In an era of rapid digital transformation, platforms like Google, Amazon, and Airbnb have created marketplaces by reducing transaction c...
The transition to a circular economy is pivotal for achieving sustainability goals, espec...
In today’s world of resource scarcity and the triple planetary crises of climate c...
In a rapidly evolving world, grappling with climate change and the triple planetary crisis, transformative i...
In an era of rapid digital transformation, platforms like Google, Amazon, and Airbnb have created marketplaces by reducing transaction costs, scaling market reach, and lowering entry barriers. Yet, despite their success these platforms have yet to fully harness their potential to drive economic circularity.
To this end, the UN-ECE Transformative Innovation Network (ETIN) has developed a separate work stream to explore the potential of platforms driving the circular economy transition and transformative innovation. Partnering with TheNTWK | Digital Business Models CEO and ETIN member Maria Planas, ETIN recently hosted two sessions about platforms and ecosystem innovation at the recent TheNTWK summit in Barcelona.
The first session moderated by Immanuela Badde, Associate Economic Affairs Officer at United Nations Economic Commission for Europe, focused on how platforms can facilitate reverse logistics for the circular economy. Circular platforms may facilitate and streamline the reverse logistics processes necessary to enable the efficient collection, sorting, and redistribution of used products and materials, ensuring they are returned to the production cycle rather than becoming waste. The latter is crucial to minimize resource depletion, reducing environmental impact, and creating a sustainable economic system.
The second panel about multiple functions of circular platforms was moderated by Mikael Román, Project Coordinator of ETIN at UNECE, explored the additional functions platforms may serve in larger sustainability transitions, in addition to providing new market spaces. This session highlighted their importance for data sharing, collaboration, and continuous development of new innovative business models.
Moving forward, ETIN will leverage these insights to enhance project outcomes, foster vital collaborations in the digital platform landscape and drive sustainable innovation. The discussions underscored the need for policy support and continuous research to cultivate sustainable business models. In this context, ETIN has a clear role in facilitating continuous discussions that support transformative changes towards a more resilient, resource-efficient economy.
The transition to a circular economy is pivotal for achieving sustainability goals, especially within the clean tech sector. Platforms can play a crucial role in facilitating this transition by connecting stakeholders, streamlining resource flows, and enabling efficient material reuse through the creation and scale-up of marketplaces. For example, in the Electrical Vehicle (EV) battery sector, a linchpin in the clean tech revolution, circular platforms can optimize batteries’ lifecycles by promoting more sustainable design, reuse, including through second-life applications, remanufacturing, and recycling.
To explore these dynamics, and the potential opportunities and challenges that circular platforms present for the circular economy transition, the UN-ECE Transformative Innovation Network (ETIN) hosted a panel session on this topic at the recent Innovation Zero Conference in London. Under the title of “the potential of platforms in spurring the circular economy transition in the EV battery sector”, the panel brought together insights from the private sector, a circular platform operating in the EV battery sector, and the research sector, looking at the policy developments in this area.
Discussions showed a growing need to ensure sustainability in the EV battery sector, with EV production expected to grow significantly in the coming years. According to the International Energy Agency (2023), the total number of EVs in circulation reached 40 million in 2023. The number of new EVs sold increased by 3.5 million from 2022 and was more than six times higher than in 2018. With production projected to grow even further in the next years, EV manufacturers are now facing the challenge of keeping up with the expected demand for EV batteries. Given also existing resource constraints for critical raw materials such as Cobalt and Lithium, needed for EV battery production, it becomes imperative to find new ways to meet this demand, as well as ensure the efficient and sustainable sourcing and use of resources and materials, also outlined in more recent policies, such as the Inflation Reduction Act in the United States and the EU Green Deal in Europe.
Circular platforms present an interesting opportunity to address these challenges. They can connect battery manufacturers, recyclers, and end-users, ensuring efficient material recovery and minimizing waste. By using a platform to adopt circular practices, such as recycling and reusing batteries, the sector can reduce waste, decrease reliance on raw material extraction, and minimize the ecological footprint of EVs. However, it will be vital to ensure that policy frameworks incentivize such circular business models and encourage collaboration across the value chain.
