Connecting the Digital and the Ecological Transitions

In less than twenty years, the web - as a technology, cultural and innovation platform - has transformed the mindset and lifestyle of billions of people across the world. Now that climate change is setting us all such an exceptionally complex challenge, can the power of the web help us to develop new responses to climate change and, at the same time, build a more just and responsible world? Today, there are thousands of digital projects that create new opportunities for sustainable action. And every day sees the emergence of new and more accomplished proposals. Last January we launched IYWTo - a collaborative platform - to map and promote digital projects to transition to renewable energies; low-carbon transport; local, organic food; circular economy; environmental action and management of water use. In five months, we have mapped over 2,000 functional projects from several European countries and the US. Harnessing this very extensive database, we are now building a geo-localised application to give direct access to the projects for one’s personal sustainable goals, e.g. reduce car emissions and pollution by shifting from owning and using a car daily to multimodal mobility combining walking, public transport, bicycles, ride sharing, car sharing. Why we think a discovery platform is needed? With the exception of a few very successful sharing economy start-ups, like AirBnB, BlaBlaCar, Zip Car, the general public is still not aware of the many digital services that help to live more sustainably. The current IYWTo platform is designed to give visibility to and generate uptake of functional cleanweb innovations. It drives quality leads to start-ups and collects fees for referrals and marketing activities, like campaigns and promotions.