“What happens to our discarded smartphones – and do we care?”

# Dama, you just joined the jury in 2018. What is your professional background and how will it help you judge the six finalists of this year's Green Alley Award?

I work at Bethnal Green Ventures (BGV), an early stage investor in tech for good. At BGV we’ve invested in over 110 companies that use technology to tackle significant social and environmental challenges over the last six years. We have solid selection and interview process for our programmes helping startups build their tech for good businesses, which we run twice a year. Having spent a few cycles now interviewing prospective startups, I am really looking forward to hear what drives the finalists to tackle the biggest challenges for a circular economy.

# In your opinion, which are the key challenges for a circular economy in Europe?

There are so many challenges, but one that I think has yet to be addressed adequately is electronic waste, especially in regards to consumer electronics. It’s been just over a decade, since the first iPhone hit the market. In this short period of time smartphones and other electronic products have become such an essential part of everyday life. But do we really know what actually happens to the products, once we upgrade and discard them? And do we care enough to act?
With more evidence and news stories that suggest that electronic waste involve significant health risks to workers and communities, a movement has been building, with the likes of Fairphone at the helm of it. Challenges are manyfold. But with more people using their skills, expertise and technology to address them, we can be quite hopeful that we can solve these key challenges effectively.