SPOTLIGHT BLOG

Why not yet? - Circular perspectives by FixFirst

 Sebastian Daus, FixFirst

"Our vision is a world where repairing products first and using them longer is the norm." says Sebastian Daus, CEO of of the Berlin-based impact and tech startup FixFirst. The team developed and introduced a software platform that digitises and simplifies circular services and processes - starting with repair and maintenance in the electronics sector.

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Test potential sustainability of your enterprise!

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A new website introducing the field of ecodesign/ circular design has been completed. It enables to test potential sustainability of your enterprise. Host of the website is the Estonian Design Centre.

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Let's keep on making the world more circular - Our results & offers for you

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Our project is finished now and we are happy to share with you the results & offers we created in the last years. Since 2016, we have been working to strengthen awareness and practical application of the “design approach” to circular economy across the Baltic Sea region. Let’s keep on working to make this world more circular – together & by design, of course!

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Friendship and cooperation – the Russian approach to promoting circular economies

 DFF Talk

Medina Art is a relatively small marketing and business consulting company in St. Petersburg and has been an active partner of "EcoDesign Circle 4.0" since 2019. What began with the first Circular Design workshops in St. Petersburg has meanwhile triggered a "circular wave" that is sweeping across companies, organisations and politicians in Russia from the Baltic Sea to Kamchatka.

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From (ecodesign) idea to market

 

How to bring more eco-designed solutions to the market? How can SMEs evaluate the economic feasibility of circular solutions? The Berlin Institute for Innovation Research draws from over 10 years of experience regarding target groups, viable product ideas and sustainable business models. The newly developed guidelines „From (ecodesign) idea to market“ are meant to help SMEs see the advantages of sustainability, so that they are able to remain or become successful both in terms of their economic and innovative power.

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Speed up the transition with circular design

 DFF Talk

We've all been there: changing habits is not always as easy as one might think. That's why it is helpful to have someone to support and motivate you. In an online event, professionals from the fields of design, digital services and city marketing presented inspiring solutions and lessons learnt to support and establish circular offers and consumption patterns.

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How to bake a circular ecodesign cake

 DFF Talk

How do you develop circular services that benefit your customers, the environment and your business alike? How do you improve the customer experience in the circular economy? And how do you enable customer participation in extended use, maintenance and re-use of products?
These questions were addressed in a training hosted by the International Design Center Berlin.

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Ten years of German Ecodesign Award – Call for applications 2021

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For ten years now, the German Ecodesign Award has shown how environmental and climate protection, innovation and excellent design can be combined. In its anniversary year, the jury of the highest state award for ecological design is once again on the lookout for future-oriented concepts, services and products. Companies of all sizes and from all sectors, students and pioneers in the national and international arena are invited to apply by 12 April 2021.

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EcoDesign Learning Factory – new service ideas for circular economy

DFF Talk

" ... At the end of September, I took part in the Learning Factory training pilot of the EcoDesign Circle 4.0 project exploring service development according to the principles of circular economy ..." Read more about the experiences of a participant from  Design Forum Finland in this pilot.

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Regiostars – Regions cooperating for circular solutions

DFF Talk

How to turn "waste" into market-ready products through design and engineering? How to encourage consumers to change their habits in favour of their health and a reduced footprint? How to strengthen design centres as actors to push the transition to a circular economy? The European Commission hands out its annual REGIOSTARS Awards to inspiring EU-funded projects. Discover this year’s finalist projects in the category “Circular Economy for a Green Europe”.

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Making the world go round - 4th edition of Design Forum Talk about Circular Economy

DFF Talk

For the fourth time, Design Forum Finland opened its (virtual) gates and welcomed us to their Talk series about circular economy. Six different guests showed that circular design is possible and can move us towards a sustainable future.

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EcoDesign Learning Factory goes online - First pilot on Circular Service Design

IDZ / Kühnapfel Fotografie - Circular Design Forum, Berlin 2018

Business is doing great, but the planet is moaning. This has to stop. But how? Join the new format of the EcoDesign Learning Factory: A pilot on Circular Service Design! This brand new format combines different methods from various fields to boost circular economy – and we need you and your brain to make it better.

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Visions, Sprints and Strategies – Bringing Circular Design to Life

IDZ / Kühnapfel Fotografie - Circular Design Forum, Berlin 2018

Since its early days, the Finnish consultancy Ethica has been focusing on circular design. Here, Ethica co-founder and co-developer of the EcoDesign Sprint, Anne Raudaskoski, talks about why they decided to focus on circular design, what experiences they have gained and what is still needed to bring the circular economy to life. 

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Sustainable development: challenges and opportunities

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“Sustainable development: challenges and opportunities” - this is the name of the online conference, which was held on June 2-3, 2020.

The event was the final one in the framework of the Erasmus+ Jean Monnet project “Sustainable Development: from Ecology to Multidimensional Approach”, dedicated to the dissemination of knowledge about the SDGs and their implementation in the EU and Russia. One of the presentations was about our project experiences in relation to the SDGs.

