Europe

Digital business hub to drive sustainability in the CEE region

Bronagh Loughlin — Tue, 12 Sep 2023 11:14:09 +0000

Digital business hub to drive sustainability in the CEE region

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Business Sustainability

Education

Sustainability

Topic

Business Sustainability

The World Wildlife Fund (WWF) has launched a digital information hub for sustainable business solutions in Central and Eastern Europe to support businesses on their journey in fighting the climate crisis.

The platform is called “The Future of Business” and is freely accessible to all interested parties, including start-up innovators, elected officials, corporate leaders, and sustainability experts.

The Future of Business online information hub is powered by WWF and provides insights on sustainability and climate action. Image: WWF

“We have created “The Future of Business” with the purpose to examine what the future of our region could look like and how to shape it in favour of people and nature,” shares Peter Baráth, Regional Director of Marketing and Partnerships at WWF-CEE.

He highlights that the main objective of creating this platform is to ignite the vital conversation on the business case behind sustainability in this region.

The platform will unfold five themes: climate leadership, water and forest stewardship, finance and food systems.

It is hoped to offer the business sector actionable insights on the most recent credible sustainability practices relevant to specific industries and in the future there will be sector-based events to share more experience and knowledge.

The hub currently has three different forms of media available, such as articles, podcasts, and videos.

Peter Baráth adds:

“It is designed for passionate change-makers who want to generate a positive impact for both the business sector and the planet”.

Also available on the platform is “The Future of Business” podcast, supported by VELUX, the world’s leading manufacturer of roof windows.

In addition, a virtual library with practical guidelines and scientific reports is yet to come.

The hub was created with the vision to examine what the future could look like and how to shape it in favour of nature and people.

To begin, the platform will share knowledge on primary themes, including water and forest stewardship, climate leadership, food systems, and finance.

The first episode of the “The Future of Business” podcast explored how businesses can push for the transition to a net-zero economy, focusing on corporate climate leadership with guest speakers including Lubomila Jordanova, founder of an award-winning platform for decarbonisation called Plan A.

The WWF created this platform as they recognise that businesses have a critical role to play in the fight against biodiversity loss and climate change.

Publicly listed businesses are responsible for around 40 per cent of all climate-warming emissions, and while their impact is significant, this is also an opportunity.

As one of the largest and most seasoned independent conservation organisations, the World Wildlife Fund believes the private sector can transform into a driving force for the transition to a nature-positive and net-zero economy.

Education can be a barrier to climate action for businesses, so the arrival of more informative hubs, insights, and tools is crucial in helping to make change happen.

The mission of WFF is to halt the deterioration of the planet’s natural environment and create a future in which people coexist peacefully with nature.

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International event aims to empower people to drive sustainability

Climate Journal reporting — Mon, 11 Sep 2023 09:01:12 +0000

International event aims to empower people to drive sustainability

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Sustainable Business

Event

Sustainable Development Goals

Topic

Business Sustainability

The two-day live event, IMPACT FESTIVAL, will gather about 3,000 visitors from the business and investment sectors to provide inspiration and professional networking opportunities to embrace sustainability solutions on 13-14 September in Frankfurt, Germany.

Besides the conference format with over 80 speakers on three stages, 200 start-ups and companies will showcase their work in sustainable transformation at the exhibitor area to engage with attendees.

The annual Impact Festival takes place for the third time on 13-14 September in Frankfurt, Germany.

Discussions will include transformation researcher Maja Göpel, mobility expert Katja Diehl, and experts from well-known companies such as Google, Bosch and Salesforce that will take place on-site and online.

The event's content is spread across six innovation areas rooted in the EU Green Deal and the UN Sustainable Development Goals, with an additional Investor Conference embedded into the agenda.

Visitors will have the chance to engage with the IMPACT ART exhibition as part of the program that will feature the work of artist Verena Kandler using previously used materials from last year`s Impact Festival and can visit the photo exhibition "Dry Tears" by Frank Bayh and Steff Rosenberger-Ochs focused on water.

One of the highlights of the event is expected to be the Impact Award ceremony that honours companies committed to contributing to a more sustainable economy in various categories.

