#Circular business models

Topic within Circular City
Amsterdam Economic Board, posted

Nieuwe dingen zijn vaak het mooist

In een circulaire economie herbruiken we spullen, waardoor we ze veel langer gebruiken. Dat is natuurlijk prachtig, maar het druist in tegen onze diepgewortelde waardering voor nieuwe dingen. In deze tijd van de #coronacrisis zie je dat een tekort of juist een overschot met onverkochte voorraad een andere dimensie toevoegt, aan een toch al duivels dilemma.

“Als we volledig circulair willen worden zullen we moeten afkicken van onze verslaving aan nieuw en anders naar kopen van (nieuwe) spullen moeten kijken.”

Lees verder in de blog van Claire Teurlings - Challenge Lead Circulaire Economie:
https://amsterdameconomicboard.com/nieuws/de-nieuwe-dingen-zijn-vaak-het-mooist

Amsterdam Economic Board's picture #CircularCity
Jonathan Bloch, Consultancy Intern at TheRockGroup, posted

BrouwBrood

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Jonathan Bloch's picture #CircularCity
Jonathan Bloch, Consultancy Intern at TheRockGroup, posted

Circular Economy Course - UvA

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PPLE at the University of Amsterdam is an intense interdisciplinary program for bright bachelor’s students. Within this faculty, international (including Dutch) students are brought together and posed with challenging courses designed to help them think critically about society and the world around them. These dedicated driven students typically have strong backgrounds in social sciences, however, lack education in the area of sustainability. TheRockGroup sees it as its mission to fill this gap by presenting practical societal perspectives on our current sustainability challenges.

The courses invited guest speakers from relevant societal actors (businesses, government and/or NGO’s) to provide real-life examples to students. This brought the studied theory and our class debates to a higher level. Not only did it show the relevance of what we studied, it also portrayed the complexity of current challenges in a world without perfection information.

Jonathan Bloch's picture #CircularCity
Letícia Bueno, Student , posted

Thinking Tech Partner Needed!

Hello community!
Me and 2 colleagues are structuring a circular business here in the Netherlands and we are looking for a tech partner to help us with the creation of an app and develop a communication system that will improve logistics for transportation, all this to boost circularity in our business model. The tech solution we build together will be part of a circular chain project that we will present for governments.
I am more than happy to discuss this further with whoever is interested :)
Cheers!

Letícia Bueno's picture #CircularCity
Folkert Leffring, Digital Media Manager , posted

Amsterdam launches next stage of circular economy programme

Amsterdam will launch the fourth stage of its circular economy initiative next week, with 200 new projects planned for the coming year. Its 2020-2025 strategy, set to be published 8 April, will build on last year’s programme that saw 116 projects implemented.

Folkert Leffring's picture #CircularCity
Francien Huizing, Program and Communication Manager at Amsterdam Smart City, posted

Learn more about the smart city with these videos! Edition 3: The Circular City

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While most of us are working from home in these surreal times, the Amsterdam Smart City team will support you with some inspiration and learnings about the city. We handpicked videos worth watching!

**Your agenda might still be full with Zoom videocalls or maybe your helping your neighbours with some groceries. Either way, hopefully these videos will be an inspiration and give you some welcoming new insights. Time to check out videos about the development of the city!

We selected these ones about Circularity in the City: recorded in 2019 in Pakhuis De Zwijger, thé dialogue center in Amsterdam.**
16 oktober 2019: De Circulaire Stad (in Dutch)

Hoe bouw je aan een circulaire stad? We kijken we wat er al gebeurt, wat er nodig is om circulaire steden te organiseren en wat wij en de rest van de wereld hier van kunnen leren.
Met ASC partner Metabolic.

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Festival Trouw Duurzame 100 2019: De Circulaire Stad

Van de meest duurzame koplopers tot het belangrijkste burgerinitiatief van 2019: de Trouw Duurzame 100 is vernieuwd! Dit vieren we samen met de winnaars van afgelopen jaren met een verticaal duurzaamheidsfestival in heel Pakhuis de Zwijger. Wie wordt het duurzaamste burgerinitiatief van 2019? https](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qPNW-xX0Bdo)

27 mei 2019: Amsterdam Smart City - Circulaire Vooruitzichten (in Dutch)

Steden waarin al het afval volledig wordt gerecycled. Het klinkt als een ideaalbeeld, maar hoe komen we daar? En hoe betrekken we bewoners zo goed mogelijk bij de processen die hierbij nodig zijn? Afval kunnen we gebruiken als grondstof voor nieuwe producten, zowel op lokaal als centraal niveau. Tijdens dit programma kijken we naar een nieuw ‘Circulair Innovatiecentrum’ dat in Amsterdam moet komen te staan. Hoe zorgen we ervoor dat grote bedrijven en bewoners zo goed mogelijk worden betrokken bij het nieuwe proces van afvalverwerking? Hoe wordt dit aantrekkelijk voor al deze partijen? En wat kunnen we leren van een Upcyclecentrum van de gemeente Almere?
Met Amsterdam Smart City partners Hogeschool van Amsterdam en Gemeente Amsterdam.

