A circular economy approach for lifecycles of products and services
Looking back at the CIRC4Life OPEN INNOVATION CAMP 2021
25 June 2021
During the two-day Open Innovation Camp event, 70 circular economy experts from 18 countries took part in evaluating the CIRC4Life results and jointly and individually provided critical and encouraging comments. Participants provided excellent feedback, mentioning an intense but well structured workflow, excellent presentations, and valuable exchanges.
The second Open Innovation Camp on 27th and 28th May 2021, organized by Laurea University of Applied Sciences, was held to co-validate the developed Circular Economy Business Models and solutions and to identify future research and market opportunities in circular transition. Due to Covid-19 restrictions, the Camp was arranged virtually using Zoom and Howspace as collaboration platforms.
During the first day of the Open Innovation camp participants evaluated and discussed the overall success of the five demonstrations of the CIRC4Life project, and the utilization of the CIRC4Life tools and innovations. During the second day, the focus was on evaluating and validating three circular economy business models (CEBMs), including (A) co-creation of product and services, (B) sustainable consumption and (C) collaborative recycling and reuse. Insights from CIRC4Life Demonstrators served as case studies for the implementation of the CEBMs.
During the event, the CIRC4Life demonstrations and business models were showcased through a combination of displaying videos and presentations given by the company representatives, followed by interactive workshops where the results were discussed, and solutions were evaluated further.
Overall methodology for validation during the Camp
The Open Innovation Camp validation framework was based on the question: “Is it the right solution to the problem?” and on the evaluation of implementation of CEBMs as a whole, as well as elements of the demonstrators. Moreover, the validation in OIC2 was based on the following key questions:
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what has worked;
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what has not worked;
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what are the lessons learnt?
The validation framework for DEMO’s was based on evaluation of the following statements:
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Has CEBM A) been successfully implemented?
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Has CEBM B) been successfully implemented?
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Has CEBM C) been successfully implemented?
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Have new services and/or products been created?
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Has the company transited towards more sustainable business?
The validation framework for CEBM’s was based on evaluation of the following statements:
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The business model is innovative
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The business model is circular and sustainable
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The business model generates high business potential
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The business model has wide industry applicability
Taking into consideration the goals and framework of the Open Innovation Camp, the validation of demonstrators and their implementation of the three CEBMs was done internally, with only consortium partners taking part in the validation. In contrast, the validation and evaluation of CEBMs involved 27 external experts, in addition to the consortium partners.
Results
Demo results
According to the results of the internal evaluation of demonstrations presented in the table below, it can be concluded that, overall, the CIRC4Life demonstrations have been successful in implementing the three business models and especially in new product and service development. In addition, in all of the demonstration cases the Camp participants considered that the company had managed to transit towards a more sustainable business.
CEBM results
The results of the evaluation and validation of CIRC4Life business models, presented in the table below, show that all three developed CEBM’s reached the desired level ( > 7.0) on their average scores, and can be considered validated by the Camp participants. The highest average score of 8.0 was received by CEBM C), Collaborative Recycle and Reuse model.
Participant Feedback
The received feedback on the Open Innovation Camp was generally positive, as 100% of the respondents on the Howspace platform evaluated their experience as Excellent (19/28) or Good (9/28). In addition, 89,6% of the survey respondents stated that they would, or already have, recommended Open Innovation Camp and would participate in a similar event again.
According to the open comments, the Open Innovation Camp was successful in providing the participants with new insights on designing successful circular business models, especially through researcher Erwan Mouazan’s keynote address, as well as delivering perspectives on the developed CIRC4Life CEBMs. The event was also considered an excellent networking opportunity for future collaborations, while also delivering interesting information about Horizon Europe CE grant opportunities through the keynote address of Hans-Christial Eberl, Policy Officer at the European Commission.
Testimonials:
"The innovation camp gave me the opportunity to meet experts in the field of circular economy and discuss options to further accelerate the change of the industry. This was not only valuable for the discussion, but also for me personally."
Nikolai Mevissen, CM Umwelt GmbH
“The OIC methodology was a great experience demonstrating that is possible to efficiently gather, into a single process, the very broad set of skills required to quickly design a thoughtful and practical solution to systemic problems, regardless their complexity.”
Didier Helal, Orbiwise
“The Innovation Camp was a great example of a method of co-creating products and services. It was also a great opportunity to network with like-minded people and of course learn from each other. I recommend attending similar events. Sometimes simply a different point of view can bring a new perspective to your personal or professional life.”
Andro Goblon, Construction Cluster of Slovenia and International Circular Construction Cluster