Tickets are available on the organiser`s website to join the gathering in person or online.

This annual event is taking place for the third time thanks to a strong support network, including StartHub Hessen, Commerzbank AG, Deutsche Telekom, EY and adelphi.

The IMPACT FESTIVAL is a project of the neosfer GmbH, the early-stage investor and innovation unit of Commerzbank Group, that investigates future technologies relevant to business and society and promotes and develops sustainable and digital solutions.

In addition to the annual two-day event, the project acts as a platform for key stakeholders of the sustainable transformation to network and exchange ideas year-round through the IMPACT COMMUNITY.

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September 2023

Piloting innovative sustainability ideas for increased adaptability, relentlessly

Bronagh Loughlin — Wed, 23 Aug 2023 19:37:26 +0000

Piloting innovative sustainability ideas for increased adaptability, relentlessly

Tags

Circular Economy

Sustainability

Sustainable Development Goals

Topic

Sustainability

Circular Economy

Axfoundation is an independent, non-profit organisation based in Sweden, working concretely and practically toward building a sustainable society.

Together with more than 300 partners across industries and sectors, the Foundation tackles local and global sustainability challenges based on practical issues related to what we buy, the food we consume, and the resources we utilise.

The organisation sees itself more as a ‘do tank’ as opposed to a think tank and innovates and accelerates solutions within Circular Economy, Future Food, Sustainable Production and Consumption. They believe entrepreneurship is a powerful force for change and use business to accelerate long-term transformative change.

Their current projects stretch across 15 industries, including textile, waste, fishing, food, retail, recycling, agriculture, and technology.

The home of many projects they run is the Torsåker Farm, Axfoundation’s test and development centre for sustainable food systems, located 30 kilometres north of Stockholm, Sweden.

The environment at the test farm is ideal for evaluating sustainable farming methods, identifying waste streams for circular solutions, and test growing both new and old crops.

Torsåker Farm - Axfoundation’s test and development centre for sustainable food systems in Sweden. Image: Axfoundation

At the farm, actors across industries and sectors come together to take on complex issues in real-world conditions and explore solutions that would be impossible to test alone. They then bring the results from the fields and the lake for processing in the test kitchens.

The Farm contributes to the increased use of sustainable animal husbandry and agroecological farming methods while also fuelling the efficient and circular use of resources and reducing the use of antibiotics for food-producing animals.

Another interesting project led by Axfoundation with the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences (SLU) was a pilot-scale infrastructure to convert waste from the Swedish food industry into quality raw protein material for animal feed.

The result was Sweden’s first green rainbow trout fed with a circular-based fish feed composed mainly of insects. The project ended in 2022, and the life cycle analysis revealed a decrease in greenhouse gas emissions by 70 per cent compared to conventional fish feed. The next step was to take the lessons learnt further by testing circular feed for chickens, pigs, and laying hens.

Embracing an underutilised fish species, the Swedish bream, is part of Axfoundation`s work. Image: Axfoundation

Although sometimes innovation comes from simply realising what is missing.

That was the case with embracing an underutilised fish species, the Swedish bream, to get more recognition.

With a from-lake-to-plate approach, they created the Minced Bream – a versatile product with a neutral, fine taste that has received positive reactions from school students and chefs.

A circular project led by the Foundation is the Swedish Wool Initiative, paving the way to zero waste since 2020.

Sweden imports more than 1,700 tonnes of wool annually; meanwhile, less than 50% of all the wool produced by Swedish farmers is used.

Teaming with 20 partners, they set out to develop a new yarn made from previously discarded wool and enable brands within fashion, outdoor, and home textiles to access qualitative and competitive wool easily.

A circular project led by the Axfoundation is the Swedish Wool Initiative. Image: Axfoundation

Axfoundation took on another challenge in the field of agriculture about using tonnes of residual product generated from oat drink production.

The Over & Oat project was launched to explore how to turn oat drink residues into new food and materials in a sustainable and economically viable way.

Looking at global issues, such as plastic consumption, predicted to quadruple in the coming century, the organisation launched the Plastics Progress Tools initiative to support companies on their journey toward more responsible use of plastics.