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Amsterdam Smart City #4: Circulaire vooruitzichten

Steden waarin al het afval volledig wordt gerecycled. Het klinkt als een ideaalbeeld, maar hoe komen we daar? En hoe betrekken we bewoners zo goed mogelijk bij de processen die hierbij nodig zijn? Tijdens dit programma kijken we naar verschillende projecten rondom circulariteit en afvalverwerking va](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B2rdESl2d9I)

14 februari 2019: Future materials – When fake becomes the new real (In English)

Whether it is about vinyl floors with woodprint, marble print on tiles, polyester with a silk look, or composite terrace parts: imitations give us an illusion of the original. For the most part, fake materials are chosen for cost reasons, cause it is more durable or lower maintenance than the real thing. Where some favour 'faux', it makes other people just cringe. With more awareness about significant environmental impacts that come with the use of materials, we see new alternatives like vegan leather, bio-composites and nanomaterials rise in popularity. What is it that makes us stop questioning authenticity and have us accept and embrace the alternatives? When does fake become the new real?

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Research Files #10: Future Materials: When fake becomes the new real

When is fake accepted as the new way to go? With MaterialDistrict, The Meat Factory, Romancing the Stone & De Vegetarische Slager. Whether it is about vinyl floors with woodprint, marble print on tiles, polyester with a silk look, or composite terrace parts: imitations give us an illusion of the or](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ly5SkP8dT08)

28 januari 2020: De Circulaire Stad #52 - Van wie is de circulaire stad? (in Dutch)

Iedereen kan bijdragen aan een groeiende stad waarin alles een waardevolle grondstof is. Maar wie pakt welke rol? De metropoolregio Amsterdam krijgt er 230.000 woningen bij tot 2040. Is dat te combineren met de ambitie om in 2050 een circulaire stad met zo min mogelijk afval te zijn? In dit programma kijken we naar ieders rol; van de bewoners tot de gemeente, ontwikkelaars, wetenschappers en bouw- en grondstoffenbedrijven. Hoe kunnen we de kosten en baten eerlijk verdelen en bewoners betrekken? En wat heeft iedereen daarvoor van elkaar nodig?

[

De Circulaire Stad #52: Van wie is de circulaire stad?

Iedereen kan bijdragen aan een groeiende stad waarin alles een waardevolle grondstof is. Maar wie pakt welke rol? De metropoolregio Amsterdam krijgt er 230.000 woningen bij tot 2040. Is dat te combineren met de ambitie om in 2050 een circulaire stad met zo min mogelijk afval te zijn? In dit program](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xYSwJebs45o)

Francien Huizing's picture #CircularCity
Amsterdam Smart City, Connector of opportunities at Amsterdam Smart City, posted

Circulair Buiksloterham – 5 jaar later POSTPONED

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Wat kunnen we leren van de circulaire gebiedsontwikkeling van Buiksloterham? Partners van Amsterdam Smart City blikken terug en vooruit na vijf jaar pionieren.

Buiksloterham is een van de snelst veranderende buurten van Amsterdam. De plek die ooit bekend stond als een vervuild industriegebied, wordt langzaam omgetoverd naar een duurzaam woon- en werkgebied. Verschillende partijen, waaronder bewoners, woningcorporaties en kennisinstellingen, hebben de buurt de afgelopen jaren al een circulaire boost gegeven. Ook de komende jaren ontwikkelt de buurt zich verder door.

Wat zijn de geleerde lessen van de afgelopen vijf jaar circulaire gebiedsontwikkeling in Buiksloterham? En wat wordt de rol van de verschillende partijen de komende jaren?

Amsterdam Smart City jaagt innovatieve projecten als deze aan, en gaat daarom in gesprek met betrokkenen en partners over Circulair Buiksloterham.

Foto: Gemeente Amsterdam

Amsterdam Smart City's picture Event on Mar 26th
Sophie van Alen, Junior project manager internationalization at Amsterdam Trade, posted

Speaking opportunity at the Smart City Expo World Congress in Barcelona!

The Smart City Expo World Congress in Barcelona is thé leading smart city event in the world. The programme of the Smart City Expo World Congress (17-19 November 2020) includes a variety of industry leaders, city authorities and urban innovators who come to the event to shed light on the event's tracks on stage during the congress.

The tracks are Digital Transformation, Urban Environment, Mobility, Governance & Finance and Inclusive and Sharing Cities. Is your innovative company active in one of those sectors and are you interested in sharing your ideas with a wide audience?

Submit your proposal for speaking at the Smart City expo before 11th March via http://www.smartcityexpo.com/en/call-for-speakers-2020!

#CircularCity
Hannah Grijns, posted

Week of the Circular Economy #9: ECO coin

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Throughout the week of the Circular Economy, we are shining a spotlight on inspiring sustainable initiatives in the Netherlands. Joining forces with startups, social entrepreneurs, creative professionals, leading companies, and forward thinking governments, to showcase what a circular economy can look like. Meet the pioneers, learn from them and get inspired! Closing this series: Lewis Just. He talks us through ECO coin, an alternative currency earned through sustainable actions.

