Circular thinking is booming. The transition requires even more co- and collaboration between business and educational institutions. The Circular LAB of the Circular Design Group aims to support and strengthen this collaboration between business and educational institutions, in the field of Circular Economy. In this way, the Circular Lab provides an inspiring and open collaboration between businesses and educational institutions, enabling circular innovations to be implemented better and faster.

Added value

The added value of the Circular Lab lies mainly in bringing together circular supply and demand from the region. The Circular Lab achieves this by matching concrete circular issues from the business community with the supply from students. By having students, professors and business professionals work together in one community on circular initiatives, products and services, creative, knowledge-intensive and commercially viable solutions emerge. The ambition of the Circular Lab is therefore to bring together as many circular issues as possible in graduate, internship and professional assignments.

From the business community

Many companies have various circular ideas, but hardly get around to them in practice. Nor do they have the opportunity to have students conduct research with appropriate guidance. The Circular Lab bridges this gap, by collecting current issues from businesses and connecting them to knowledge and educational institutions. In addition, the Circular Lab secures the progress, by acting as coordinator / project leader to guide the students from the perspective of the business community. The project leader secures progress, when the issue exceeds the period in which students can work on the issue.

The CDG also sees the need for companies to be relieved of the burden of connecting with educational institutions. Think of housing the students or ensuring the project leadership of a research project. In addition to the traditionally constant "separate" student trajectories, the CDG strives to translate broad circular business issues into long-term research trajectories in which different students (groups) work on broader circular issues divided into "sub trajectories. In this, the CDG can unburden the business community by filling the project leadership role in these long-term trajectories and ensuring circularity on such a trajectory. SMEs in particular are looking for this relief component.

The uniqueness of the Circular LAB is a win-win situation for both business and educational institutions (students):

Added value for business:

• Low-threshold development of circular knowledge and skills
• At relatively low cost
• Captivate and engage young talent
• Visibility in the CDG's innovation community (region branding)
• Knowledge dissemination
• Unburdening

Added value for students (educational institutions):

• Professional experience through real-time and hands-on business issues:
  • As a student part of a corporate team
  • Students work in corporate culture
• Access to large group of companies within the innovation community CDG;
• Work at the inspiring location of the Brightlands Campus Greenport Venlo;
• Professional guidance with knowledge and experience in the field of circularity;
• Getting to know other companies and students (cross-fertilization and knowledge sharing);