Page 12 - Accelerating Research and Impact - Issue 7

9 ACCELERATING RESEARCH AND IMPACT
Eco-responsible furniture-coffin promotes green funerals
To promote sustainable development and the use of eco-coffins, LEI has taken the lead in developing dual-use coffins and designed a bookshelf which can easily be converted into a coffin. This will add a personal and hearty touch to honour the deceased, and the coffin will be more ecologically sustainable and cost-effective.
The bookshelf-coffin is made of sustainable, high- quality birch and spruce plywood from northern European forests that meets strict requirements for wood-based materials in terms of environmental friendliness, strength and durability.
Sponsored by LU’s Support Fund for 2020 Graduates, LEI has engaged two students to work on this project in collaboration with Forget Thee Not, a social enterprise promoting green burial and funerals.
To purchase a new coffin for cremation is a waste of resources. This environmental friendly bookshelf is aimed to accompany the owner from this life to funeral.
Social Enterprising
To fuel the momentum of entrepreneurship with social impact, a new Booster Prize ( 加 油 獎 ) for Social Enterprising was introduced in the Research and KT Excellence Awards Presentation Ceremony 2021 organised by the Office of Research and Knowledge Transfer (ORKT). It was a “booster dose” in a cash prize to winning teams of students and graduates who had earlier been given support from the University’s Innovation & Impact Fund (IIF) or Support Fund for 2020 Graduates for their entrepreneurial projects or start-ups. The prize was presented to 4 teams who stood out of 20+ others in innovation and entrepreneurship for impact on humanity. Their work and passion exemplify the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals of “Sustaining” and “Renewing”.