Throughout the week of the Circular Economy, we are shining a spotlight on inspiring sustainable initiatives in the Netherlands. Joining forces with startups, social entrepreneurs, creative professionals, leading companies, and forward thinking governments, to showcase what a circular economy can look like. Meet the pioneers, learn from them and get inspired! Closing this series: Lewis Just. He talks us through ECO coin, an alternative currency earned through sustainable actions.

How did you become involved with the ECO coin?

The ECO coin emerged from a workshop in Brazil led by Next Nature Network . The group noticed an imbalance within our economic and ecological system:: people could get money from cutting down a tree, but no one was actually paying them to grow or protect the forest. What if we paid people for their sustainable actions and rewarded them to protect or grow the ecological surroundings, instead of the other way around? Next Nature Network took this idea back to Amsterdam to further develop it. Here my personal story comes in: I’ve always been fascinated by both community currencies and the rise of cryptocurrencies. I’m originally from Scotland and had been working in London for a while, but missed a sense of real impact in my day-to-day job. So I moved to Amsterdam on a whim in 2016, and had the opportunity to start working on evolving the ECO coin from an idea to a business of its own.

What is the ECO coin?

It is a digital community currency earned through sustainable actions. There are different sustainable actions, or missions that you can do to earn ECO coins, which are customized depending on the context or organization we are working with. Missions range from eating a meat- free meal to recycling plastic bottles or taking the bike instead of the car. Each mission is priced in ECO coins. The more impact the mission has, the more ECO coins you get. Once you’ve earned your ECOs they can then be spent on sustainable services, exclusive experiences and circular products.

The first time the ECO coin was earned and spent was at DGTL festival. That was quite exciting because we’d just started to formalize the concept, and then suddenly had only eight weeks to build the entire system as a digital platform. We used the festival’s NFC wristbands to ‘store’ the ECOs. Now, we’ve moved away from NFC and created a standalone web app, which makes it more applicable to different contexts.

How do you determine the value of an action?

We calculate the impact and translate it into one value: CO2e (the “e” standing for equivalent). For example, we can calculate the difference between a veggie meal versus a meal with and that way come to the avoided CO2-emissions. It’s still generalized, but we’re trying to go further into detail by integrating data that is out there anyways – such as the exact distance you’re biking. The more information we have, the more we can steer people a certain way by showing them the options and related impact. Although it’s really based on the idea of using certain types of data, we’ve always been very aware of privacy issues and are explicit on what part of someone’s data we use.

How do you measure your own impact on the circular economy?

We’ve done seven implementations so far, ranging from large corporates such as booking.com and L’Oréal to organizations like Erasmus University Rotterdam and the City of Amsterdam. We calculate our impact mainly in terms of avoided CO2e per month, monitoring the amount of actions carried out. For instance, at the municipality we reduced 10 tons of CO2e per month with only 150 people carrying out more than 5000 actions. For every action chosen over another action, we are also able to calculate savings in water reduction, energy, and waste. These is the hard data of our impact – but we go further than that. Social impact is a key aspect for us as well, although harder to quantify. It’s a huge win that companies like booking.com are wanting to collaborate, and apparently value sustainability so much that they want to incentivize their employees to act more sustainably. These companies often have global supply chains and so massive potential for impact on transitioning to a circular economy. We always conduct an analysis of an organization before and after implementing the ECO coin, and these almost always show that mindsets have actually shifted. Circular thinking has often really gotten into the DNA of the company. What’s more, even though we focus on working life, the project often leads to attitude change that is also reflected in people’s private life.

Is the ECO coin limited to organizations, or can you also join as a group of friends or neighbors?

We're interested in various types of communities. It's interesting because each community expects something different from using the ECO coin, so you have to co-create it with them. For some parties, it's really about mobility and how people are getting to work, while for others it can be about teaching their employees to separate waste. Eventually we hope to have the platform open to individuals as well, really thinking in larger closed-loop systems, but at this point that’s still more a dream than reality. At this point we’ve only worked with organizations, because the ECO coin is not a self-sufficient currency yet; we need budget from these companies to fund the rewards. It’s also a lot more manageable at this scale, especially in these initial phases when we’re still constantly developing.

We’re currently scaling up and running a pilot with an entire neighborhood (the Knowledge Mile area). This is a neighborhood with all kinds of facilities, so you can essentially earn ECO coins in one place and go down the street and spend the same ECOs at a vendor there. It’s a whole new level of community. The idea is to start with the bigger organizations in the area, and then spread to the smaller vendors. If that’s successful, we’ll hopefully start broadening out to eventually include all of Amsterdam.

Can you tell us more about the reward system?

We believe that the currency should be 50% about ecological value and 50% economic value. People fall for different triggers. One thing that really motivates people is being able to see your personal impact in terms of CO2e, by checking your digital ‘wallet’. You can then spend these ECO coins on all kinds of rewards, ranging from a free coffee or cinema tickets to bike services to exclusive meet and greets. We try to make sure these are as sustainable as possible, for example by looking at partners with excess capacity (such as movie theaters). We’ve now also made it possible to donate your ECO coins, or to spend them on community items like solar panels or plants for your office. It's always green for green: you earn in a green way and you spend in a green way. We also gamify things by working with leaderboards, where you can actually win – individually, but also in teams or per organization. This triggers the competition aspect, which works really well for some people who may not be intrinsically motivated in terms of sustainability.

