Kickstart Circular Economy

Purpose and goal:

The aim of the project has been to provide knowledge, inspire, increase competence and to help Swedish SMEs in their initial steps for the transition to a circular economy. This has been carried out by developing and testing a process with a number of inspirational workshops to identify a portfolio of support measures at the companies and to encourage them to take small steps in their circular transformation.

Methodology and the structure from the Kickstart concept have been tested and refined, as well as coaches and inspirers have been trained. Expected results and effects:

Within the pilot, new opportunities for the participating companies to improve their circular flows, products and business models have been discussed. The companies have now gained better insight and knowledge to extend their product lifespan and discover new circular business opportunities. The companies have also gained better opportunities to become more competitive and increased their know-how competence.

See Appendix 2. With good feedback from the pilot project, Kickstart Circular Economy will be scaled up in close collaboration with kickstart sustainability. Approach and implementation:

The project began with a workshop on the purpose, plans and content. Then through our local and regional partners, companies interested in CE were contacted and invited to our local inspirational workshops. Meanwhile, structure and content for workshop series were developed according to the Kickstart concept.

Throughout the project, the structure and content were reviewed and revised according to feedback. Inspiration workshops were carried out in four regions in Sweden with a total of 16 companies and 31 participants, which new coaches and inspirers also participated.