"Planeteers”, winner of the Gold Award (first runner-up), came up with a different approach to realize their same vision of cutting waste. In the light of the surging amount of plastic cutlery being dumped at the landfill as people order more takeaways during the COVID-19 pandemic, the team created a set of edible whole-grain spoons, forks, and chopsticks which can also be consumed upon the end of the meal.  The vegan and biodegradable cutlery is hopeful to replace 9 tonnes of non-environmentally friendly disposable cutlery, and, in the process, reduce carbon emissions equivalent to planting 11,000 trees by 2023.

In recent years, we see more submitted proposals not only focusing on technology and a profit-making business model, but also on creating values for the society. The HKUST Entrepreneurship Center has been actively promoting "social entrepreneurship" to facilitate students’ entrepreneurship development. We encourage students to integrate commercialization with social innovation, offering advice as to how social innovation projects can attain long-term business sustainability. 

John Mackey, co-founder and CEO of Whole Foods Market, says “Entrepreneurs are the true heroes……They solve problems by creatively envisioning different ways the world could and should be. ”

We believe that entrepreneurship is not only about making a business for profit, but creating value for society and helping people, which has become a powerful driver.

News and photos reference:
HK01 ICON - https://bit.ly/3g1ui3f (Chinese only)

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- Campus test run of HKUST edible cutlery start-up - Planeteers