Reigniting Hope: Dublin is the Circular Economy Hotspot in 2023.

Wow! What a week. What a conference: the Circular Economy Hotspot Dublin 2023 !

Great speakers. Great networking. Great takeaways. And, very importantly, a great sense of belonging. Re-energising: we can collaborate our way towards a real transformation!

Thoroughly enjoyed our Design and Manufacturing Deep Dive, all about the contribution of circular business models towards radical climate action.

With thanks to Geraldine Brennan, PhD and all the team at CIRCULéIRE for an impactful collaboration, making it all possible, and to Lucy Campbell for getting the message out there.

Grateful for the opportunity to share some early insights from our forthcoming white paper on 'Delivering Net-Zero Transformations'; setting out the case for ditching incrementalism, towards more strategic, circular and transformational approaches to net-zero and beyond, which also work commercially. The new sweet spot.

Very grateful for our great line-up of speakers, sharing insights on their progress and challenges towards a more circular and sustainable world.

? Kevin Cronin and Freefoam Building Products Ltd taking us towards 100% reuse/recycling and driving commercial benefits.

? Marion Briggs and HealthBeacon revolutionising the healthcare sector with inspiring new models and processes for more sustainable and circular injection waste.

? Peter Corcoran on how Monaghan Mushrooms is innovating with vertical farming of mushrooms, the ‘wonder food’; making great progress and being open about future challenge for peat-free production.

? Richard Brennan on REvolve ’s green parts journey, towards a vision for a fully circular automotive industry, while generating social and commercial value.

? Jean René Skjelbred and Norsk Ombruk AS on scaling-up the circular economy in the white goods sector, again driving social value, as well as radical savings in carbon emissions.

With much gratitude to delegates for great participation, discussion points and insights. And to Hugo Thompson for guiding our way, and being so agile in our approach.

Thanks to our Reflection Panel: Frank O'Connor , Gwen Cunningham , and Donal Healion for sharing words of wisdom, caution and future action – helping us make sense of it all.

Also, for the many kind words, shared afterwards, not least Klaus Just , Claus Lestrup (please send me a note & I'll share slides), Paul McSweeney , Colin Isaacs , Mrs Isaacs, David Messer , and many more. We all learned so much, from each other.

And, for all the wisdom generated through collaborative exchange in the room – our key takeaways and calls to action:

? Education: We need to upskill, with integrated curricula, educate the educators, and ensure a just transition.

? Design + Spec: Harness authentic and radical innovation, also including biodiversity and all sustainability criteria.

? Business Models: Develop new models that are demonstrably superior, built on true costs (including externalities, and more readily accessible to the many people. Find the new sweet spot!

? Creative Destruction: Some business models and some incumbent companies will have to die. Market disruptors will thrive.

? Regulation and Policy: We need joined-up thinking + action, between all key groups of actors – whether politicians, business leaders, customers, citizens, banks, investors, media, educators, civic leaders and more. And, with joined-up thinking within each group, especially in government and the civil service.

? Transformation: The linear economy and value chain is a “busted flush!” Incrementalism is dead. We share many common challenges, across all sectors. We need systems change, and to look beyond growth and capitalism.

? And the big one is COLLABORATION! We need to keep coming together, sharing challenges, ideas and solutions, to be able to get back out there with renewed confidence, to accelerate changes in business, markets AND our economic operating system.

Ultimately, despite the scale of the challenge and the pressing time frame, we can re-find…

? HOPE: Through these integrated conversations, we realise the shared actions we can take forward in resolving our common challenges; we rediscover our agency to act.

? All enabled through Courageous Leadership: Taking more risks, and engaging in way more authentic innovation. ?

Thanks, again, to everyone for reigniting HOPE, towards delivering net-zero and BEYOND by 2040. All in only three hours.

I'm also very grateful for further Inspiration with the range of visits on Day 4, particularly with the great work by Sarah Miller and all her team at The Rediscovery Centre . If you haven’t already been, folks, you just have to go and visit – an amazing #CircularEconomy Tardis experience – not just a thing of beauty, but demonstrating (in pratical terms) just how much can be done.

I was also surprised and delighted to reconnect with former students from IIIEE at Lund University , Josh Newton and Lorraine Guerin – so great to see you both flourishing!

Much gratitude to The Guinness Enterprise Centre and Guinness Storehouse for hosting us and refreshing our senses with the black stuff. Meanwhile, grateful for Ossian Smyth , Minister of State for Circular Economy in Ireland, for extending the Government's support for the circular economy.

And, very thankful to Sabine Rau-Oberhuber for her inspiring talk on 85% reuse in?#circularconstruction – along with our deeply insightful conversation, later that day.

A BIG SHOUT OUT to our top man, George May : I’m so grateful for all your hard work, support and multi-layered intelligence towards our mission to accelerate sustainability and circular economy transformations. Keep up the great work, George!

FINALLY: Good luck to everybody, in all that you do; keep talking and keep collaborating with each other, and above all, be courageous! Thank you.

#CircularDublin #CircularEconomy #BusinessModels #NetZero #Sustainability #Circuléire #EarthshineGroup