Yearly, the Trophies reward the companies and the students who managed to invent new economic models that respond to the major challenges of sustainable development and that transform the nowadays’ issues into growth opportunities, by creating new products, services or original business models.
The awarding evening of the Trophies was on the 24th of March 2009, at the Paris Trade and Industry Chamber. The central moment of the evening was the round table, led by Erik Izraelewicz (La Tribune), “Reinventing the Company, Rethink the Economy”, with the extraordinary participation of Clara Gaymard, President of the General Electric for the North-West Europe, Gunter Pauli, author and entrepreneur, founder of the Zero Emissions Research & Initiatives (ZERI), Henri Proglio, president-general director VEOLIA Environment, Pierre Rabhi, philosopher, founder of Colibris, movement for Planet and Humanity.
The first Trophy, for an innovative company, was conferred by Pierre Rabhi, author, philosopher, pioneer of the ecological agriculture, to Chênelet, a company dedicated to assist the needy persons in (re)find a job, a house, and in assuring necessary food supplies. Since 2000, Chênelet has developed innovative projects of building ecological social houses, in different French regions.
The second trophy, for innovative start-up businesses, was conferred by Henri Proglio, president of VEOLIA Environment, to Windela Company, to Windelux – the firstlamppost / streetlight using renewable energies, wind and solar energy, enabling thus the local authorities to reach the Environmental Grenelle’s objectives and save energy budget.
The third Trophy rewards the students proposing an innovative business plan, the criteria of selection being the environmental and social impacts, the quality of strategic perspective, the profitability. The Trophy was conferred by Bénédicte Barbry, Director of the Communication and Sustainable Development of Norauto Group, to E-social Transfer Company, dedicated to social and solidarity activities. Its purpose is to participate to the fight against the food insecurity in Guinea, by allocating a part of the funds raised by the Guinean diasporas.