Author: Katerina Panagi

The Loop Co. is a Portuguese technology company specialising in Circular Economy business models. The company has developed a software and logistics solution, LoopOS, which enables brands and retailers to establish reuse pathways for their products. The system operates with durable goods, reducing carbon footprint and generating new revenue streams for companies through the sale of reconditioned products.

Main activities:

• BabyLoop is a platform for buying and selling childcare items. It brought the best e-commerce practices to the second-hand market, ensuring secure payments and billing, fast deliveries, return and warranty policies and quality control on all products.

• Book in Loop is an online bookstore that aims to make back to school season more sustainable and affordable. In addition to selling new and used school textbooks, as well as sustainable school supplies, it also allows for the purchase and sale of graphing calculators.
  
• FiberLoop is an intelligent monitoring solution that uses fibre optics to simultaneously measure temperature and humidity over kilometres of length. Thousands of points are acquired with just one acquisition system and one fibre optic.

• Loop OS is an end-to-end circular economy platform that allows retailers to create and manage their own second-hand businesses with all that entails, ranging from item appraisals, collections, refurbishments and shipping.

• Zero Cups are a smart packaging solution (IoT) capable of being reused countless times in a retail context, maintaining all product traceability and information. It connects to a sensored logistics system that allows you to prepare the filling of packages quickly and automatically.

• Reverse Vending Machines: designed to facilitate the implementation of reverse vending machines on a national level, this platform mediates the transaction of plastic bottles for incentives. It provides users with a digital wallet and allows agencies to get creative with the rewards.

Email: geral@theloop.pt

Website: www.theloop.pt/

Cogumelo cultivates gourmet mushrooms using coffee grounds as a substrate. By repurposing coffee waste, they create a sustainable farming system and provide employment opportunities for people with disabilities. Cogumelo’s products are highly regarded in the market, promoting environmental sustainability and social inclusion.

Main activities:

• NÃM revolutionizes sustainability by repurposing coffee waste into nutrient-rich oyster mushrooms, fostering local food production and ecological growth.

Email: hello@nammushroom.com

Website: https://nammushroom.com

Just a Change is a non-profit rebuilding association in Portugal that aims to enhance living conditions for underprivileged individuals and families, particularly those unable to manage essential home repairs. By rallying volunteers and experts, they create secure, wholesome living spaces. Their model merges volunteerism, local partnerships and renovations, creating lasting change by forging sustainable housing solutions. 

Main activities:

• Mobilisation of local agents to identify cases of housing poverty and apply Just a Change criteria to select cases for intervention. Once the interventions are defined, Just a Change organises the key resources needed for project execution, focusing also on establishing a connection with its beneficiaries and managing partner relationships to enhance social cohesion. During the intervention, beneficiaries are encouraged to engage actively.
• Summer camps, a program for older volunteers with the format of a summer camp in rural areas of Portugal. In partnership with several Municipal Councils, Foundations and Companies, they rebuilt several houses, scattered from north to south of Portugal, during the months of July, August and September.
• Workshops Keep up, a program of intensive volunteering in Lisbon and Oporto which lasts 4 hours a day, over 4 days.
• Social impact corporate experiences. Just a Change organises social team building activities.

Email: geral@justachange.pt

Website: https://justachange.pt/en/

The 55+ association exists to celebrate the talent and experience of individuals aged 55 and above, creating work opportunities for them to pursue their ambitions. Through an online platform, the association offers a range of services provided by true experts with years of experience in various fields, all while contributing to keeping many people active and content.

The platform is divided in four core areas: support, home, lessons and repair. In each areas several services are available for people to purchase. 

• Support: Accompanying a senior to a meeting at the bank, supermarket, or a medical appointment. The platform provides a trusted expert to assist the senior in task execution or for companionship. It can be also pet care.
• Home: Maintenance, creation of gardens, and consultancy. Culinary experiences, cleaning, sewing, ironing, and other home-related services.
• Lessons: Provide music and language lessons for those interested. 
• Repairs: Provides qualified professionals to help resolve issues related to electricity, plumbing, and/or DIY.

Email: info@55mais.pt

Website: 55mais.pt/ 

The Manicómio is a prominent location in the Beato region of Lisbon, known for its innovative approach to artistic creation and dedication to mental health. This unique space houses a variety of projects that intertwine art, creativity, and social transformation, with a particular focus on contemporary artists and creatives facing mental health challenges. These individuals often experience exclusion due to the stigma associated with mental illness in society. The Manicómio originates from two decades in mental health, art, and culture. Notable artists and exceptional works within psychiatric hospitals and the art scene were identified. Sadly, stigma led to their exclusion from Portugal’s commercial art world. During its initial art exhibitions, now at Hospital Psiquiátrico de Lisboa, renowned artists, both local and global, united with hospital artists. This fusion enabled anonymous appreciation of works, breaking stigma-imposed barriers and shifting focus to art appreciation. In 2018, Manicómio embraced a fresh start in a coworking space with professionals, creatives, and companies, embodying a future where diversity, recognition, and acceptance of human experiences, including mental health nuances, are vital. With a focus on disruption, equity, and human rights, the Manicómio collaborates with the artistic community, civil society, businesses, and institutions to reshape the status quo and foster new paradigms of value.

Main activities:

• Artistic and creative centre housing Portugal’s first studio and gallery art brut and contemporary art, featuring 14 resident artists. We offer freedom, artistic representation, and agency in sales, exhibitions, and collaborations.

• A creative design and communication agency on a global scale, employing creatives with mental health conditions.
  
• Engaging in consulting and advocacy activities within the realms of art, mental health, human rights, and labour.

Email: info@manicomio.pt

Website: www.manicomio.pt/