What's been your favorite case so far?

We had some really great results from the L’Oréal implementation. We did a pilot for them last year. It was fascinating because it was the first time we've gone so deep into corporate culture. I think it worked so well because there was already a very competitive atmosphere; they have several divisions, and are always striving to out compete each other. We played into that and grouped the leaderboards per division. That led to really high engagement. You could feel a buzz throughout the whole building, people joking at the coffee machines like ‘oh, how many do you have? I’m buying my coffee today with ECO coins’.

What challenges have you encountered in setting up ECO coin?

Part of it is regulations. The Dutch National Bank is currently passing new regulations on cryptocurrencies, which may limit our future ambitions. I think the challenge is also to get people to see another kind of value system. People really understand euros, because it’s money they've used all their lives. They don’t see the value of other kinds of money until they can actually spend it and get something from it. I would actually argue that we’re using multiple currencies every single day. We just don't think of them as currencies. Think of your loyalty points at a café, or topping up your public transport card. These are technically also tokens or currencies, designated to be used within a specific value system. The ECO coin represents a sustainable value system.

Another challenge we had mainly at the beginning was getting through to organizations to set up partnerships in the first place. Especially as a smaller start-up, it takes a lot of effort and work to connect with the decision makers of these organizations. Something that’s currently still difficult is getting smaller vendors on board for the reward system. Larger companies see it as value that will eventually flow back, and the publicity is often enough for them. We currently tend to pay smaller companies for their products, from the budget that the organization running the ECO coin puts in. We’re now trying to work through other token and business models, such as buy on get one free offers, to eventually move towards a completely self-sufficient system.

How do you see the ECO coin in 10 years?

We’re pretty ambitious. In ten years, we want it to be a genuine alternative system that you would use every day in Amsterdam. It will have become very normal that, when you tap in or tap out somewhere, you choose which currency you want to use – and for sustainable things you’ll be using your ECOs. The goal is also that eventually you’ll be able to exchange your ECO coins into euros, which would add a whole other layer of worth. We have a couple other ideas that we’re currently working out practically. Ideally, every ECO coin will be backed by a tree, just like every euro used to be backed by gold. This could also be a solar panel or wind farm – anything to give it intrinsic value and to double up the CO2 impact. We’ve recently started collaborating with a foundation on the Veluwe that owns 2 million trees, which is a first step in the good direction. We also want our currency to really be a ‘living coin’, meaning every coin will be programmed so that it gradually loses value over time. We do this partly because certain actions will hopefully become more normal and so worth less, but also largely because it drives people to actually go out and spend it. And you’ll be spending it on sustainable products or services, so that speeds up the whole cycle.

What would you recommend starters wanting to set up a sustainability-related company?

Go and connect with all of the amazing initiatives already out there and figure out where you fit within the bigger ecosystem. Transitioning to the circular economy is about joining multiple things up. You can’t work as an isolated company. It’s what I love about working in this field: traditional startups are constantly competing against each other, but as soon as you step into the sustainability world, everyone’s working towards the same goal and it can only be helpful to work together. It gives you a lot of energy.

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This interview series is a collaborative initiative of Metabolic,** AMS Institute, City of Amsterdam, Amsterdam Economic Board and Amsterdam Smart City. Working together within the Amsterdam Smart City platform, these organizations are committed to accelerate the transition to a circular economy.**

Hannah Grijns's picture #CircularCity
Mathieu Dasnois, Communications Manager at Metabolic, posted

Week of the Circular Economy #8: InStock

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Instead of delicious food being thrown out, InStock redirects it onto a plate. In this interview, Freke van Nimwegen, founder of InStock, explains how they rescue fresh and healthy produce in the Netherlands from going to the landfill. With one-third of all the food in the world binned which was cultivated for consumption, it’s not just the food that’s wasted but the energy of farming, processing and transporting. This innovative initiative has set out to find solutions. They have their own restaurants serving rescued food, a marketplace for restaurants to buy fresh produce otherwise destined for the bin, and also offer beer and granola products made from ‘food waste’.

Here is an excerpt from this interview:

What can you tell me about the problem of food waste, how do you tackle it and how much food have you saved?

One-third of all food is wasted, and that happens mostly at the beginning and the end of the food chain. Right now at InStock we’re mostly focusing on the primary industry, so the food that is either at the farmers, producers, packaging companies or the broker. There is a lot of waste already before the retailer food companies even get it so we focus on their products that would be wasted otherwise, but are still perfectly fine. We then bring it to our restaurants as well as others to make sure it’s used. We have now saved close to 900,000 kilos from going in the bin.

What is the story of the InStock restaurants?

We started the restaurants in 2014 and our press release got so much attention we were fully booked immediately. We now have restaurants in 3 locations, one of them is in the political heart in Amsterdam which is great to create awareness, as politicians come to eat there. We have found really creative chefs who create lunch and dinner with whatever comes in. They used to have to make new recipes often, but over the years we’ve been able to establish a database of recipes to handle whatever comes in. For example, if beetroots come in we have a recipe for beetroot risotto which we can make for three weeks or three days depending on the quantity. We now have more and regular suppliers with larger quantities so we have a better prediction of what we are going to get. Also our creative chefs have come up with recipes that we have made a cookbook out of.

