Creative refill solution awarded in Absolut Creative Space Hackathon

The Absolut Creative Space sustainability-hackathon took place this weekend in a pop-up studio made out of four blue shipping containers in Stockholm. During the three-day hackathon, sixteen innovators, creators, engineers and industrial designers were invited by The Absolut Company to come up with new ideas on how the company can find innovative solutions to its sustainability challenges. A creative refill solution was awarded by the jury.

During three hectic days, the sixteen participants got to work on everything from the production process and use of materials to distribution and getting more consumers to recycle their bottles.

On Sunday, the jury announced the winning idea. The jury consisted of Anna Schreil, Director Product Development and R&D at Absolut Vodka, Claes Bjäreholt, CEO of Smurfit Kappa Sverige AB, Ulf Skarin, Editor in Chief at Veckans Affärer, Fredrik Lundgren, CD Pond digital, Vincent Meunier, Director, Growth at The Absolut Company and Jean-François Roucou, Director of Sustainable Performance at Pernod Ricard.

“We invited a new generation of innovators to get an outside perspective and to find more areas of our business that can be improved and even more sustainable. In that aspect, Creative Space was a success and during the weekend we received many creative ideas which we will evaluate and see how we can integrate into our operations,” says Anna Schreil, Director Product Development, Realization and R&D at Absolut Vodka.

The winning team consisted of an engineer, two designers and a sustainability entrepreneur. The winning idea was a refill solution in eco-design that would optimize transports and have a great impact on sustainability. It was a disruptive innovation based on the brand’s long history and tradition of art and design.

The winning team:

• Karl Andreasson, engineer and course developer at the Centre of Environment Development studies at Uppsala University.

• Zsófia Réger, packaging designer from Nackademin, with a certain interest in eco-design and wrote her thesis on e-commerce packaging.

• Elle Nikishkova, sustainability entrepreneur who works with up-cycling in Uppsala. She is also passionate about human rights, especially in Russia, amongst other countries.

• Tien Pham, an industrial designer who works with laser cutters and 3D printers at Arduino Verkstad in Malmo, where he works with interaction design of educational products.

About Creative Space:

• On www.absolutcreativespace.com you can read more about Creative Space and monitor the project in real time.

• Creative Space will be located in Gröndal to July 4th, 2015. The work space can be packed up and shipped to a new market.

• Creative Space Hackathon on The Absolut Company’s sustainability challenges took place June 12^th to 14^th.

• On June 15^th to July 2^nd, Creative Space will open up for ”Creative Action for Good”.

• Creative Space is designed by the architects Charlotte Stuveback and Astrid Skog from Skog & Stuveback in collaboration with interior designer and stylist Åsa Rosén from Tweek Interior.