When it comes to physical products, the challenge of moving towards more sustainable operations boils down to one thing: circularity. Again, upcoming directives related to the EU Green Deal will be driving this – the right to repair, demands for traceability and product passports, to just mention a few. But being compliant doesn’t automatically mean making good business.

To design successful products, we need to design products that people want – products that are desirable user centric. And, perhaps most importantly: products cannot become circular unless business models are. In other words, companies are facing the challenge of re-designing their business models and ways of working to transition into the circular economy. Sourcing, tracing, product design, production, distribution, refurbishment, upcycling, recycling, product cycles, customer service – everything needs to be re-designed to remain relevant and profitable. Business design and industrial design care key in this.

Making business circular