Innovate Eco

Dr. Joe Huddart is an ecologist, former environmental DNA researcher and now the founder of Ecology Calling — a series of events built on a simple premise: stop charging extortionate ticket prices, stop letting sponsors dictate agendas, and start having actual conversations about what's working in nature. We cover why he thinks the conference model is broken, what happens when you take nature...

Peter Bach grew up going to school in the middle of a Singapore rainforest, became an engineer because he couldn't draw, and now runs a company in Switzerland building digital tools to put nature back into cities. His podcast has better production values than mine. We talk about why cities spent a century paving over nature in the name of efficiency, what AI and digital twins might actually be...

In this episode, Rob Wreglesworth sits down with Nathan Stranart, co-founder of Ten Lives Festival, a bold new “regenerative festival” movement aiming to tackle land degradation and desertification by pairing hands-on restoration work with music, joy, and community. Nathan explains how Ten Lives formed as a founder collective (not a solo hero story), why governance and “relationship to profit” mat...

A special Christmas bonus episode ahead of the official relaunch of This Might Just Work: Ideas for a Tired Planet in January. Rob chats with filmmaker James Dawson , director of Derek vs Derek , a documentary built around an unlikely pairing: two neighbouring farmers with very different views on what the countryside is for. On one side is Derek Gow , a maverick rewilder in Devon digging ponds, re...

In this episode, I sit down with Sylvain , co-founder of Mosaic Earth , to unpack his journey from the world of energy strategy to creating a nature tech company tackling one of the hardest problems out there: making ecological data collection accessible, affordable, and trustworthy. We talk about: 🌱 The parallels between raising a newborn and raising a startup. 📊 Why site-level ecological data...

This week I’m joined by Jon Conradi, founder of Wild Mosaic , a nature startup on a mission to make rewilding something everyone can be part of, not just landowners or ecologists. Jon’s journey into entrepreneurship is one I think a lot of aspiring ecopreneurs will relate to. He didn’t start out in conservation or business. In fact, for a long time he completely switched off from environmental new...

In this episode, Emily Power shares her honest, inspiring journey from a corporate career at Microsoft to founding Oceanmade , a regenerative business with global ambitions. We explore how seaweed could be the most underrated material in the climate fight - not just for oceans, but for land too. We also cover: Why the first version of Oceanmade (the "green Amazon") failed and what Emily...

What if the key to restoring nature lies in uncovering the past? In this episode, I’m joined by Iris Kramer , founder of ArchAI and Forbes 30 Under 30 scientist-turned-startup-CEO, who’s pioneering the use of AI and LiDAR to rediscover lost landscapes, from medieval furrows to ancient orchards and turn them into assets for nature recovery. We talk about: How Iris went from archaeology to AI entrep...

In this episode, I speak with Alex Kornelsen — a former startup and innovation strategist who left the corporate world to co-found Mission to Marsh, a storytelling-led non-profit restoring wetlands and rebranding peatlands as climate heroes. We talk about how it all started with a Tinder date and a one-sentence peatland pitch, and go deep into what it takes to launch a mission-driven organisation...

In this episode, I sit down with Benedict Macdonald, award winning author turned ecopreneur, to explore his fascinating journey from wildlife television producer to founder of nature restoration company Restore. Benedict shares how his childhood fascination with butterflies led him to a career in conservation, eventually leaving a successful career in wildlife television to tackle the challenge of...

Elena Doms, is the visionary co-founder of Earth Plus, a startup with an audacious goal: to create the largest soil and CO2 cleanup in history, working hand-in-hand with nature.  Elena's journey is a fascinating one which we dive into in detail in this episode. Born and raised in the Arctic, she spent 18 years witnessing the effects of climate change firsthand From there Elena's impressive career...

In this episode, I chat to Mikael Hietala the sustainability officer at Croatian startup Earthbound Sneakers. Earthbound (Croatia's first B-Corp) is tackling the many issues caused by fast fashion by creating truly stylish and comfortable shoes. In this episode, we talk about the issues with fast fashion as well as a wide range of topics from growing a business in a de-growth world, why big br...