They designed a digital tool that will compile and analyse plastic data, which can form a basis for strategic prioritisation and decision-making. Further embracing digital tools, they took the lead on the ProPare project under the Sustainable Production and Consumption branch.

This technology aims to act as a global standard for digital product passports. It is perfectly timed as the EU is expected to implement new legislation requiring nearly all products available on the European market to have a digital product passport.

These passports will offer sustainability data to help drive the adoption of the circular economy. Axfoundation is on the journey to prove that turning great ideas into practical solutions by pivoting can help address large-scale sustainability challenges immensely.

They may not always go as planned, but that is the point and a crucial part of the learning curve. To innovate sustainable solutions and achieve transformative change, failure must not be feared but embraced.

These pilot projects are telling us, clear and loud, that ideas with great potential deserve a fighting chance because they could have a real, genuine impact when scaled up and implemented.

Headline image: Unsplash

This article is an extract from content originally published in the Circular Economy in Action special edition of the Profit with Purpose Magazine - you can read the full article and other features in the magazine.

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Bringing a four-day celebration of the Circular Economy to Ireland

Bronagh Loughlin — Thu, 18 May 2023 11:26:16 +0000

Bringing a four-day celebration of the Circular Economy to Ireland

Tags

Circular Economy

Ireland

Topic

Circular Economy

For the first time, Dublin is hosting the Circular Economy Hotspot on 29th May-1st June, placing Ireland’s capital in the epicentre of European Circularity.

The application for Dublin to host this prestigious international event is a result of the close collaboration of strategic partners led by The Rediscovery Centre with the Department of the Environment, Dublin City Council, the Eastern & Midlands Regional Waste Management Planning Office (EMRWMP), and CIRCULÉIRE.

“The Circular Economy Hotspot is an opportunity to bring together some of the best minds, thinkers and activists around circular economy and social economy,”

says Mary Mac Sweeney, Executive Manager Acting of Culture, Recreation and Economic Services, Dublin City Council.

The Circular Economy Hotspot Dublin 2023 event will take place on 29th May- 1st June 2023.

The event provides a great chance to learn from, network with, and be inspired by the very best actors working in this field.

Attendees can learn about the practical steps and resources to take home and implement through conference talks, tours, workshops, and topic deep-dives.

The event brings together policymakers, entrepreneurs, pioneers, researchers, students, industry, and citizens from Ireland and further afield.

It is a time to highlight ground-breaking circular economic initiatives, best practices, and innovation, with each host country putting together a programme showcasing how their country or region contributes to the transition towards a circular economy.

This year the Hotspot will establish a global dimension as two other global regions are also participating as hosts: Lagos, Nigeria and Santiago, Chile.

Speaking on the areas that will be explored, Dr Sarah Miller, CEO at the Rediscovery Centre, shares: “Dublin is home to some of the world’s greatest circular economy leaders and innovations.

As a host of Circular Economy Hotspot Dublin 2023, the city will showcase circular economy progress made in design and manufacturing, food systems and the bioeconomy alongside social enterprise activity.”

Dr Sarah Miller, CEO at the Rediscovery Centre

She adds: “Tackling Dublin’s housing crisis through circular solutions will also be explored, going beyond green building materials to look into additional benefits that can be designed into our city to improve well-being and encourage carbon-positive lifestyles.

The Circular Economy Hotspot Dublin is a cross-sectoral and public engagement event, providing the perfect platform to present the circular economy as a positive framework for the city to demonstrate adaptation and growth within planetary boundaries.”

Dublin will not only represent Irish circular economic innovation in 2023 but become a focal point of circularity across Europe while building on the momentum of recent developments, harnessing the cultural influences that are unique to the city.

Dr Joanne Rourke, Resource Efficiency Officer, EMRWMP, shares: “What we’re hoping to do is to build on the momentum of earlier Hotspots in other capital cities, but also to build on the momentum that is happening now in Ireland.

We envision the Hotspot will act as a spark to start the circular economy fire.”

Now in its seventh year, the Circular Economy Hotspot initiative has become a flagship event on the calendar for many leaders and experts across industries and policy.

The Netherlands first organised it in 2016, and the event has spread much further since to Catalonia, Luxembourg, Belgium, Germany, and Scotland.

