Prototyping while participating in a format that is a prototype itself When I was asked to join the Beyond Waste | Circular Resources Lab in spring 2018 I felt two emotions: Excitement and doubt. Excitement about the opportunity to finally have the chance to be part of a practical experience of what I had learned...
Our shared mission was literally to explore the potential of ecosystem awareness and facilitate the co-creation of solutions for circular economy transformation in the Canton de Vaud. Although, before the Circular Resource Lab’ workshops, most of us didn’t know each other, and some didn’t even understand exactly what Circular Economy was. So, why more than...
What does it take to generate a new idea? A new way of thinking? A new societal order? For those of us who were lucky enough to participate in the Circular Resources Lab between September and December, we learned that it is more about emotional intelligence and interpersonal connection than we had originally assumed. When...
The topic of the circular economy is very broad and multiple perspectives coexist. Also, all sectors of economic activity are virtually covered. The construction sector represents a great topic for challenging the ways in which we develop our society nowadays. As a team of 4 motivated people working on different subjects, we tried to tackle...
During the Beyond Waste Social Lab, our group formed around the topics of behavioural change. There was a common understanding, that aside from information and new technical circular solutions and product design, what is really needed is a shift of paradigm and awareness. A shift towards zero waste and circular economy requires a major change...
After three months, six full days of workshops, several half-day team meetings and countless Skype calls, interviews, Slack posts, reading and reflecting — nothing like a cold, rainy Sunday to take a step back and think about the whole Beyond Waste | Circular Resources Lab experience. Two important insights come to my mind first: how...
It was all there, just around me, just inside me, and yet, it took me another 20-ish people to find it: the conviction that everyone has the power to change things if he/she listens – and then act! It all started by accident…Of course, I had and have always been caring about the environment: nature...
The U-Process facilitates the transition from an individual viewpoint (ego-system awareness), to a collective one (ecosystem awareness). For one who has never experienced this shift, it may sound like a vague claim full of social innovation jargon like “collective intelligence”, “transformative learning” and “ecosystem co-creation”. You can appreciate the concept at an intellectual level, but...
As an artist and activist, I generally operate outside the mainstream – my peers tend to be on the radical side, clear-eyed, angry, frustrated fighters against the status quo that by now threatens human life on the planet. I admit I harbour a vague unease with the idea of connecting business and social innovation. However,...
What do you get when you take someone who is obsessed with traditional processes and idea-making and thrust them into an innovative social lab experience? As it turns out, letting yourself go and trusting others to lead you through a new experience can allow you to connect to the issue – and yourself – in...