Could you tell me more about the beer and granola products that have been made from rescued food?

Because some products are wasted more than others we tried to see what we could use them for. So together with a local Amsterdam brewery, we made Pieper Bier from rescued potatoes and Bammetjes beer from rescued bread. From this collaboration we discovered that the grain which is left over after making beer at breweries, is still a very nutritious product with a lot of fibers and protein, so we use that as the base for our InStock Granola.

What do you think are the biggest barriers to getting more initiatives to use food waste?

In general, our whole system is based on a linear economy. The business case for a circular product is hard because it takes more time and money to get products that would be wasted otherwise. So, for example, it would have been cheaper for us in the beginning to just buy it at the wholesaler then what we were doing. But right now we're just seeing that as we are scaling up, with more suppliers and higher quantities delivering to InStock, then it becomes cheaper. It’s the same for packing and plastics, a lot of people want to work with recycled plastic but if it’s so much more expensive than normal plastic then why would they? Taxes could play a big role in this because now we are taxing income, but if we taxed resources then it would become a lot more interesting for companies to work towards circular business.

Could you tell me more about the ‘zero waste hierarchy’ and what you think are the best solutions?

The summary is to reduce, reuse, recycle, in that order. For us, of course, if you can prevent products or food from becoming waste, that’s better. After this, we reuse and recycle. If the food is not edible anymore then at least keep the value as high as possible. So for example, make compost out of it or animal feed from it instead of burning it or throwing it into the landfill.

<https://www.metabolic.nl/news/ready-to-stock-up-on-food-waste/>

Mathieu Dasnois's picture #CircularCity
Innomics Go!-NH, GO!-NH at Province of Noord-Holland, posted

Introduction meeting GO!-NH Accelerator Sustainable Innovation 2020

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Introduction meeting GO!-NH Accelerator Sustainable Innovation 2020

With the help of these introduction meetings, you will get to experience the program and learn from participating teams about what the previous programs brought them.

February 10th 2020 - IDEA, Alkmaar - 15:30 - 18:00
Apply through Eventbrite: https://gonh2020-11feb.eventbrite.nl

ABOUT GO!-NH
The GO!-NH Accelerator puts SMEs and start-ups on the fast track to development. New ways of thinking, new skills and new partners are a must. This programme is all about circular economy, targeting sta-ups, innovative SMEs, large organisations and institutions. GO!-NH brings together all the relevant parties to activate, connect and develop this sustainable innovation ecosystem.

In a three-month programme you’ll go from concept to a business offering innovative solutions that’s ready to take the market by storm. Training sessions, tools and professional support from expert practitioners will help you in developing your business in a sheltered environment. The progress you make during these few months would normally take a full year. GO!-NH is a joint venture of the province of North Holland and Innomics.

The Accelerator program enables startups, innovative SMEs and innovation teams from large organizations to convert ideas into new business models in a short time and to accelerate customer and product development in order to shorten the time to market. You develop your business with training, tools and professional support from experts.

https://go-nh.nl/meer-informatie/

Event on Feb 11th
Innomics Go!-NH, GO!-NH at Province of Noord-Holland, posted

Introduction meeting GO!-NH Accelerator Sustainable Innovation 2020

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Introduction meeting GO!-NH Accelerator Sustainable Innovation 2020

The GO!-NH Accelerator puts SMEs and start-ups on the fast track to development. New ways of thinking, new skills and new partners are a must. In a three-month programme you’ll go from concept to a business offering innovative solutions that’s ready to take the market by storm. Interested?
With the help of these introduction meetings, you will get to experience the program and learn from participating teams about what the previous programs brought them.

February 10th 2020 - IDEA, Alkmaar - 15:30 - 18:00
Apply through Eventbrite: https://gonh2020-10feb.eventbrite.nl

ABOUT GO!-NH
The GO!-NH Accelerator puts SMEs and start-ups on the fast track to development. New ways of thinking, new skills and new partners are a must. This programme is all about circular economy, targeting sta-ups, innovative SMEs, large organisations and institutions. GO!-NH brings together all the relevant parties to activate, connect and develop this sustainable innovation ecosystem.

In a three-month programme you’ll go from concept to a business offering innovative solutions that’s ready to take the market by storm. Training sessions, tools and professional support from expert practitioners will help you in developing your business in a sheltered environment. The progress you make during these few months would normally take a full year. GO!-NH is a joint venture of the province of North Holland and Innomics.

The Accelerator program enables startups, innovative SMEs and innovation teams from large organizations to convert ideas into new business models in a short time and to accelerate customer and product development in order to shorten the time to market. You develop your business with training, tools and professional support from experts.

https://go-nh.nl/meer-informatie/

Event on Feb 10th
Amsterdam Economic Board, posted

Week of the Circular Economy #2: Program Circular Mattresses

Matrassen zijn de grootste stroom binnen het huishoudelijk restafval. Elk jaar danken we er meer dan een miljoen af. Dat is de Johan Cruijff ArenA tot het dak gevuld. Waarom verbranden als we het ook kunnen recyclen?