Dublin city balances a local village feel with the buzz of a vibrant and modern capital city at the heart of European life. Since 2020, Ireland and its capital have witnessed a significant drive to share knowledge, invest, and foster the circular economy.

Irish support for European initiatives also remains amongst the highest in the EU.

As a capital city, Dublin can showcase the impact of these recent flagship circular economy policy funds and measures led by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the Department of the Environment, Climate and Communications (DECC).

Dr Geraldine Brennan, CIRCULÉIRE’s Lead and Head of Circular Economy at Irish Manufacturing Research, remarks:

“Ireland is ripe for innovation, and a lot of circular economy excitement is bubbling up.

What is genuinely exciting about this year to Dublin is the fact that over the last number of years, Ireland has pivoted towards embracing the circular economy as an economic development model.”

Dr Geraldine Brennan, CIRCULÉIRE’s Lead and Head of Circular Economy at Irish Manufacturing Research

The opportunity to host the Circular Economy Hotspot is a value-based partnership as Dublin has a lot to offer as a host, and equally, the event has a great deal to bring Ireland in turn.

The event will bring global visibility to circular economic initiatives here in Ireland and establish global opportunities for Dublin.

It will also pay homage to the strengths Ireland has to offer the circular economic community.

Ultimately, the Hotspot will bring the circular economy to life, making it part of the day-to-day lives of citizens and event attendees from the public sector, policymakers, industry, and start-ups alike.

This content is originally published in the Circular Economy in Action special edition of the Profit with Purpose Magazine.

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Can sustainability be funny?

Szilvia Szabó — Thu, 20 Apr 2023 13:02:26 +0000

Can sustainability be funny?

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Master students can choose to write comedy scripts on sustainability issues as part of a unique course at the Management Program of the Vienna University of Economics and Business.

Dr André Martinuzzi, creator and leader of this trailblazer course, shares insights on using the power of humour to help students better understand and deal with complex sustainability topics.

Environmental protection, social responsibility, and sustainable development are often perceived as killjoys, and young people typically feel pessimistic about their future.

When we started looking for new and innovative ways to motivate students to engage with serious sustainability issues, we found that humour might be a promising method. It has the potential to help increase students’ self-motivation and awareness of current sustainability challenges, such as climate change or poverty.

Dr André Martinuzzi, Head of the Institute for Managing Sustainability Vienna University of Economics and Business

The idea sparked as I watched late-night comedy shows for quite some time and was very impressed by John Oliver’s ‘Last Week Tonight’ and Hasan Minhaj’s ‘Patriot Act’. Instead of making fun of daily life or commenting on day-to-day politics, they both explain scientifically challenging subjects in a hilarious way.

The more I watched these shows, the more I asked myself if it was possible to give students the task of developing comedy scripts instead of writing seminar papers.

On this basis, with two assistants, Florian Findler and Angelo Spörk, we designed and continuously improved a course where students use humour by working in a group, creating scripts in the style of late-night comedy. To our knowledge, no one has tried this before.

Within the scripts, humour is not used to make fun of serious issues. Instead, it is used to illustrate sustainability challenges in a scientifically sound and easily understandable way while raising awareness.

In order to do that, students have to understand the basics of humour and comedy scriptwriting, need the courage to be funny and have the freedom of creativity while dealing with serious and rather complex issues.

Many of them tell us that humour helps them communicate better about challenging topics in their peer groups and reach people who would otherwise not be interested in the subject.

Students have created scripts that cover various topics such as the Sharing Economy, E-mobility, fast fashion, greenwashing, food waste, supply chains, and smart homes.

A good punchline is surprising and reveals a more profound truth.

Therefore, developing good comedy takes expertise because humour is more than just fooling around.

Based on the experiences and evaluations of the three courses we already delivered, we learned a few lessons:

Humour is a craft and not a talent, which requires practising.
Students better understand a specific topic by writing comedy scripts than by writing standard seminar papers.
Humour can be integrated into courses that are not genuinely funny. Students reported that this approach helped them to boost their creativity and imagination.

