Julia Daviy

Building what should exist next.

Inventor, founder, and author. For two decades I have built companies and convened industries in clean energy, advanced manufacturing, and climate innovation. Founder & President of the Sustainable Innovation Council.

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What I believe

We have grown very good at innovation and far less practiced at asking what it should serve.

I believe we can cultivate human inventiveness, including the ability to question the goals we inherit. Human and biological intelligence are forms of Earth-native intelligence. We have already built a vast apparatus for turning ideas into reality; now it’s time to pay more attention to the ideas we bring to life.

I believe the rest of living Earth has a right to exist and to thrive, not as a resource or a backdrop, but as a stakeholder in what we build.

Take that seriously, and the brief for every invention changes.

What would we design then?

Julia Daviy

Original work

EVALUATION METHOD · TESTED IN PRACTICE

The Symbiotic Matrix

Our consequence-first method for evaluating innovation, which weighs what an invention changes before how fast it grows. Developed as a simple alternative to traditional venture evaluation, and tested in the Imagine Next Global Innovation Challenge, where it was used to evaluate 162 applicants in depth.

Innovation & feasibility

Founder capability

Planetary impact · net-positive impact, non-human life, community wellbeing

Adoption & real-world fit

How the Matrix works →

Ventures & institutions

About me

2024 — now

Sustainable Innovation Council

Programs and tools that help climate innovation find capital and reach the world.

Visit SICouncil →

2006 — 2025

Ibcentre

The leading cleantech ecosystem builder in Ukraine and the wider region, spanning industry platforms, consulting, and engineering of MW-class renewable and bioenergy plants.

The cleantech years →

2011 — 2014

Portable solar

Co-founded the first manufacturer of portable solar chargers in Eastern Europe, producing high-capacity chargers in Ukraine.

2017 — 2021

3D-printed fashion manufacturing

Pioneered a model for manufacturing 3D-printed clothing in the United States on large-format industrial printers our team re-engineered for flexible materials, producing the first commercially sold 3D-printed garment in the U.S. Presented a fully wearable collection at New York Fashion Week and filed a provisional patent on near-zero-waste clothing production.

WWD →Women of Wearables →3DPrint.com →

2021 — 2023

Digital delivery of physical goods

Replaced warehouses of physical products with online storage of 3D-printable designs, produced on demand through distributed, localized advanced manufacturing.

Co-foundedInstitute of Green Economics, Kyiv (2013–now) · Female Founders & Funders of Berkeley · Ukrainian Club of Berkeley

Founding memberUkrainian Valley

AlsoVenture Partner, Network VC · Selection committee and mentor, Berkeley SkyDeck

The book · December 2026

Imagine Next

Inventing Beyond the Goals We Inherited

In 2023, I set myself a challenge: one new concept every day that could help address the Sustainable Development Goals. It took 616 days and produced 365 concepts. Then the practice changed the question.

Also, with my daughter Eva Daviy, the children’s book Eva and the Time-Traveling Turtle.

Be among the first readers

365 concepts616 days

Imagine Next Global Innovation Challenge

Finding the inventions the planet needs next

A global challenge for planet-first inventions, evaluated with the Symbiotic Matrix and named a finalist in the 6th Annual Anthem Awards. In 2026, founders from 36 countries took part. The 2027 edition opens to ventures, policy, research, and financial inventions.

The 2027 Challenge opens November 17 →

Finalists, investors, and partners at the Imagine Next Silicon Valley Climate Tech Capital Summit — Finalists pitched to investors at the Imagine Next Silicon Valley Climate Tech Capital Summit, UC Berkeley and UC Law San Francisco, April 2026.

Speaking

Keynotes and conversations

Invited to NATO HQ, UC Berkeley, Berkeley Haas, and international platforms.

Inventing beyond inherited goals

The practice of inventiveness behind Imagine Next

Speaking inquiries →

What changed

What became possible

CLEAN ENERGY · UKRAINE

Households could sell solar power to the grid

Co-initiated the policy behind Ukraine’s 2015 household feed-in tariff, which helped unlock rapid growth in residential solar.

pv magazine

MARKET BUILDING · REGION

An industry gained its meeting place

For years, Ibcentre’s events were the region’s only ones on the calendars of global players, where manufacturers entered the market, built distribution, and agreed on contracts for solar plants.

Moldova’s Ministry of Energy on CISOLAR →

MANUFACTURING · LIFECYCLE

A bag with a fraction of the footprint

Our team’s lifecycle analysis found a 3D-printed bag produced 92% less CO₂, 98% less solid waste, and used 99% less water than a comparable leather bag.

Recognition

Edison Awards Gold · Guinness World Record · Green Product Award · Eluxe Award · Fast Company finalist

In the press

National Geographic Bulgariapv magazineUkrainska PravdaRenewables NowDesign WeekWWD

Work cited in

Advances in Fashion and Design Research III · Springer, 2025

The Business of Additive Manufacturing · Routledge, 2024

Novel Sustainable Process Alternatives for the Textiles and Fashion Industry · Springer, 2023

Leading Edge Technologies in Fashion Innovation · Palgrave Macmillan, 2022

Digital Manufacturing Technology for Sustainable Anthropometric Apparel · The Textile Institute Book Series, 2022

Meet Julia

Julia Daviy is a Ukrainian-American inventor who has spent two decades creating companies, platforms, and institutions. She began her career as an economic journalist covering energy markets. She studied energy engineering, holds degrees in environmental science and international economics from Kyiv, and an MBA from UC Berkeley Haas.

Learn more about Julia →

Julia Daviy speaking at the Imagine Next summit

Let’s talk.

For collaboration, partnerships with the Sustainable Innovation Council, and speaking.

Get in touch