Ons initiatief Circular Economy Lab in samenwerking met Utrecht Sustainability Institute was het startschot voor de nationale coöperatie in de matrasketen. Onder leiding van Jacqueline Cramer en Jan Nieuwenhuis werken we toe naar een circulaire matrasketen.

Amsterdam Economic Board's picture #CircularCity
Amsterdam Smart City, Connector of opportunities at Amsterdam Smart City, posted

Week of the Circular Economy #1: Upcyclecentre Almere

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Throughout the week of the Circular Economy, we are shining a spotlight on inspiring sustainable initiatives in the Netherlands. Meet the pioneers, learn from them and get inspired! First up is Henk Martens: Programme Manager of the Upcyclecentre in Almere.

Throughout the week of the Circular Economy, we are shining a spotlight on inspiring sustainable initiatives in the Netherlands. Joining forces with startups, social entrepreneurs, creative professionals, leading companies, and forward thinking governments, to showcase what a circular economy can look like. Meet the pioneers, learn from them and get inspired! First up is Henk Martens: Programme Manager of the Upcyclecentre in Almere.

So, Henk, can you tell us what the Upcyclecentre is all about?

The Upcyclecentre contributes to a circular economy in which raw materials are reused optimally. Residents bring in their waste, and startups on site design and create products from the waste. Old goods gain new economic value, value which in some cases may be higher than the original value. It’s a new concept; people may say it’s the first upcycle centre in Europe. Almere wants to show residents, companies, and other cities that it is possible. But it’s much more than this: the building itself is designed to be circular, with recycled materials. We have 276 solar panels on the roof, and we can collect and reuse rainwater for the toilets. And much more importantly we want to inspire visitors to think and act with a circular mindset. This year we even started offering an educational program for schools.

Every year Almere records 400.000 unique visitors at the waste points.

What kind of startups are on site?

We just had the first batch of startups. Ruig & Geroest makes interior designs, like lamps, from trash, Ruik makes perfume from pine needles or orange peels, & Seefd saves and screenprints pre-loved clothes. The Upcyclecentre gives these circular startups the chance to develop their business cases by offering them a workspace, giving them a small startup capital of €5.000, and helping them with collecting the right used materials. In exchange, the startups have to share the message of circularity and stimulate circular behavioral change by giving workshops to residents, children etc. Now we are looking for the second batch of startups: there is a time constraint on how long the startups can remain on site, to give the opportunity to other circular entrepreneurs, further accelerating the transition to a circular economy. It’s sort of like an incubator program. But the City of Almere still offers the opportunity to join a circular hub district.

You briefly mentioned that this is the first Upcyclecentre of Europe. Why do you think this hasn’t happened before?

Coincidence or not, Almere is hosting the International Horticultural Expo in 2022: the Floriade. The theme is ‘Growing Green Cities’ and the expo will focus on the green city of the future with growing cities: in 2050 more than 70% of people will live in cities. This created a momentum to do things differently, develop this center and create a showcase for the Expo. It wasn’t easy and it is not something you can do by yourself. The City of Almere collaborated together with the Omgevingsdienst, the Province of Flevoland and the Ministry of Economics & Climate to make this idea into reality.

What do you think are the biggest barriers and challenges the Upcyclecentre is facing?

It’s a difficult question. We are really in the start-up phase. 2020 will be the year to prove that the Upcyclecentre has the right to exist and we will focus on measuring the impact we’ve created towards a circular economy. One challenge is the involvement of residents, even more. Or finding the right startups to join the incubator program on site.

The City of Amsterdam organized a market exploration for a potential Upcyclecentre in Amsterdam North. Do you have any learnings or recommendations for them?

First of all, it is super important to start this initiative with a group of highly motivated people. People who are intrinsically motivated to make this a success. People who believe in the story and want to be an ambassador for the Center. Secondly don’t underestimate the power of good marketing and communication. You want to do this not only for, but also with, the residents of the city. You want to use this center to involve and inspire residents to make this transition to a circular economy happen. This means involving the residents from the start and also reducing potential barriers for users of the center. Make residents your ambassadors as well.

What do you think could be done in your industry to accelerate the transition to a circular economy?

It’s important to show the world that it is possible;a positive outlook on the circular economy. A can-do mentality. That’s what we want to accomplish with the Upcyclecentre. Set an example for the rest of the world and show something concrete and tangible. The city government can take a leading role in this as well. The City of Almere’s initiative is a good example for this.

And if we are looking into the future, where is the Upcyclecentre in 5, 10 or maybe even 20 years?

In a dream scenario all stakeholders have a circular mindset: companies, government, educational organizations and residents. But it’s going to be difficult. The first step is relatively easy: mobilizing the frontrunners. The next step is going to be harder: mobilizing the masses. But with the arrival of the new Account Manager, Hede Razoky, the first step in the right direction is made!

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This interview series is a collaborative initiative of Metabolic, AMS Institute, City of Amsterdam, the Amsterdam Economic Board and Amsterdam Smart City. Working together within the Amsterdam Smart City platform, these organisations are committed to accelerate the transition to a circular economy.

