2014 was a flourishing year for circular economy activities and a year where the phrase entered the mouths of the public. Interesting events, focused on different stakeholders, are truly accelerating this transition. Here’s what Philips has experienced:
November: Opening Philips’ new healthcare refurbishment systems factory
In November Philips inaugurated a new healthcare imaging systems refurbishment facility in Best, the Netherlands. The new facility marks the next step in bringing the financial and environmental benefits of circular economy to the healthcare industry.
The opening ceremony was followed by a panel discussion on value creation through a circular economy; in particular on innovative business models, refurbishing business and asset tracking. Frans van Houten, chief executive of Royal Philips, was joined by Ellen MacArthur, Jens Teichelmann from IBM and Mark Boelhouwer from RICOH Netherlands. The discussion was moderated by Liz Barclay from the BBC.
November: Sustainable Brands conference
We gave a keynote and panel discussion at this year’s London conference to inspire other sustainability professionals with ‘recipes’ that we have used in implementing circular economy at Philips. SB London was packed with great contributions, excellently moderated and led to numerous valuable discussions. Highlights for Philips were the presentations from Desso and Interface, as well as Lyf Shoes and Intermarche. Again our congratulations to the organisers, we are looking forward to the next events.
October: CE100 acceleration workshop and panel discussion
In October Philips hosted an expert panel debate in Brussels featuring Dame Ellen MacArthur, founder of the leading foundation dedicated to promoting circular economy globally. The discussion was on European legislative and policy levers needs to transition to a circular economy. MacArthur was joined by Conny Bakker from Delft University of Technology, William Neale from the European Commission, Luc Gellens from Umicore and Henk de Bruin, who presented Philips’ circular economy activities and input for the policy discussion.
View the highlights of the session in a 3 minute video here.
Or view the event in pictures here.
In early October we joined the CE100 program of the Ellen MacArthur Foundation and it continues to grow with new companies, with a number of major cities joining in. The two days Philips spent in Barcelona were packed with many good conversations, exchanging experiences and exploring new collaborations. A few examples - conversations with academic partners regarding employee training, exchange of best practices and obstacles with companies active in remanufacturing, drafting of an action plan for a circular built environment and many more.
September: zero waste conference
In mid-September Philips were invited to share the experience of their circular economy journey at the annual Zero Waste conference, organised by Metro Vancouver. The event consisted of many high-level national and international speakers engaging with the audience. For Philips, it was very encouraging to see how advanced the circular thinking already is among Canadian municipalities, which allowed for fruitful conversations notably on Philips’ light as a service proposition.
July: inspiration and networking between academia and business
In July the Schmidt-MacArthur Summer School took place in Cranfield. During this event Philips was challenged by the questions of the participants on how circular economy is implemented in present and future business practice. Moreover, we shared our insights together with partners such as IBM and Royal BAM, which triggered fruitful and interesting discussions. Watch the interview on linking business and higher education.
In the same week we attended the 2014 annual summit of the Ellen MacArthur Foundation in London. The summit provided lots of thought provoking presentations and introduced the Disruptive Innovation Festival, an online event that will kick off in October. In addition, the Foundation launched an interactive map to show who the circular economy actors around the globe are.
In early July the European Commission also adopted a communication outlining the employment challenges and opportunities of the current transition towards a green, low carbon, energy and resource-efficient economy.
June: this year’s EU Green Week: - circular economy
In June the European Commission for Environment hosted their annual Green Week. This year, the conference was fully dedicated to circular economy – saving resources and creating jobs. Over 40 sessions in a broad spectrum from nudging consumers to extended producer responsibility. Philips was one of the panelists in the “New Business Models for Sustainable Lifestyles” session and discussed design for repairability, parts harvesting and access over ownership.
April: collective problem solving with the CE 100
At the end of April The Circular Economy 100 brought together a group of global business, emerging innovators and regions. The program is based on the principle that more value can be gained from collective problem solving than can be achieved by working alone. The session that took place in Munich offered several acceleration workshops and network events which Philips attended to connect with other partners of the Ellen MacArthur Foundation like Cisco, Renault, De Lage Landen and Kingfisher.
We found the presentation of Dragon Rouge on the preliminary research into consumer attitudes and behaviors towards circular propositions valuable.
April: circular economy going east
In April, Philips attended a circular economy roundtable hosted by The Fung Global Institute so that leaders from the public and private sectors could explore what the circular economy may mean for Asia. Asia stands at a crossroads in its development, as it aims to maintain economic growth and satisfy burgeoning consumer demand while facing resource constraints and environmental challenges.
The event focused on opportunities and challenges in its implementation and its implications for business, supply chains, trade, infrastructure and financing. Asia is a growing market for Philips and we see circular business opportunities in the region.
Read more about it here.
March: Project Mainstream gathering steam
Project Mainstream, a two year initiative by the World Economic Forum, Ellen MacArthur Foundation and McKinsey continued in March after it was launched in January at the WEF. Industry leaders that are part of this initiative include Philips, Kingfisher, Veolia and DSM. Philips hosted the first expert meeting in March in our Amsterdam headquarters and focused on the participation from a diverse range of stakeholders to build scale and accelerate the transition towards a circular economy.
February: debating sustainable raw material use at the EU level
In February 2014 Philips joined the first COBALT dialogue in Brussels. COBALT is an EU-funded project that stimulates a joint debate on sustainable raw material use by organising dialogues between industry, civil society, research bodies and public authorities. In this event we shared Philips’ EcoDesign program as well as the circular economy activities within Philips Lighting.
January: circular economy is the next generation of business
“Circular economy is the next generation of business”, Frans van Houten, Philips’ CEO, said during the World Economic Forum 2014. ‘Reshaping of the World: Consequences for Society, Politics and Business’ was the thematic focus of the annual meeting in Davos. Frans was one of the speakers in the “From Waste to Wealth” panel hosted by Al Jazeera and he was joined by circular economy experts William McDonough, Ellen MacArthur, Neil Gershenfeld and Jean-Francois van Boxmeer, Heineken’s CEO.
Watch the panel discussion here.
Read Frans’ blog on the circular revolution here.
More from the Philips partner zone:
- Circular economy: this is the future for business - interactive
- Integrating circular systems into healthcare - in pictures
- Five key ideas on scaling up emerging circular economy principles
Content on this page is paid for and provided by Philips, supporter of the circular economy hub
