ABOUT STEP

Behind STEP are Simone Maria Bovien, Annika Lisberg and Line Hørlück Eriksen. All three of them study tourism at Aalborg University in Copenhagen. During the fall 2019 they where doing a full-time internship in their own startup. The Startup in Practice course is supported by the Foundation for Entrepreneurship and run by Incubator Aalborg University.

The idea for the liquid bags arose during an innovation course at the tourism study. STEP carried out an investigation in the security areas at Kastrup Airport, which showed that a third of the passengers use one or more bags on average. At Kastrup Airport alone, 15 million travelers checked through security in 2018. With over 300 airports in Europe, STEP has pointed out the potential in developing an alternative product.

We know from consumer surveys that more Danes want to minimize their plastic consumption and demand greener products. With our sustainable alternative to the ziplock plastic bag in security, we give airports the opportunity to focus on sustainable operational measures, reduce the consumption of single-use plastic and create value for air travelers who want to move their CO2 footprint in a slightly more sustainable direction, says Simone Bovien , one of the three founders behind STEP.

 

FLYTTER DEN REJSENDE I BÆREDYGTIG RETNING

Væskeposen er blandt andet fremstillet af organisk materiale, der sikrer, at poserne ikke udleder CO2 ved nedbrydning og desuden nedbrydes på under et år i naturen eller havet. Materialer af denne type bliver brugt i f.eks. skraldeposer. Men der findes endnu ikke et produkt, der lever op til flybranchens krav om en pose, der kan indeholde en liter, har ziplock og er gennemsigtig.

Vi er i dialog med forskellige producenter i flere lande. Blandt andet i Kina, da de er klart længst fremme i forhold til grønne alternativer til plastik, forklarer Simone Bovien og tilføjer, at STEP netop nu søger samarbejdspartnere, der kan rådgive dem om materialetests op imod EUcertificeringen OK Compost HOME. Konceptet bag STEP handler helt overordnet om at opfordre rejsende til at minimere deres forbrug af plastik på hele rejsen. QR-koder på poserne skal informere om, hvordan lufthavnene arbejder med bæredygtighed og give den rejsende konkrete forslag til grønnere adfærd.

Vores opfordring til den rejsende er: Gør hvad du kan. Du kan ikke gøre flybrændstof bæredygtigt, men du kan træffe nogle bevidste forbrugervalg på rejsen, der ikke belaster planeten yderligere, forklarer Simone Bovien.

HUMANISTS ALSO HAVE ENTREPRENEURIAL POTENTIAL

STEP is just one of 30 startup teams that have become part of Aalborg University's incubator environment in Copenhagen in less than a year. Here, startups get office space, advice and sparring on business development. The students come from several different programmes.

There may still be a stereotype about entrepreneurs that they predominantly have a technical and engineering background. STEP is a good example that humanists also have entrepreneurial potential. In general, we see a clear tendency among student entrepreneurs to come up with business ideas that are more based on sustainability and solutions for how to make the greatest possible difference for the greatest possible number of people, explains Jacob Lundberg, consulting business developer at Incubator Aalborg University in Copenhagen.

INCUBATOR COURSES ARE A SHORTCUT TO PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE

Student innovation is a strategic focus area for Aalborg University. The mission is to spread innovation and entrepreneurship skills to students in close interaction with their professionalism. It broadens their professional horizons and forces them beyond the curriculum so that they also become better students.

In student startups, learning is crucial, but in the incubator there is of course also a focus on the commercial potential. The students who go through an incubator course are forced to deal with all aspects of a company's operations. It's a shortcut to work experience that increases their readiness for the labor market considerably, says Jacob Lundberg.