Amsterdam Smart City's picture #CircularCity
Amsterdam Smart City, Connector of opportunities at Amsterdam Smart City, posted

Week of the Circular Economy | Meet the pioneers, learn from them and get inspired!

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Throughout the week of the Circular Economy, we are shining a spotlight on inspiring sustainable initiatives in the Netherlands. Joining forces with startups, social entrepreneurs, creative professionals, leading companies, and forward thinking governments, to showcase what a circular economy can look like. Meet the pioneers, learn from them and get inspired!

Welcome to the Dutch week of the Circular Economy! Throughout the week, we will be shining a spotlight on inspiring sustainable initiatives in and around the Amsterdam area, by sharing interviews with pioneering projects and companies who are showing tangible solutions to take us from a linear to a circular economy.

Read about startups, social entrepreneurs, creative professionals, leading companies, and forward thinking governments, and learn what a circular economy can look like. We will be publishing 2 articles each day. So, stay tuned!

This interview series is a collaborative initiative of Metabolic, AMS Institute, City of Amsterdam, the Amsterdam Economic Board and Amsterdam Smart City. Working together within the Amsterdam Smart City platform, these organisations are committed to accelerate the transition to a circular economy.

More information about this week: https://deweekvandecirculaireeconomie.nl/
#circulareconomy #WeekvandeCE

Read all the interviews here:
#1 Upcyclecentre Almere
#2 Program Circular Mattrasses
#3 Building bridges from flushed toilet paper
#4 The Zwerfinator
#5 Getting buy-in for products-as-a-service
#6 Loop a.life
#7 Circular Textile Industry
#8 InStock
#9 ECO Coin

Amsterdam Smart City's picture #CircularCity
Julie Chenadec, Relationship Development Manager at Aknostic, posted

CEDaCI – Circular Economy for the Data Center Industry

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The Data Centre Industry has grown rapidly and generates a large volume of e-waste / WEEE. The current infrastructure for dealing with this waste is underdeveloped and consequently, there is a real and urgent need to address this now. CEDaCI will build a Circular Economy for the Data Centre Industry by bringing together stakeholders from all equipment life cycle stages to turn this waste into a useful resource and support the ongoing rapid growth of the DCI.

Julie Chenadec's picture #CircularCity
Vitor Pereira, Executive Director & Co-Founder at ZOOM GLOBAL SMART CITIES ASSOCIATION, posted

2020 the year (and decade) to Start Smart

We created a few weeks ago the platform StartSmart.city.

StartSmart.city is a special incubation/acceleration program specifically designed to support and invest in cities and startups that develop projects directly or indirectly related to smart cities to strengthen the social and economic fabric of the territory.

StartSmart.city was created with the goal of supporting and contributing to the progress of cities by attracting and retaining talent and entrepreneurs by providing different and alternative channels for access to investment and financing.

I hope you can reach us in 2020!
Let’s go together to a different dimension of smartness.🚀
Bring it on 2020! 🏄

Vitor Pereira's picture #CircularCity
Mathieu Dasnois, Communications Manager at Metabolic, posted

Rijkswaterstaat: Climate-neutral and Circular Procurement

The Netherlands has high policy ambitions to become 100% circular by 2050, and consume 50% less primary raw materials in 2030. Public procurement can be an incredibly powerful tool, and the Dutch government sees climate-neutral and circular procurement as a means to achieve significant CO2 reductions. However, a framework to quickly and easily assess what is green, circular and climate-neutral can be challenging.

Metabolic proposed a framework for impact measurement of Green Public Procurement, did an analysis of the current state of impact measurement and developed a roadmap towards a harmonized model for the public sector in the Netherlands. We approached the study on three different levels: the level of a product group, the level of an organization and the level of national reporting. Subsequently, we developed a roadmap with actions that should be taken in the coming 5 years in order to arrive at a more uniform impact monitoring for climate-neutral and circular procurement.

Implementation of the roadmap produced in the study will help the Dutch government develop a clear monitoring framework that helps public organizations compare purchase options and make sustainable purchasing decisions more easily.

Mathieu Dasnois's picture #DigitalCity
Kerstin Gerlagh, General Manager , posted

Nordic Circular Economy Summit 2020

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Business leaders and other experts from the European Commission, Holland Cicular Hotspot, Rang-Sells, Amager Resource Center, Neste, Aker Solutions and more will be sharing experiences, solutions and creating new possibilities for business partnerships. This Summit will give an opportunity to strengthen the ties between the Nordics and the Netherlands in the field of Circular Economy. This event is offered free of charge registration is, however, required.

Event on Feb 3rd
Menno Houtstra, chairman cooperative , posted

KASKANTINE 4.0

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The Kaskantine will implement together with the neighboorhood its design for closing local resource loops: a kitchen with closed water cycle, preventing local food waste, introduce neighbourhood composting, and organise repair cafe's, sport and musique workshops, etc. Data will be gathered to monitor the resource cycling and methods will be tested to make it more socially and culturally inclusive.

