On March 5th, 2024, Verhaert Masters in Innovation let sparks of product innovation fly during the Sustainability Paradox event at UAntwerp’s Science Park in Niel. Visionary voices and seasoned experts in innovation, engineering and R&D joined forces and together unraveled the secrets of successful sustainable design and circular business models.
Ecodesign balances sustainability and profitability
Sustainability takes a central position within R&D and innovation, think about meeting stricter regulations and standards in terms of environmental protection, delivering long-term impact, efficient use of available materials and energy, and meeting the growing consumer interest in sustainable products and services.
Nevertheless, many companies struggle to find solutions that are both sustainable and profitable or to integrate sustainability into their core business. For that reason, Verhaert brought together experts from C-Battery, Circular Valley, DEME, UAntwerp, VITO and in-house teams to share success strategies and best practices to overcome the sustainability paradox in different domains.
Joris De Lamper, Manager of Innovation Acceleration and host of the seminar adds: “Ecodesign is not only a moral duty to future generations, it’s also a source of innovation and competitive advantage. How can we make the right trade-offs and design solutions that take into account environmental, economic, and technological factors? That’s the question we wanted to answer during this event. By giving each other the most specific strategic management advice possible, we can work faster toward various sustainability goals.”
Full circular life cycles: optimally closing the cycles
Sustainable design is about innovation on several fronts. As an organization, you can’t get stuck in a certain ‘sustainability tunnel’ as this makes it much more difficult to respond to external changes. Many companies lack a common framework to sharpen their perspective and definitions around sustainability.
Karine Van Doorsselaer, professor of materials science and ecodesign at UAntwerp, refers to the ‘butterfly diagram’ of the Ellen MacArthur Foundation. This visualization showcases the circular economy and provides a clear blueprint for companies to work toward. It also maps the entire product life cycle to assess the total environmental impact. To efficiently close the cycles, it’s recommended that the consumer has as little responsibility as possible. This way you avoid contaminated waste streams due to improper sorting behavior. An alternative to making the circular system successful is to introduce an end-of-live incentive toward the end user, as with deposit systems.
Competitive business models
To be competitive against current linear economic business models, you need strong partnerships throughout the value chain. Only when each stakeholder enjoys added value within the model will the likelihood of adoption increase.
Product-as-a-service business models are very interesting in the context of sustainable design. Indeed, the producing party benefits from designing them according to other design drivers, for example, design for disassembly and design for repair. Even though this switch can be investment-intensive, companies can draw strength from strong partnerships and adopt hybrid models as an intermediate step.
“The Sustainability Paradox was the ideal combination of inspiring success stories, practical insights, and interactive discussions with both speakers and participants,” concludes Damien Feuillan, seminar participant. By connecting the Belgian ecosystem across borders with new partners such as Circular Valley, Verhaert created a platform to share key success factors and potential solutions. Together for sustainable innovation!
