The Nordic Innovation Circular Fast Track aims at challenging Nordic companies, ecosystems, public sector organizations, clusters, networks and innovation institutions to team up and accelerate high-impact circular economy projects. The four selected initiatives are:
100% Shrimp
Project Owner: Iceland Ocean Cluster. Country: Iceland
The 100% Shrimp initiative aims to utilize more of each shrimp, increase the value of each shrimp landed.
Startup company, Primex, are extracting chitin (the acetylated form of chitosan/the source biopolymer converted/deacetylated) to produce chitosan (a high –value bioactive high value compound) from shrimp shells that can be used in dietary supplements, nutraceuticals and biomedical applications, a market with a growing demand. Today’s problem is that up to 65% of a shrimp is wasted, despite its suitability for chitosan production, and growing demand from Primex.
This represents a major loss of potential circular value for the Nordic region. Several bottlenecks currently prevent the industry from creating value and reducing their loss. They are:
- the process for drying, milling and handling shell for chitin and chitosan production has not been developed nor standardised
- the cross-border supply chain is disconnected
- the infrastructure to land, store and process this yield is lacking in some site
- there are no cost-effective models of how such a large company can make this change to valorise their secondary yields.
100% shrimp seeks to resolve these challenges through key cross-border Nordic collaborations that will streamline and enable the creation of new circular value & supply chains, activate, and implement that supply chain at scale and finally showcase this Nordic model for fast-tracking seafood companies toward waste reduction and circular value creation.
Nordic Wool Initiative
Project Owner: Axfoundation. Country: Sweden
The Nordic Wool Initiative aims to reduce dependency on fossil-based raw materials and linear business models by creating/strengthening a Nordic value chain for wool and wool products in the textile industry. The project focuses on developing the value chain, from regenerative farming and processing in the Nordics to real use cases for different types of wool. The project builds on insights from Swedish and Norwegian studies on the market conditions for wool and successful models, such as the Norwegian wool collection system, and will strengthen the Nordic wool value chain.
The initiative will promote best practices and knowledge sharing to strengthen both the production and use of Nordic wool by fostering collaboration across Norway, Finland, Sweden and Denmark. The project aims to position Nordic wool as a valuable and sustainable resource in both regional and global markets through strategic partnerships, stakeholder engagement and sustainable practices.
Nordic Smart City Circular Fast Track
Project Owner: Oslo municipality. Country: Norway
This project will take proven solutions in one of the cities that are members of the Nordic Smart City Network and transfer it to other relevant cities in the network. This will be done by giving startups and SMBs access to the Nordic cites as testbeds and offering one proven solution on a local level, financial support for large-scale testing across the Nordics.
The target group for the Smart City Circular Fast Track includes Nordic cities, businesses, and specifically startups engaged in circular economy of buildings and construction. This scheme will enable rapid scaling of innovative solutions within the circular economy across the Nordic region.
Nordic Piloting Program for Circularity in Technical Building Solutions
Project Owner: Combient Pure. Country: Finland
This project aims to fast-track the development of circular solutions for technical building equipment, a major source of emissions in the construction industry. By driving value chain-wide collaboration and piloting in real building projects, the project seeks to reduce product-related (embedded) emissions through circular economy.
Developing more circular solutions requires engagement from multiple actors in the value chain, and especially in the construction industry, where contractors, sub-contractors, architects, consultants, product providers and end customers rarely all come together already in the building planning phase. Due to the fragmented nature of the industry, it is essential to conduct in-depth, collaborative development projects that bring together all relevant parties to co-create and innovate new solutions.
“We are certain these projects will enable faster transition of Nordic ecosystems, industries and value chains from linear to circular economy. Moreover, these are projects that will strengthen cross-border trade, international collaboration and export from the Nordic countries”, says Peter Munch-Madsen, Senior Innovation Advisor at Nordic Innovation.
Nordic added value
The Nordic Innovation Circular Fast Track aims to strengthen the Nordic circular economy by accelerating the transition from linear to circular economy across the region. By strengthening Nordic circular ecosystems and value chains, the initiative will increase value creation and competitiveness for Nordic businesses. The project will impact the specific initiatives, while synergizing with existing initiatives to avoid duplication. Ultimately, the goal is to achieve high-impact, clear and scalable results that transform the regional approach to sustainability and economic development.
