Sony kicks off Open Planet Initiative

Calling all wannabe designers with a bright green idea: Sony has today officially launched its Open Planet Ideas initiative and is inviting proposals for how the company's products could be repurposed to tackle environmental problems.

The competition, which is supported by environmental charity WWF and design consultancy IDEO, will aim to identify one winning idea that will be developed into a working prototype.

The initial phase of the scheme will invite designers, students and other interested parties to suggest environmental challenges that could be addressed through smarter use of existing technologies.

Speaking at a launch event in central London earlier today, Dax Lovegrove, head of business relations at WWF, said the competition's judges were looking for ideas that address carbon-intensive "hot spots", such as food production, housing and transport.

At the end of the month the panel of judges will agree upon the environmental challenge that the project aims to address, at which point designers will be able to put forward potential solutions to the problem. The eventual winner will be announced early next year, at which point they will be invited to work with Sony's R&D team to develop a prototype demonstrating how the idea could be put into action.

Adrian Northover-Smith, head of corporate public affairs at Sony UK, said the company was not looking for proposals for new products, but was instead hoping to receive ideas detailing how existing technologies could be repurposed or adapted to address environmental issues.

Designers can now submit their ideas and contribute to other people's ideas at the Open Planet Idea web site.