Creating and Capturing Value from Circular Economy
On Friday 19th November, the CE-Hub, in conjunction with the Innovate UK commissioned VRP Research Programme, hosted its penultimate event of 2021. A key objective of the NICER Programme is to accelerate understanding and solutions to enable the circularity of specific resource flows and upscale circular economy implementation within different sector contexts. Creating and capturing value via processes such as remanufacturing, refurbishment, repair and reuse are key enablers to optimise the value retained in products and materials through the extension of their useful life and form an essential aspect of meeting the challenges in transitioning to a circular economy. In this event, the CE-Hub invited speakers from across sectors and industries to present a short talk and participate in workshops with the event’s attendees, in order to build an understanding of value creation and capture, as well as explore barriers and triage solutions.
The CE-Hub’s Fiona Charnley welcomed attendees to the event, introduced the Hub and NICER Programme, and gave an overview of the important of value creation in Circular Economy. This was followed by a presentation from Abishek Ramesh, Global Innovation Lead at UKRI Innovate UK, who discussed UKRI’s Manufacturing & Materials Innovation Vision and the ways in which we can design and sell products and services that deliver more value with less environmental impact. This was followed by an exploration of the objectives and outcomes UKRI Innovate UK Value Retention Study. This includes facilitating greater engagement between researchers, industry, policy makers, and investors, and encouraging circular design practices and new business models. David Parker from Oakdene Hollins went on to explain more about the study, talking attendees through value retention processes and sectors, as well as pointing those interested to current publications and activity in the UK, and internationally. Rachel Waugh of Oakdene Hollins picked up from David to discuss innovation opportunities, and summarised some barriers to value retention. To watch this segment of the event, click here.
Stephen le Roux of BEIS then joined the panel to share a policy perspective on value retention. Stephen’s presentation on manufacturing policy and government strategy landscape included an overview of the BEIS manufacturing team, as well as BEIS Net Zero priorities, which included driving the green industrial revolution, boosting growth, and creating jobs in clean technologies, infrastructure, and energy in all parts of the UK. After a more in-depth exploration of BEIS Net Zero and Innovation strategies, Stephen fielded questions from attendees. Click here to watch Stephens presentation, and the Q&A that followed.
An industry perspective on creating and capturing value in the Circular Economy was then shared by Richard Loretto, CE Europe at Amazon, James Barry of Renewable Parts Ltd., and Catriona Cory, Topolytics. Topics covered in these industry presentations ranged from the ability to measure circularity, changing cultures and attitudes surrounding repair and re-use, and the uses of data and mapping in finding a new life for waste materials and by-products. You can watch this final presentation session here.
Attendees were then given the opportunity to workshop with the event’s speakers, and three different breakout rooms were set up, each dedicated to a value retention theme: Creating value from optimising future inputs with Topolytics; Creating and extending value during use phase with Amazon; Creating and retaining value from post use legacy products and materials with Renewable Parts Ltd. After spending some time discussing barriers to value retention and triaging solutions, the Chairs of each workshop group – Peter Hopkinson and Fiona Charnley of the CE-Hub, and KTN’s Matthew Moss – fed back these discussions to the group. Challenges raised included changing perceptions around extended-life products, how to best involve consumers in circularity, and how to create a policy change. Each of the chairs fed back the solutions and opportunities that their group had discussed in response to these challenges, proving the workshops to be inspiring and engaging. You can watch this feedback session here.
If you wish to re-watch or catch up on the event, recordings of each session are available on the CE-Hub YouTube Channel.
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