Our experience has also shown that humour can point out grievances. At the same time, exaggerated characters can make people realise their own unsustainable behaviour or ask the question, 'Do we really want to go there?’.

We created a dedicated website to share more about our learnings so others can explore options for implementing this method.

Writing comedy scripts can help young people better engage with sustainability and social issues.. Image: Getty Images

Naturally, there are some challenges in integrating this approach into teaching.

Teachers may see the use of humour as inappropriate for academic subjects and find it beyond their abilities to support students sufficiently through empowerment and steering. The question also arises if this approach can be used on topics like extinction, climate change, or human rights, which are very serious issues and where urgency could be diluted by humour.

Of course, this approach is unsuitable for classes that aim to teach the basics as quickly as possible.

For the students, humour can also be a coping strategy to better deal with emotionally stressful issues such as biodiversity loss, human rights violations or climate change.

For example, one student said, 'if you don't laugh about it, you should cry', while another student shared, "humour helps me not to feel powerless, to gain emotional distance and to be able to talk about things that I otherwise tend to repress".

Students look forward to this course because it is entirely different from the typical classes at a business school.

The course design consists of the following elements:

Students work in groups of 5-6 on major sustainability challenges, such as land use, low-cost airlines, cruise ships, fast fashion, food waste, animal suffering, or bee mortality.
Together they carry out brief background research and co-develop a collection of materials on the recent problem, its causes and possible solutions.
Simultaneously, they take part in basic improvisation theatre training, gain insight into the building blocks of humour and learn how to develop sketches, jokes and punch lines.
Each student group develops the concept for a comedy script, containing an elaborated storyline and first humorous examples.
In several rounds of rehearsals and presentations, they receive feedback regarding scientific background, storytelling and humour.
Finally, the students give an 8-10 minute performance of their scripts in front of the classroom.

The course has already been implemented three times, received excellent feedback from the students and won the "Best of Austria Award" thanks to its innovative approach.

Headline image: Getty Images

This content is a piece of an article originally published in the "Make change happen" issue of Profit with Purpose Magazine.

The Summer 2022 edition of the magazine is focusing on making cities sustainable and inclusive, and is available here >>>

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Innovative sustainability startups to meet in Germany

Business Spirit News reporting — Sun, 02 Oct 2022 14:40:37 +0000

Innovative sustainability startups to meet in Germany

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Europe's largest B2B fair for sustainable innovations takes place in Germany for the second time.

With seven innovation areas and approximately 2,500 visitors, IMPACT FESTIVAL is returning on 5-6 October in Offenbach, Germany, to discover the latest trends and innovations in the field of sustainability, and discuss the digital and sustainable transformation.

More than 170 startups will present their solutions at the exhibition area, and over 100 investors will be present to scout the market for best-in-class projects.

Around one hundred expert speakers will share their thoughts on why and how the business sector must rethink existing strategies and practices in light of climate change. Speakers include Anna Christmann, Member of the German Bundestag, Beth Thoren, Director of Environmental Action, EMEA at Patagonia, and Wolfgang Gründinger, Chief Evangelist at Enpal.

Attendees can choose from fifty master classes with a deep dive in fields like clean tech, resource efficiency, data management or sustainable finance.

"We are thrilled to host the second edition of IMPACT FESTIVAL and to have more than 100 speakers on stage with more than 170+ of Europe's most promising sustainable innovations.

We look forward to connecting thought leaders, innovators, investors and corporates and accelerating the green transformation of businesses and our entire economy,"

said Mara Steinbrenner and Linda Köpper, lead organisers of IMPACT FESTIVAL, in a joint statement.

The IMPACT Award celebrates and honours European startups that tackle current social challenges by using technology and innovation.

The IMPACT Award ceremony will also be part of the program on the first day's evening.

The award celebrates and honours European startups that tackle current social challenges with the help of sustainable technologies and innovations.

Nominees are listed in different categories, such as Education & Social Innovation, Hardware Solutions and Platform & Software (SaaS) Solutions.

In addition, enterprises will have the chance to win the votes of participants to take home the Audience Award.

As a hybrid event, people can attend in person and online. Day tickets and further information are available on the event’s website.

