Over the coming months Nordic companies will learn about circular business models and practical solutions, embedding circular design into processes and operations, as a part of the Nordic Circular Design Programme – an 8-month program supported by Nordic Innovation. The program is based on a mix of virtual and live workshops as well as a podcast series.
EU legislation and circular design strategy
The first live workshop took place in Copenhagen on 5 November and consisted of two tracks.
In the “Executive Track: Market Transition towards a circular economy” the participants learned about the risks and opportunities related to the market changes driven by the circular transition and how to align company strategies with those changes. The workshop included insight into EU legislation such as the Ecodesign for Sustainable Products Regulation, Critical Raw Materials Act and Right to Repair. The workshop also included topics such as customer expectations for circularity, environmental parameters and investor interest in circular solutions.
In the “R&D Track: Circular Products: Design Strategies” the participants worked on circular design frameworks and strategies for circular product and service design. The purpose of the workshop was to identify the company’s products’ current state and to look into potential circular design strategies.
Goal is new tools for the company
The participating companies come from different industries and with various experience in working with circularity. Some have already implemented circular practices while some are in the early exploring phase. Among the participants are companies such as Ecco, Danfoss, Lindab Group, Normada and Teknos.
Several companies mentioned that bringing new knowledge and concrete tools to the company is the main reason for participating in the program:
“Our hope is that this workshop will give us some material and tools that we can bring with us back home to our colleagues and our management. We have already discussed that in our company. By participating in this program, we get more knowledge that we can present to our colleagues. Because right now we don’t have any tools to use,” says Tove Sjodin from Hexatronic.
“It is great to be here with my colleague because when we get out of our daily routines we can better focus on this topic. And when we are together at the workshop we are building some kind of common understanding together as colleagues that we can take with us back to the management,” says Sari Ponkala from Vallox Oy.
New podcast episode
The next program activity takes place 19 November with a new podcast episode discussion “What is circular customer experience?”
Read the full program schedule here
Background
The Nordic Circular Design Programme is supported under Nordic Innovation’s Circular Business Models program. The partners behind the program are Ethica, Cradlenet, Danish Design Center and Norwegian Center for Circular Economy.
