Garry Cooper

Circular economy builder

Garry Cooper uses technology to help organizations ensure the materials they no longer need get reused — again and again.

Why you should listen

A neuroscientist by training, Garry Cooper shifted from academia to entrepreneurship when he realized how many materials and instruments were going to waste at his Northwestern University laboratory. He became known for pushing a cart of resources around campus, hoping to find another use for them. From these beginnings, he cofounded the climate tech company Rheaply (a portmanteau of “research” and “cheaply”) to help businesses better visualize, quantify, use — and reuse — their physical resources, bringing the circular economy to all.

Cooper is on the board of two tech innovation hubs, P33 Chicago and 1871, and is a founding partner and investment team member at LongJump Ventures, a venture capital firm dedicated to funding underrepresented founders. He has published in various peer-reviewed international journals, holds a US patent and has received recognition on several top entrepreneur lists, including the Forbes Next 1000.

Garry Cooper’s TED talk

12:44

Garry Cooper

How to make sure materials get reused — again and again

Posted Jul 2023

More news and ideas from Garry Cooper

Live from TED2023

Imagining a pathway to a sustainable future: Notes on Session 5 of TED2023

April 19, 2023

How do we strike a balance between sounding the alarm about the devastation wrought by climate change and telling the story of an actual pathway forward? Session 5 of TED2023 sought to stem the despair and cultivate hope and action on the most pressing issue of our time. The event: Talks from Session 5 of […]