At an award ceremony in the Konserthuset in Stockholm on September 1, Reselo was named the winner in the New Ideas category, which celebrates entrepreneurs of the future and ideas and initiatives with great potential. Moving Floor was crowned winner in the Transformation category, which targets companies that have made a significant change through internal transformation, external collaboration or that have impacted an entire industry. The IFS foundation was named the winner in the Community category, which celebrates associations and organizations that have made a big difference in society.
The jury's justifications
Reselo, winner of the New Ideas category
Reselo has developed a biorubber based on residual products from the forest industry. The company's products replace today's non-sustainable alternatives in the form of natural rubber and fossil-based variants. The company inspires through great ambitions to be at the forefront of sustainable economics and material supply.
Moving Floor, winner of the Transformation category
Agriculture and animal production account for a large climate impact in the form of gas emissions and eutrophication. With Moving Floor's solution, you can save water and reduce the need for antibiotics. In addition, nitrogen emissions in both air and soil are reduced. Moving Floor makes floor modules for farming where each module has a mat that rotates at programmed intervals and is scraped clean of manure. The goal is for the manure to be removed within two hours, which reduces the percentage of ammonia emissions by up to 85 percent.
The IFS Foundation, winner of the Community category
The IFS foundation is an important part of the Swedish ecosystem for entrepreneurship. Since 1996, they have annually awarded the Årets Nybyggare award to celebrate and make visible successful entrepreneurs with a foreign background. In addition to showing good role models, they also want to increase interest in entrepreneurship and inspire more people to start businesses.
The 2022 jury included:
Mia Brunell Livfors, president and CEO at Axel Johnson
Jenny Carenco, founder and CEO of Prosper Impact Consulting
Tom Dinkelspiel, chairman of Öhman and Nordnet
Eva Fors, head of Google Cloud in the Nordics
Moa Gürbüzer, founder of Oddbird
Kamjar Hajabdolahi, founder and partner at venture capital company Blq Invest
Henrik Henriksson, CEO of H2 Green Steel
Maija Inkala, from the Allbright Foundation
Johan Torgeby, president and CEO of SEB
About The Next Awards
SEB created The Next Awards 2021. It is awarded annually and contains three different categories that promote sustainable entrepreneurship in different ways – New Ideas, Transformation and Community. In addition to being a celebration, The Next Awards is also a way to support new ideas by providing the tools needed for the companies' continued development. In 2021, PlasticFri was named winner in the New Ideas category, Houdini Sportswear was named winner in the Transformation category, and Vägen ut! The cooperatives to winners in the Community category.
The New Ideas category is aimed at entrepreneurs of the future who are sitting on ideas and initiatives with great potential. The contestants in this category have a start-up company that contributes to a more sustainable world on a climate or societal level in its operations, and that, with an innovative approach and a proven business model, has the potential to become a role model in the industry. The winner receives, among other things, individual advice, access to a mentor for a year and a place at SEB's Innovation Forum, where you get the opportunity to pitch your idea to entrepreneurs who want to invest in new projects.
Within the Transformation category, companies that in recent years have made a significant change through internal transformation, external collaboration or that have influenced an entire industry are celebrated. The contestants in this category have, with their change, created clearly measurable effects that contribute to a better society and a more sustainable world on a climate or societal level. The winner gets, among other things, a place in a tailored education about sustainable business, sustainability analyzes of the company's pension plans as well as advice to the employees about their pension savings with a focus on sustainability.
The Community category celebrates those who have made a big difference in society. It is aimed at associations or organizations that have come up with a creative idea, a solution or an approach to a significant social problem, and that have created a clear social effect and contributed to increased sustainability from a social or environmental perspective. The winner receives a prize sum of SEK 250,000 as well as advice on social financing.
More information about The Next Awards is available at seb.se/nextawards.