The Circular Economy as the New Normal
Innovative Ways to Innovate
Design Thinking, Lean Startup and Permanent Beta show us new innovation approaches: 'learning by doing'. These approaches aim to collaborate and launch pilot projects as soon as possible. Develop and scale while the pilot is still running. In most cases, frontrunners use these approaches to innovate.
It helps to create a physical environment for innovation where input is more important than output. Innovation needs space and time to develop and flourish in a creative way - a place where there is enough focus on value chains and impact. This requires a budget that does not depend on time-to-market, but trust that outcomes will be valuable.
Mariana Mazzucato, author of The Entrepreneurial State, explains that her research has shown that countries who manage innovation through 'input' instead of 'output' have a higher return on investment. The Finnish Sitra Innovation Fund is a good example.
"The transition towards a circular economy should be seen in a less technocratic light. Collective economic decision-making and processes are the most necessary changes at this moment. The transition we are facing is progress in civilisation: away from the zero sum game and towards value development for all". Nynke Schaaf (Nederland Kantelt) enlarges the discussion.
Creating a circular product or service requires collaborative design with organizations within the value chain and relevant disrupters outside the value chain. This process is often more difficult than it seems. In this open innovation track we collaborate in different stages with an ecosystem of partners and disrupters to create a circular solution at scale. We start small, defining the right ecosystem and collaborative approach, and then create a prototype before actually scaling up to pilot projects. Our public launch is underpinned by a large-scale go-to-market strategy.