The IMPACT FESTIVAL collaborates with ClimateSeed, a company running decarbonisation projects, to ensure that the CO2 emission and waste associated with the event is as little as possible.

To achieve this goal, they offer exclusively vegan catering with reusable containers, use FairCup with no plastic bottles, and cooperate with service providers to align their operations.

In addition to the annual two-day event, the project also provides a platform that connects key stakeholders from the sustainability ecosystem to network and exchange ideas all year round.

The IMPACT FESTIVAL is a project of the early-stage investor and innovation unit of Commerzbank Group, which investigates future technologies relevant to business and society while promoting and developing sustainable and digital solutions.

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October 2022

Making cities human and kind

Anonymous — Mon, 20 Jun 2022 10:49:28 +0000

Making cities human and kind

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"Cities are hubs for change, places where we dream, discuss, live, grow, and work." Lior Steinberg, urban planner, shares insights on how to transform city life to be more human and kind.

Expert opinion by Lior Steinberg,

co-founder of Humankind, an agency for urban change based in Rotterdam, The Netherlands.

I believe that places that encourage positive connections between people and the environment are humane and kind.

For example, streets prioritising car movement are not human and kind since they do not allow residents and visitors to interact, relax, and socialise.

Additionally, it excludes many groups who cannot or will not own a car. On the other hand, a street designed with space for pedestrians, cyclists, transit, benches, trees, interesting shops, and meeting places is human and kind.

Lior Steinberg, urban planner and co-founder of Humankind agency

I co-founded Humankind, an agency for urban change based in Rotterdam, The Netherlands, to make cities more human and kind to ourselves, others and our planet. If we create human and kind cities, we create sustainable presents and better futures where we can live a good life together.

We provide cities, organisations and changemakers with human-powered data and insights to make sense of the present, creative tools to start shaping the future today and share our knowledge so anyone can be a city maker.

Cities are complex systems created and experienced by equally complex beings.

To make them better, we need better insights. Although we have the data, the real challenge is the lack of connections and interpretation. Local governments and municipalities collect and store a lot of data about their cities. In practice, they often struggle to translate this data into meaningful, actionable insights for improving quality of life.

The idea behind our human-powered data approach is to rethink how we collect and analyse data about our cities. The most important thing is to make sure that we are asking the right questions.

For instance, instead of measuring the number of cars passing in a street, maybe we can measure the comfort of street users?

Instead of mapping all playgrounds in the city, could we measure the playfulness of streets and public spaces, regardless of whether they are defined as an official playgrounds?

We strive to create better public spaces by combining spatial analysis with system and trend research. Our Good Public Space concept is a humble attempt to capture all the great qualities of public spaces in a simple, affordable, and scalable way.

We acknowledge that "Good" can mean different things to different people, but research shows that most people view pleasant interactions with other humans and nature as positive. Therefore, there is a need to analyse whether places are designed to encourage such interactions. Additionally, we observe how people behave in the space.

Many companies are often too focused on one discipline, whether they are architects, urban planners, or engineers. In order to create great cities for people, you must approach the city from a multidisciplinary perspective.

Cities can spend years discussing possible changes with residents, or they can try it and see if it works.

One of our unique projects is offering a ‘Daytrip to the Future’, allowing participants to imagine a better future. Instead of forecasting or trying to predict the future, we translate future possibilities into present-day choices.

Using tactical urbanism - low-cost, temporary changes to the built environment - we help cities try different designs and schemes. For instance, making a street pedestrian-only for the summer or installing a pop-up bike lane instead of a parking lane.

Having an authentic experience and not just theoretical ideas can be more powerful, leading to better decisions. You can do something as simple as finding the perfect place to set up a bench or as complex as rethinking an entire traffic circulation plan.

To me, it is all about improving our public spaces and streets and creating places that make people smile.

Headline image: Ronald Cuyan, Unsplash

This content was originally published in the Profit with Purpose Magazine.

Read more insights on making cities sustainable and inclusive in the Summer 2022 edition of the magazine >>>

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Building the largest community of 'City Changers'

Business Spirit News reporting — Fri, 27 May 2022 12:47:24 +0000

Building the largest community of 'City Changers'

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Gerald-Babel Sutter, Founder of Urban Future, the largest gathering for ‘City Changers’ shares how to bring together thinkers and doers to shape our cities.

