Sustainable Innovation Challenge

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As an early tinvestor and systems strategist, this challenge continues to guide how I source, evaluate, and support the next wave of planet-positive solutions.

The goal was simple but ambitious: to create one original sustainability innovation concept per day; not just for a year, but until the challenge was fully realized. I completed it on January 28, 2025, with 365 actionable innovation concepts that span energy, water, food, materials, AI, biodiversity, and beyond.

Born from my experience as a cleantech founder, designer, and endurance athlete, this challenge tested not just creativity, but discipline, foresight, and my belief that sustainability must become the default framework for innovation.

Each concept explores overlooked possibilities and anticipates future crises, while aligning with the UN Sustainable Development Goals. I hope the Challenge and the methodology beyond it are blueprints for action, rooted in feasibility, imagination, and systems transformation.

The challenge became the foundation of my upcoming book, Imagine Next , The Atlas of Innovation Concepts for a Regenerative Future.As an early stage climate tech investor and systems strategist, this challenge continues to guide how I source, evaluate, and support the next wave of planet-positive solutions.

I started the Sustainable Innovation Challenge on May 24, 2023.

The inspiration for the Sustainable Innovation Challenge came from recognizing the urgent need to rethink how we approach innovation, particularly in sustainability. With the world at a critical crossroads, I felt compelled to act after seeing a study highlighting the paradox of growing knowledge but fewer disruptive breakthroughs. My background in endurance sports like marathons and Ironmans, along with my experience in sustainable innovation (from R&D, startups to collaborating with various innovation ecosystems and some projects I co-initiated) motivated me to create this challenge. It pushes my creativity to its limits while contributing to real-world solutions, fostering a culture of sustainable innovation, collaboration, and impactful change.

I maintain a record of my daily innovation concepts on my Instagram account (@juliadaviy), as well as in my Evernote and Google Drive for consistency. Posting the concepts on my website typically requires a bit more time.

Coming up with fresh concepts consistently comes down to having a system. Over the course of my Sustainable Innovation Challenge, I developed a process rooted in design thinking and systems thinking: methods that foster empathy, iterative problem-solving, and the ability to see overlooked connections. Conversations with clean tech professionals, UC Berkeley colleagues, and my diverse experiences (from co-founding green startups to developing portable solar chargers) fuel my ideas.

By blending sustainability, technology, and (often) economics  with creativity, I turn everyday observations into actionable, impactful concepts. I believe anyone can adopt this approach to spark innovation, create planet-first ventures, and drive real-world change. The world needs more entrepreneurs ready to make a difference, and this mindset is something anyone can learn.

Sustainability isn't just my professional focus, it's deeply personal. A decade ago, I took on a one-year challenge to live the most eco-friendly lifestyle possible. This experience revealed numerous pain points and untapped market opportunities, leading me to create my own line of organic clothing. That journey ultimately paved the way for my innovations in sustainable 3D-printed fashion and fully digital supply chains and delivery (something that we tried to implement in Imageneria).

For me, an innovation concept is the seed of transformation. It’s a structured idea that asks: what if? In design and research, concepts are the way we explore possibilities, imagine new systems, and communicate vision before something exists in the world.

Sustainable innovation means creating solutions that don’t just work today, but also safeguard tomorrow. Scientists and policymakers often define it as innovations that reduce environmental harm and create long-term social and economic value. I see it as going a step further: innovations that actively regenerate ecosystems, empower communities, and help us shift into a future where growth and survival are no longer at odds.

Sustainable innovation concept is where my challenge lives. It's an early idea that combines inventiveness with responsibility. It’s about daring to imagine bold solutions, whether technological, systemic, or social, while grounding them in sustainability principles. Each concept I share is a glimpse of what could be possible if we design with both imagination and accountability to the planet.

From the start, my Sustainable Innovation Challenge was grounded in discipline, not whim. Each day, I followed a five-step process: (1) identify a concrete sustainability or systems problem; (2) research current solutions in academic papers, patents, and markets; (3) find the gaps; (4) reflect on ways to fill them using my background in technology and design thinking; and (5) shape the idea into a clear, structured innovation concept, often sketched visually. 

Though the journey was meant to be done in a year, completing 365 concepts took me 616 days, but every step deepened the practice of intentional, sustainable ideation. What emerged was a method for seeing the future as it could be, not just as it is.

During the challenge, I often shared the very first iterations of what I could create in a single day. Working on the book, I returned to each of these early sketches with deeper research, sharper analysis, and greater discipline. In many cases, the concepts grew into far more refined, distinctive, and powerful solutions. In a fast-moving innovation space, overlaps are inevitable: sometimes my ideas converged with what companies later built. To me, that isn’t a weakness, but proof of foresight. What defines this work is rethinking and advancing them beyond the frontier of what already exists.