In addition to the panel session, ETIN also hosted a workshop for Innovation Zero participants on the topic of strategic learning for transformative innovation on 1 May as an official side-event of Innovation Zero. Strategic learning is a tool for exploration and decision making in long-term transformation processes characterized by uncertainty and complexity. Using concrete cases, workshop participants from the public and private sector discussed new and emergent needs and policies for learning to guide our efforts towards sustainability transformations, given the increased uncertainty and complexity that today’s challenges pose.
The above topics are examples of the many discussions ongoing under ETIN around challenges and opportunities in facilitating innovation for sustainable transformations.
To find out more about ETIN, please visit: https://unece.org/eci/icp/ETIN
In today’s world of resource scarcity and the triple planetary crises of climate change, nature loss and pollution, many efforts are focused on developing new technologies, tools, products, and services that foster circular and sustainable consumption and production patterns across the textile, agriculture, electronics, and energy sectors. Public policies incentivize circular practices and sustainable use of natural resources. However, current efforts do not yet yield the results necessary to respond to the urgency and complexity of the current issues we face on a global scale.
Citizens need to increase their efforts to think of new ways of creating value. This includes facilitating experimentation, learning and innovative thinking on what types of processes and business models can help scale up current initiatives. In response to its member States’ decisions, UNECE has made circular economy a cross-cutting priority and is now developing different initiatives to support the uptake of best practices and facilitate the sharing of knowledge across different areas.
At the recent World Circular Economy Forum 2024 (WCEF 2024), UNECE showcased several of its key tools that support the circular economy across four thematic, but interrelated areas: business model innovation and the platform economy, traceability in global value chains with a starting point in the textile industry, circular food systems, and Circular STEP, a UNECE platform for policy dialogue on circular economy.
Business model innovation: the platform economy
One business model that could accelerate the circular economy transition is the platform economy. Modern platforms like Amazon, Uber, Airbnb have disrupted industries and achieved global scale. However, many of these still spur the linear economy, missing out on the potential of platforms in creating circular marketplaces. If developed with circular ambitions in mind, platforms could enhance circular practices and lower transaction costs, including the triangulation of supply and demand, and traceability and transparency of supply chains.
To discuss industry examples and policy implications of platforms for the circular economy, the UN-ECE Transformative Innovation Network (ETIN) co-organized a panel session at the WCEF on the topic of Platform-driven transition: scaling circular solutions. The session revealed that the circular transition is not only dependent on technological advancements and tools, but that it needs to also consider the potential and need for market creation and human behaviour. Markets will play a critical role in circularity as they help coordinate a variety of activities, such as matching supply and demand and creating synergies and spillovers between sectors - platforms are particularly suitable to facilitate such coordination.
Traceability in global value chains. Starting point: Textile
Another circular priority sector is the garment and footwear sector, being one of the highest climate impact sectors at global level and accounting for 4% of global greenhouse gas emissions. Enhancing circularity in the textile industry means overcoming challenges in production like eco-design and waste management legal frameworks.
At WCEF 2024 UNECE-UNECLAC shared recommendations from their study on second-hand clothing trade flows from global, European and Chilean perspectives. UNECE also presented its latest tool- the Product Circularity Data Standard - an extension of its existing traceability and transparency standard for textile and leather, providing business requirement specifications (BRS) supporting the standardized data exchange for circular business models.
Moreover, since 2019 the joint UNECE-International Trade Centre’s project supported by the European Commission, has increasingly drawn attention to the enabling role of traceability and transparency to improve value chains sustainability and circularity. This has demonstrated encouraging results regarding the potential of advanced technologies, like blockchain, to achieve traceability and tools available to support companies to share product information on sustainability criteria in a standardized format and formulate claims. 100 companies and stakeholders from the sector have joined UNECE's Sustainability Pledge call to action and blockchain pilots, including the Reda Group, Inditex, SÖKTAŞ Textile, etc.