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SUSTAINORDIC - Spreading the Nordic idea of sustainability

 The Nordic Report 02 miljbild lgupplst Photo Daniel Engvall b

Why are the Nordic countries one step ahead in terms of circular economy?

What do collaboration and trust have to do with climate change?

Find out how alternative packaging made from wood fibre is helping to address our growing waste problem and how the sharing economy helps the climate.

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Circular Furniture - First EcoDesign Sprint in Saint Petersburg

 Picture: MedinaArt St. Petersburg

“EcoDesign Sprint” is a training programme for enterprises and designers to generate circular design solutions. Developed by Finnish experts and piloted in Estonia, Finland and Sweden, it was implemented for the first time in Russia.

But how does it work in practice? What were experiences at a furniture factory in Saint Petersburg?

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“Herää Pahvi!” – a cardboard to wake up Finland

HerPahvi paper photo Antti Haapio lores Title 

"HerääPahvi!" is a Finnish project about food packaging that is making use of the side streams of food industry. Partners from biomaterial science, paper and paper board making and creative industries and design cooperate and bundle their excellence. The project partners found a way to integrate oat hull fibers in the production of new kind of decorative packaging paper which helps save virgin wood fibers.
We talked about Herää Pahvi with Design Forum Finland.

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Long live the laptops! - How ecodesign can prevent premature obsolescence

'02 Shattered

Laptops fail frequently and the lifespan of consumer electronics is continually decreasing. A new report of the international network ECOS shows that the EU ecodesign and energy labelling regulatory instruments have a great potential to double laptop lifetimes. Changes are urgently required to shift towards so-called product-as-service business models, as well as to encourage increased innovation and competition in the durability and repairability of devices.

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Policy guidelines in six sectors available – ‘from linear to circular’

CE Guidelines

The R2Pi project - The route to circular economy - was a three-year project within the environment theme of Horizon 2020. Its overarching goal was to accelerate the widespread implementation of a circular economy based on successful business models and effective policies. The recently published guidelines compile a series of principles and lessons that the R2Pi team has developed from working with companies in six different sectors.

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Creating a green brand image for an Estonian concrete manufacturer

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EcoDesign Audit is a diagnostic tool for enterprises to assess their ecodesign capabilities and performances and to identify circular design opportunities / approaches. It was developed during the regular "EcoDesign Circle" project by the Estonian Design Centre. But how does it look in practice? Here is a recent example from the Estonian concrete manufacturer Framm AS.

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Nordic Report 02 launched by SustaiNordic platform

The Nordic Report 02

The Nordic Report 02 is part of the project SUSTAINORDIC, which aims to spread awareness on sustainable production and consumption in the Nordics in accordance with Agenda 2030. 

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First Estonian Design Talk focusses on circular design

Design Talk EDC

The DesignTalks, organised by our partner the Estonian Design Centre, got a glorious kick-off in Tallinn. The first talk focused on the circular economy model and the introduction of circular design, circular economy and design practices.

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European Green Deal

GreenDeal

A Green Deal for the European Union (EU) and its citizens resets the Commission’s commitment to tackling climate and environmental-related challenges. It will include a a new circular economy action plan with ‘a sustainable products’ policy supporting circular design.

"Consumers will benefit from more sustainable products that are designed to be repairable, durable, recycled and use less energy. This can help reduce the lifetime costs of the products they buy."

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German Ecodesign Awards 2019

German Ecodesign Award 2019

An interdisciplinary jury has nominated 31 projects from the sectors architecture, energy, communication, household, interior, transportation and fashion. Among these, 12 were being honored with the German Ecodesign Award during the award ceremony at the German Ministry for Environment on 25 November 2019.

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EcoDesign Learning Factory stops in Russia

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The Ecodesign Learning Factory was developed during the "EcoDesign Circle" as an intensive introduction to ecodesign and Circular Economy. On 24th and 25th Oct this training course was held in St. Petersburg led by leading European experts in this field from Finland and Germany. 

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New EU ecodesign measures introduced

washing machine

A new set of ecodesign measures contributes to our circular economy and climate objectives. In particular, measures are included for the first time under ecodesign to support the reparability and recyclability of products.

As of 2021, all TVs, fridges, washing machines, dishwashers and lighting products placed on the EU market will have to meet minimum design requirements aimed at extending their lifetime.

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The Circle goes on! - EcoDesign Circle 4.0 will focus on designing services for a circular society

picture: © Paweł JóźwiakLogo EDC40 klein

How can ecodesign help to shape the economy 4.0 and advance the transition to a circular model? What opportunities does digitalisation offer sustainable service design? And what do practitioners and supporters of ecodesign need in order to bring it to life on a large, effective scale? These questions lie at the heart of the project EcoDesign Circle 4.0.

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Dispose | Reuse | Recycle - New publication released

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This publication shows results of three projects dispose, reuse and recycle by industrial design students at Burg Giebichenstein Halle University of Art and Design (Germany) by Prof. Mareike Gast, Anja Lapatsch, Anna Hoffmann and Karl Schikora in 2017/18.

The German Environment Agency supported the projects with workshops and answers to many questions. The publication can be ordered at Burg Giebichenstein Halle or our This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

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