On the 3rd of October 2023, CLIC Innovation and Metropolia University of Applied Sciences held a 4Recycling co–creation workshop for innovative governance on the theme of Sustainable Packaging, in connection with the EU–funded Engage4BIO project.
The objective of the workshop was to support the project co–creation and implementation activities by designing a new structure or an improved innovation ecosystem accelerating the development and implementation of the circular bioeconomy.
The objective of the workshop was to support the project co–creation and implementation activities by designing a new structure or an improved innovation ecosystem accelerating the development and implementation of the circular bioeconomy.
The vision for innovative governance models is to have the entire value chain involved in building the innovation pathway from ideas to commercial exploitation. A common target of the ecosystem is to accelerate a shift towards sustainable packaging practices in Finland, with clear criteria, effective communication, and a supportive regulatory framework in place by 2030.
The workshop participants included Aalto University, VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland Ltd, Metsä Spring Oy, UPM Forest, Finnish Plastics Industries Federation FIPIF, Sumi Oy, Haaga Helia University of Applied Sciences, Borealis AG, University of Helsinki, Metropolia University of Applied Sciences, Finnish Forest Industry, Griffin Refineries Oy, Mirka Oy and CLIC Innovation Oy.
After the introduction and background presentations, each participant’s expectations were gathered by the tour de table method. The participants were then divided into two groups: one group focusing on creating a collaborative working space concept to experience innovative governance, and the other focusing on building a project proposal for the sustainable packaging criteria. Both groups used concept creation canvases adapted to the group’s topic to collectively co–create the scope, objectives, target groups, and implementation ideas for the activity. The groupwork was followed by a gallery walk to review the results, as well as a
presentation on the next steps.
presentation on the next steps.
The key takeaways from the Collaborative working space –group included the need for a matchmaking platform, which would enable collaboration between companies, researchers, and other stakeholders with similar interests. The platform could be used for a range of
collaboration types e.g., testing new materials, preparing co–innovation projects, sharing information, finding collaboration possibilities between students and companies. Results from the Project proposal for sustainable packaging criteria –group included the need to develop a
EU–wide sustainability criteria by combining climate and carbon footprint, biodiversity, and societal aspects. The goal would be to eliminate sub–optimization of sustainability criteria and to holistically consider the sustainability of packaging, product, and logistics as a system.
If you are interested in learning more about Engage4Bio activities, please contact Aila Maijanen, Head of Bioeconomy, CLIC Innovation at aila.maijanen@clicinnovation.fi.