Circular food systems
WCEF 2024 had a special focus on circularity in agri-food and biobased materials. Currently, a third of all food produced is lost or wasted - around 13% between harvest and retail, and another 19% at household, food service, and retail levels, according to estimates by FAO and UNEP. When food goes to waste it means that the resources used to produce that food are wasted, highlighting the urgency to increase resource efficiency and circularity in agri-food value chains.
UNECE and the World Resources Institute (WRI) organized an accelerator session on Circular Food Systems: Enabling Policies and Successful Business Cases in the Agri-Food Sectorto spotlight actions in Rwanda and Serbia to increase circularity in agri-food sectors and highlighted the role of policies and successful business models in promoting circularity.
Food waste is not just a problem in developed countries. In developing countries, 40%of losses occur at post-harvest and processing levels (WFP). This challenge is particularly noticeable in fresh fruit and vegetable value chains. To address this, UNECE's Working Party on Agricultural Quality Standards developed a Code of Good Practice for reducing food loss and ensuring optimum handling of fresh fruit and vegetables along the value chain, providing practical guidelines for minimizing food loss and waste at production, trader, transporter and retail levels.
Circular STEP: UNECE platform for policy dialogue on circular economy
To encourage the emergence of circular solutions, it is important to create avenues for sharing experiences and lessons learned, and to empower actors by facilitating cooperation. This is where another UNECE’s Circular Economy Stakeholder Engagement Platform (Circular STEP) comes in. Established in 2022, Circular STEP facilitates peer learning and knowledge sharing among public and private sectors, organizations, and academia in the UNECE region.
At WCEF 2024, UNECE and the Mission of the Republic of Serbia to the European Union organized a session on the power of partnerships: Stakeholder Engagement Platform Circular STEP to showcase the important role of stakeholder platforms in accelerating circularity. Speakers shared experiences on the usefulness of platforms for advancing circularity, including examples from the regional EU Circular Economy Stakeholder Platform, African Circular Economy Alliance (ACEA), Global Alliance for Circular Economy (GACERE), Platform for Accelerating Circular Economy (PACE), as well as national platforms in Belgium and Serbia.
Circular STEP representatives shared experiences on circularity enabling policies and discussed digital solutions for circular transition. There was a strong recognition of the need to continue to promote and expand these platforms to ensure that more stakeholders can access the essential knowledge and tools, making the circular transition a widespread reality.
UNECE will continue showcasing its practical circular solutions at its Regional Conference on the Circular Economy Transition, which will take place in Geneva, Switzerland, on 26 June 2024.
In a rapidly evolving world, grappling with climate change and the triple planetary crisis, transformative innovation stands as a crucial solution to these pressing challenges. Strategic learning is increasingly recognized as a key component in both ecosystem development and the broader realm of transformative innovation.
This concept of strategic learning is dynamic and iterative, involving continuous adaptation and refinement of policies and practices to align with new insights and stakeholder feedback. Such an approach is essential not only for addressing global challenges but also carries significant implications for policy development. In response to this, UNECE organized an international policy dialogue themed ”Exploring the Dynamics of Experimentation”, as part of the recent 15th session of the UNECE Team of Specialists on Innovation and Competitiveness Policies (ToS-ICP).
The Chair of the ToS-ICP and Chief Strategy Officer at Vinnova, Mr. Kjell-Håkan Närfelt, emphasized the critical role of strategic learning as the foundational element of transformative innovation.
The discussions highlighted the synergy between innovation, experimentation, and learning and focused on leveraging historical insights, current evaluations, and future trends for effective policymaking, emphasizing the need to understand and navigate systemic transformations. Experts also explored emerging strategic learning tools and their application across various levels of government, with case studies illustrating good practices and lessons learnt for future policy making.
Strategic learning was recognized as a dynamic, multifaceted journey, and integral part of transformative innovation, central to developing sustainable and inclusive innovation strategies with the broader goals of societal and environmental well-being, closely aligning with the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
Innovation, experimentation, and learning are not standalone components but are deeply interconnected, forming a cohesive triad that drives progress across various sectors. Innovation acts as a spark for change, bringing fresh ideas and perspectives. Experimentation serves as a rigorous testing ground, refining and validating these innovative ideas.