User-created nature-based solutions in an urban environment;

The case of the KasKantine (Greenhouse Cantina), Amsterdam

Historically landscape architecture and infrastructural planning have assigned physical separated functions to landscape in order to upscale and manage resource flows cost efficiently. Rather than monosectoral and large scale linear production systems we can now see a shift to decentralized and locally integrated solutions to close resource loops. In these solutions also citizens can play a more (pro)active role. After being more prominent in rural areas, landscape architecture is now also more active as a lead design principle in urban neighbourhoods. Local integrated solutions for resource cycling efficiency give rise to multiple value production rather than to an increase of local financial income. Either way it increases citizen driven (semi)professional activities in resource management in urban neighbourhoods, as well in its creation and in management.

We see enormous potential in this approach: it can reconnect citizens to nature, it can facilitate in changing lifestyles AND produce the right technology to face our climate and resource crisis. But before it can become mainstream, we see the following challenges and questions, mainly to do with creating sufficient local political support and accessibility to these technological and economic opportunities.

  • How can actors on local level on one side and central sectoral level at the other side co-create and redesign effectively the landscape, necessary to close resource loops locally with sufficient democratic legitimacy?
  • How could citizen-driven services in resource management be held accountable to a broader public and the public sector?
  • How can these nature-based solutions be culturally and socially inclusive?
  • How can socio-economically marginal(ized|) groups profit from this increased multiple-values production?

We can try to answer those questions for one specific case to see how it could work out in practice. The Kaskantine is a not-for-profit volunteer driven garden- restaurant - food coop which has as its main objective to show that more autonomous, off the grid nature based solutions for climate adaptive working and living in urban areas are possible and can be at the same time a new lifestyle. It is a small village of refurbished shipping containers, recycled greenhouses and (roof top)gardens. The Kaskantine is currently being built on its fourth location and is negotiating a 7 years ground lease with the municipality of Amsterdam.

The Kaskantine managed to grow from only one container and a one-man company, 5 years ago, to a cooperative with over 30 volunteers with 13 containers. A second village is being planned of 7 containers in the east of Amsterdam. This has been realised without any external capital investment or subsidies. The strategy has always been: find a solution with the least possible financial costs and turn untapped local resources into value.

In doing so the Kaskantine discovered that although real estate prices in Amsterdam skyrocket, there is still a lot of underutilised land and water, that is without use for people and for nature. Lots of plots are “waiting” to be developed, or are underdeveloped: for one function while there could be double or triple functionalities. We could call this “real estate waste”. The Kaskantine could use land for free because there was no direct market value of that land. And the same counts for other important resources: (rain)water, (solar)energy, food (waste and own production), labour (volunteers) and (natural and waste) materials. The Kaskantine is able to operate with zero fixed costs and therefore able to survive.

Furthermore, with its installations it is trying to integrate all received good and services in local loops. Maximum in, minimum out. This is optimized by integrating different resource loops in one management system.

An abundance of one flow of resources can be absorbed by other resource cycles: Peak solar energy can be used in extra ventilation, aeration and irrigation. Sudden food surpluses are redistributed for free and create network solidarity. The Kaskantine is also able to use resources in all phases of their life cycle, like wood: from construction to fire wood. Or being able by using rest heat in storing it in mass or other spaces, or filtering waste water for irrigation. We call this adaptive capacity: the capacity to buffer abundance and use it later or in an alternative way.

Finally, an alternative lifestyle is embraced, one that is appreciating the value of abundance of local resources, rather than the value of market choice.

We could argue that the Kaskantine is thriving in an alternative economy, that can exist thanks to and despite of the mainstream economy that they are trying to transform. We call this abundance or give economy, in contrast with economy based on consumption and the organisation of scarcity.

Abundance economy as being a sum of relatively autonomous integrated projects in mainstream economy.

Because of its ability to expand autonomously within mainstream economy, and because its abundance economy is not a zero-sum game as long as local resources and waste are underutilised, the Kaskantine is very open for participation. There is no economic argument against including more neighborhood activities, on the contrary. More participation seems therefore to depend more on the capability of cultural inclusiveness: if people feel comfortable within the network of the Kaskantine, or if people feel comfortable to start a sort of “kaskantine” on their own.

First, the opportunity to integrate has been ”built in” into the design of the Kaskantine by a step-in approach. From experience as a guest (exchange, tasting, get inspired, etc) to participation in the design, creation and operation of the Kaskantine and Kaskantine related projects.

Secondly, the Kaskantine is also active in the neighbourhood centre and within a network of community organisations, with a step-out approach. In this case the Kaskantine offers through free workshops a learning curve to adopt small scale installations, like vertical gardens and worm composting, and participate in food saving and storage at home in order to take a step back from mainstream economy into the abundance economy.

An important ambition of the Kaskantine is to negotiate with the municipality a land lease contract in which the landuser takes responsibility for its development and environmental control of the land. This cheaper land rent will hopefully give other “kaskantines” the opportunity to arise.

The Kaskantine has free energy to spend on helping other groups in joining this movement because it can operate autonomously and with low fixed costs. This creates hopeful opportunities for inclusiveness of the proposed solutions. Whether this is done in some kind of co-creation with more central institutions depends more on their own capability to work with local small scale initiatives and on their willingness to change or compensate the negative effects of their lineair production models and on their willingness and capability to change sectoral into integrated policies.

Menno Houtstra's picture #CircularCity