protection project), 24 km of river landscape can be ecologically renovated and unique functions can be developed in the middle of an urban area of 80,000 inhabitants.
Kulturlandschafts- preis
Since 2005, an annual prize for particularly valuable cultural landscapes has been awarded in the eastern Bernese Oberland. The prize is innovative since tourism organisations explicitly recognise farmers for their contribution to the landscape – and both benefit from each other.
Jury
Johann Schmid, Chamber of Agriculture Salzburg, Austria
Thibault Daudigeos, Grenoble School of Management, France
Linda Schrapp, University of Applied Sciences Weihenstehan-Triesdorf, Germany
Luca Cetara, Lombardy Foundation for the Environment, Italy
Irena Bertoncelj, Agricultural Institute of Slovenia, Slovenia
Angelika Abderhalden, UNESCO Biosfera Engiadina Val Müstair & Fundaziun Pro Terra Engiadina, Switzerland