Learning, in this context, goes beyond acquiring knowledge — it is about developing the capacity for adaptability and resilience, essential for sustaining innovation over time. This interconnectedness of innovation, experimentation, and learning is what makes the entire process strategic. Working cohesively enables a strategic effort, creating a cycle of continuous improvement and advancement. This has significant influence on policy development, as policies need to be dynamically informed and shaped by the continuous interplay of these three elements, to effectively respond to evolving societal and technological landscapes.
The session gathered a diverse group of representatives of government, civil society, business, and other international organizations, such as the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development and the European Commission. It also saw the contribution of members of the UNECE transformative Innovation Network (ETIN) – a newly launched UNECE transformative innovation network funded by the German Ministry for Economic Affairs and Climate Action (BMWK).
Further work on strategic learningwill be one of the main workstreams of ETIN in 2024, with the aim to foster collaborations, sharing best practices, and supporting member States in developing resilient and adaptive innovation ecosystems. In line with the results of the UNECE Commission’s 70th session on digital and green transformation, the Team of Specialists will continue to explore new collaborative pathways to bolster transformative innovation in the UNECE region.
The focus on innovation as an instrument to achieve a sustainable transition of our societies, along with the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), is rapidly gaining momentum across the UNECE region.
At the same time, many of the processes surrounding transformative innovation are still unexplored. So, to take stock of its true transformative potential, it is essential that we further explore the dynamics related to innovation as an accelerator for systemic change.
The opportunities are potentially endless, with new technologies altering some of the basic premises of economic activities. One example is the ongoing digital revolution that not only makes some products and services more affordable and accessible to a wider public but also incites new business models, such as the emerging platform economy, that changes the very dynamics of innovation itself. An emerging trend is the combination of technical and social innovations taking place in different areas. A good illustration is the energy in which the support of innovations in diverse fields could cumulatively bring about a transformation of energy production and consumption that makes clean energy economically viable and accessible for all.
Yet, there are also challenges. In practice, supporting transformative innovation is difficult since it often defies established ways of working. To a larger extent than traditional innovation, transformative innovation requires a coordination of efforts in a desired direction. This means agreeing on the direction of policies, bringing on board all stakeholders, creating a coherent policy mix across portfolios while avoiding inefficient lock-in to particular technology solutions, and supporting rapid and broad-based diffusion and take-up, because of the urgency of the sustainability challenge. As a result, transformative innovation also requires new approaches to governance itself. This challenge is shared among all UNECE member States.
Responding to this emerging agenda, UNECE, with the German Federal Agency for Disruptive innovation (SPRIND) and funding from the German Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Climate Action, launched the project “Reinforcing the innovation ecosystem in the UNECE region to promote innovation and digital technologies for sustainable development and for the circular economy transition”. The topic is in line with the UNECE’s 69th Commission session on circular economy and the forthcoming 70th session on digital and green transformations.
A centerpiece of this project is the UN-ECE Transformative Innovation Network (ETIN), which was formally launched this week at the 14th session of the UNECE Team of Specialists on Innovation and Competitiveness Policies. The launch event brought together experts, policymakers, entrepreneurs, and other interested partners, among others from the United Kingdom, Switzerland, Estonia, Sweden, Germany, Israel, Portugal, and Finland.
The network provides a platform to facilitate peer learning through the exchange of ideas and experiences. Its explicit ambition is to accelerate transformative innovation in UNECE member States in support of the more effective implementation of the SDGs. These efforts are increasingly timely, given recent crises that have accentuated the need to build stronger resilience while also maintaining and further enhancing inclusive development.
Over the coming months, ETIN will host a series of activities, bringing together policymakers, innovation agencies, think tanks, entrepreneurs, and experts from the UNECE region. The ambition is to jointly develop tools that enable and promote transformative innovation that supports sustainable development and the circular economy transition.