In this weeks episode I speak to Cameron Dowd, co-founder and CTO of Inverto, a startup who are connecting businesses with local communities to plan, plant and monitor coastal ecosystems at scale. We talk about all sorts in this episode from Cameron's background in robotics, his work flying drone medical suppliy deliveries in Tanzania, why we shouldn't get 'carbon tunnel vision', t...

In this week's episode, I speak to Lindy Damen founder and CEO of EVRgreen Studio . A gaming company designing bespoke games for sustainability. We cover all sorts of topics including: How an early connection with nature and MS Paint started the journey The potential power of gaming for behaviour change How different types of games can connect with different types of audience How there is neve...

In this episode, I sit down with Jamie McCallum, the founder of Force For Nature . With experience in F1 marketing and a Ph. D. in Biological Sciences, Jamie combines this experience to bring a new perspective to driving private funding into nature projects. Jamie is the founder of Force For Nature, which aims to empower Rangers , the unsung heroes who work as park wardens, foresters, community sc...

In this episode, I speak to Dan Watson, a multiple award-winning Product Design Engineer and the Global Winner of the 2012 James Dyson Award for design engineering. Dan's outstanding work earned him seed funding from Sir Richard Branson, leading him to establish SafetyNet Technologies, where he now serves as the CEO. At SafetyNet, Dan and his team are working closely with the fishing industry...

In this episode I speak to Elise Van Middelem the founder and CEO of SUGi - a pioneering social enterprise dedicated to greening cities and reimagining urban life through nature-based solutions. SUGi is at the forefront of creating green infrastructure and restoring the human connection to nature in urban areas. Their signature approach is based on the revolutionary Miyawaki Method of planting ult...

In this episode, I speak to Dan Sherrard Smith the founder and CEO of My Mother Tree. Not every innovation needs to be shiny new technology or groundbreaking scientific advancements, sometimes it is creating something simple that can have a huge impact. That is what My Mother Tree are doing with tools such as the Money Carbon Calculator, which helps individuals and businesses find out where there...

In this week's episode I chat to Pooja Paul the founder of Habitable Earth. Habitable Earth plans to be the 'Duolingo of Climate Action' combining the best scientific insights about human behavior with the power of immersive gameplay to make planet-friendly lifestyle choices easy, fun and rewarding Habitable Earth's mission is to empower the growing majority of climate-concerned co...

In this episode, I speak to Max Runzel the cofounder and CEO of the company HiveTracks . HiveTracks creates technology to help beekeepers manage their hives. Started back in 2010 at the intersection of computer science and beekeeping and now supports over 40,000 beekeepers across more than 150 countries. That is cool on its own but what they are working on now is even cooler (well to me it is anyw...

A short clip from episode 19 of the podcast where I spoke to Mart Drake-Knight founder of tshirt company Teemill. We talk about how creating a circular company actually makes business sense whilst being much better for the planet. If you enjoy it do check out the full episode and subscribe for more.

In this episode, I chat to Carlos Terol . Carlos is a serial ecopreneur and around a year ago launched his latest venture Good Ripple which is a community platform for connecting passionate changemakers who are ready to make a difference in the world and take action. We cover all sorts of topic including the plan for Good Ripple, thinking locally in an increasingly global society, our communicatio...

How could we leverage blockchain technology in interesting ways to help nature? That is what Pete Howson focuses his research on and he highlights some companies leading the way with some out-of-the-box thinking, like getting a forest to own itself! The full episode was episode 13 from back in 2019 and you can listen to it here: https://open.spotify.com/episode/5Il0ztA4ITuyfB8eux7Vw9?si=0b51e79167...

In this episode I speak to Chris D’Agorne, the founder of How to Rewild – the UK’s most popular rewilding advice website, and is currently developing Life to Land –  a nature recovery advisory service for smaller landowners. Chris is one of the most influential voices in the growing rewilding movement in the UK.  Chris took the bold step of re-mortgaging his house to purchase 3.5 acres of land tha...

In this episode I speak to Oliver Dauert the founder of Wildya, a platform that helps users understand their own complex minds and transform their eco-anxiety into action. They then use 15% of the revenue to protect & restore nature. People just show up and work on themselves, nature is restored as a consequence. To learn more head to Wildya.earth and make sure you download the app to start wo...