THEORY
Circular Economy
Circular Economy is a newly defined vision that serves as an umbrella term for several scientific concepts that aim to create cycles in economy, society and nature.
We at Circular Thinking refer to cradle-to-cradle inspired circular economy, as this is one of the most ambitious concepts with many already scaled practical examples.
Design thinking
The innovation methodology Design Thinking is based on the hypothesis: <<You achieve radical innovation by working with five people from different departments for one day rather than one day spend by five experts working on their disciplinary part separately.>> Design Thinking builds on three dimensions: Diverse teams, flexible workspaces that support teamwork, and an iterative process that puts the needs of users at the center of innovation.
We at Circular Thinking have developed our own form of Circular Design Thinking, so that deep Circular Economy knowledge can be learned and applied in Action Learning as a side effect.
Product-as-a-service business model
In academia, equipment-as-a-service and pay-per-use models are summarized as Product-Service Systems (PSS). They offer manufacturers several economic advantages:
>> Long-term customer relationship and data on usage
>> Accounting advantages for the
customers
>> Remaining property of the used
raw materials in the product
>> Differentiation from competitors
through service
​
From a systemic and ecological point of view, they are also promising for drastically decoupling of value creation from resource consumption.