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Call for entrepreneurs driving circular city transformations

Business Spirit News reporting — Thu, 24 Mar 2022 12:47:33 +0000

Call for entrepreneurs driving circular city transformations

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Start-up teams with innovative circular economy solutions in urban areas are invited to apply to the Circular Cities accelerator program.

The Circular Cities ClimAccelerator public-private initiative offers an extensive programme and funding for entrepreneurs driving the transformation of cities to become more sustainable and climate-resilient.

Start-ups are invited to submit their projects focusing on a circular solution in the textile, food, tourism, mobility, construction sectors and other relevant areas.

“The Circular Cities ClimAccelerator helped us not only to connect to other leaders in this area, but also to connect to relevant stakeholders such as cities to create valuable partnerships,”

says Dominik Campanella, Co-Founder of Concular, and participant of the previous Circular Cities program.

Proposed business solutions need to be scalable in urban areas, particularly to the markets of the partner cities of the program, which includes Dublin, Berlin and potentially other large cities.

Selected teams will go through three stages: working on their business strategy, market validation, and investment readiness.

At the first stage, 25 teams will be supported with €3.000 per team, then 15 teams will continue the next phase when they will each receive up to €15.000 grant.

The final module will be an invite-only option for the best ten projects to present their ideas to investors.

Application is open until 10 April to enterprises with an advanced business model and minimum viable product with a legal entity registered no longer than five years in Europe.

The duration of the program is eight months, starting on 25 April and closing with a demo day on 02 December 2022.

The Circular Cities ClimAccelerator program is managed by Climate-KIC, Luvent Consulting GmbH, DTU - Technical University of Denmark, UPS, Trinity College Dublin, Trinity's Ideas Workspace, Veolia and primeCROWD investment group.

Headline image: CHUTTERSNAP on Unsplash

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March 2022

Innovative circular program to scale up under new leadership

Business Spirit News reporting — Tue, 15 Mar 2022 08:18:25 +0000

Innovative circular program to scale up under new leadership

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System change specialist appointed to lead game-changing circular economy initiative in the UK.

The trial program of the re-use model ‘Re’ that already saved over 4 million plastic bottles from landfills, has brought Doug Morwood system change specialist, to take the initiative to the next level as MD.

The UK Research and Innovation’s (UKRI) Smart Sustainable Plastic Packaging (SSPP) Challenge has recently announced £3 million in funding to further develop ‘Re’ across the UK and save over 100 million bottles from landfills within the next three years.

Doug Morwood system change specialist, new MD for the 'Re' circular economy program.

Newly appointed MD Morwood aims higher than expected and wants to ‘reduce single-use plastic on a grand scale.'

“I am honoured to join the Re team and look forward to delivering a truly circular economy system for the UK.

We must move beyond the linear system that results in so much waste, both in terms of materials and energy,” said Morwood on his appointment as Managing Director for the ‘Re’ program.

The new MD aims to lead a data-driven change and engage various stakeholders in a ‘re-use revolution’ within and beyond the border of the UK.

He believes that engaging small and big brands alongside retailers is critical in changing the current wasteful practices, and with 'Re' they ‘have to offer a compelling alternative to the current linear system that damages our environment so much.”

Morwood adds:

“Bringing businesses together to tackle the climate and waste crises is the only way we can solve the problem; collaboration is crucial."

Customers can also easily join the movement by using the Refill App, managed by the City to Sea project, showing users the nearest refill station and places to eat, drink, and shop using less plastic.

Advanced Refill Stations – interactive stations where customers can fill a ‘Re Smart Bottle’ with a product of their choice; Image: 'Re' program

Co-Founder of Beauty Kitchen and the ‘Re’ program, Jo-Anne Chidley, is excited about expanding the impact of this project and seeing the build-up of a team under the visionary leadership of Morwood.

She emphasises that ‘this is an open initiative for all brands in the cosmetics, beauty and personal care industries’ and that they will support implementing the ‘Re’ system and help partners deliver change and ‘enter this ecosystem.’

HeadlineImage: 'Re' program

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