Sustainability isn't marketing: Why a startup must tackle it too
The concept of „sustainability“ is often narrowed down to waste sorting or tree planting. In reality, however, it is about much more. It is about the way a company thinks about its products, suppliers, employees, and future development.
This exact topic is addressed in the PrusaLab Hardware Accelerator by Vladimír Víšek, who is in charge of sustainability at Prusa Research and helps start-ups navigate a subject that will become increasingly important in the coming years.
Sustainability is not just ecology
„I always say it's a bit of an unsustainable word,“ remarks Vladimír Víšek with a touch of exaggeration. According to him, most people think primarily of the environment when they hear sustainability, but in reality it is a much broader concept.
Today, the most commonly used acronym is ESG, which divides sustainability into three areas:
Environment (E) – carbon footprint, energy efficiency, waste management or circularity.
Social (S) – employee care, working conditions in the supply chain or the company's impact on society and communities.
Governance (G) – transparent corporate governance, business ethics or anti-corruption rules.
It is precisely the interconnection of these areas that determines whether a company is truly operating sustainably or merely communicating individual, isolated activities.
Why startups should also care about ESG
It might seem that sustainability is a topic primarily for large corporations. According to Vladimír Víšek, however, the opposite is true.
New legislation is gradually coming into companies, pressure from customers and business partners is growing, and large corporations are beginning to demand information from their suppliers about their environmental and social impact. Although smaller companies are often not subject to direct regulation, the requirements are gradually reaching them precisely through their buyers and partners.
Starting to think about sustainability only when a customer asks for the data is usually too late.
Trust, but verify
The ESG topic is complex. It involves carbon footprint calculations, supply chain management, material selection or the assessment of the actual impacts of individual decisions.
Startups often lack both the capacity and the experts for every area of business. That is precisely why mentoring focused on sustainability is also a part of the PrusaLab Hardware Accelerator.
The aim is not to create a flawless ESG strategy within a few weeks, but to help founders understand the basic principles, identify risks and thereby avoid so-called greenwashing, which is a situation where a company presents its products or services as ecological without the reality matching it.
„There are plenty of offers on the market today, all of which pretend to be very sustainable. That doesn't always have to be the case, so really make the effort, consult with experts and assess whether what you want to do in this area actually has some impact,“ says Vladimír Víšek.
Future-proof mentoring
The PrusaLab Hardware Accelerator gives start-ups not only technological facilities and development capacities, but also access to experts in areas that often decide the future success of the project.
Alongside product development and prototyping with startups, we also focus on finance, logistics, law, business strategy, and sustainability. Because a well-designed product is no longer enough today. Just as important is how it is made, what it is made from, and what impact it will have in the long term.
Watch our series introducing the mentors of the PrusaLab Hardware Accelerator and find out how we can help your startup too.
