Kering extends its Sustainable Innovation Award to jewelry

Kering promotes responsible jewelry through a competition. The French luxury group has expanded the scope of its “Kering Generation Award” dedicated to sustainable innovation to the jewelry category by targeting students for the first time. He is launching this new competition by joining forces with the CIBJO (International Confederation of Jewelry, Diamonds, Pearls and Stones) and the Milanese University Poli.Design – Politecnico di Milano for the scientific coordination of the project, all by collaborating with its jewelry houses Boucheron, Pomellato and Qeelin. The idea is to challenge students and start-ups to create a piece of jewelry (a piece or a collection) from waste.

Baptized Kering Generation Award X Jewelrythis initiative was designed “to reveal and support those who push the limits of what is possible by imagining more sustainable jewelry. At Kering, we are convinced that the generation of new ideas, at the crossroads between craftsmanship , technology and taking into account environmental issues, is essential to drive the profound change that the industry needs”, declared Marie-Claire Daveu, director of sustainable development and institutional affairs of the group, in a press release.

The project will be launched with ten universities, as well as with start-ups active in this sector. Each university must present at least three projects. The students, accompanied by their teachers, will develop the projects which will be submitted to the jury, while the start-ups will present their own innovations. “Under the theme 'Second chance, first choice', this first edition of Kering Generation Award X Jewelry invites students and start-ups to reimagine waste as a resource, by creating jewelry that transforms recycled materials into valuable pieces,” says the group.

The final will be held in June 2025 at the JCK World Jewelry Show in Las Vegas. Four finalists – two students and two start-ups – will present their creation to the jury, which will distinguish one winner per category. The winner among the students will benefit from an internship within one of the group's jewelry houses, and the winner from the start-ups will benefit from mentoring with the Milanese university Poli.Design – Politecnico.

After joining the 'Plug and Play – Fashion for Good' start-up accelerator in 2017, Kering launched at the end of 2018 in Beijing, in partnership with Plug and Play, a prize dedicated to sustainable innovation to detect young companies capable of providing disruptive solutions and making the supply chain more sustainable in fashion and luxury. This year, the “Kering Generation Award” was rolled out in Japan, then in Saudi Arabia.