Nordic circular economy collaboration in the spotlight at global forum
Oslo, Norway, September 17, 2021 — Nordic Innovation and the Nordic Circular Hotspot co-hosted two acceleration sessions during the fifth World Circular Economy Forum (WCEF2021), with participants from 60 countries and a pitch competition with 14 Nordic and international pitchers.
Broadcasted live from the WCEF2021 Nordic Studio in Gamlebyen, Oslo, both hybrid events formed part of the WCEF2021, organised by the Government of Canada and the Finnish Innovation Fund Sitra. The three-day landmark circular economy event of the year attracted a record number of 8,850 delegates from around the globe. On September 15, WCEF2021 was dedicated to accelerator sessions touching upon everything from textiles to trade and from biofuels to mining.
A Digital Opportunity Showcase Event
The pitch competition’s winner, as selected by the audience, is Thalasso AS, a Norwegian-Mexican co-operation project with a blue economy approach. Its main objective is to harvest Sargassum, an invasive seaweed threatening the Caribbean region. Florø-based Thalasso turns this hazard into an opportunity through autonomous harvesting drones. Co-founders Frode Stolen Sønstebø and Paulina Zanela are eager to expand Thalasso’s business model. The Norwegian-Mexican team of ocean advocates anticipate their scalable, autonomous and electric Sargassum harvesting solution prototype to be ready in three months’ time.
Thalasso pitch
“Pitching Thalasso’s mission was a great honour,” says Zanela, who serves as the company’s Chief Operating Officer. “We are currently partnering with Norwegian and Mexican companies, developing innovative maritime technologies that harvest and use the Sargassum to trigger a new, sustainable aquaculture industry to turn the problem into an opportunity. The future of humankind is in our hands.”
Thalasso will receive a voucher from Nordic Innovation for circular economy business coaching, which will be provided by Verona Growth Oy’s Circular Economy LOOP team. LOOP is a Nordic network on a mission to take the circular economy from strategy to action.
The 13 other pitching companies and organisations include:
From the Nordics
Niimaar Oy (Finland), a Helsinki-based family firm, founded by mothers and daughters, creating a more sustainable world with timeless eco-design and sustainable services by introducing zero-waste solutions to events and companies.
Bioregion Institute, BioDesign Lab (Norway), a Bergen-based design driven institute putting circular regenerative solutions into action across sectors, industries and territories. The BioDesign Lab is an interdisciplinary bio-material and product laboratory and community.
Frekis (TheiShare AB) (Sweden), a Stockholm-based asset sharing cloud platform that allows consumers to share their physical assets (e-bikes, kayaks and powertools) with family and friends as well as allow them to start their own rental service in local neighbourhoods. This will, in turn, increase the use of available physical resources.
SimplyOne (PR Pulping Oy) (Finland), a Tampere-based company that developed the SimplyOne product family for cleaning recycled paper and biomass.
Nu Cycle (Nusa Sentara Oy) (Finland), the world’s first multi-stream waste offset service, enabling waste negative technology solutions around the world.
GRIN AS (Norway), an Oslo-based tech start-up building innovative, digital and physical return solutions for the circular economy. The firm has developed a complete system for reusable takeaway packaging.
Loopfront AS (Norway), a tech company with a vision to be the global provider of digital infrastructure for circular building materials and infrastructure. With offices in Trondheim, Oslo, Stockholm and Berlin, Loopfront’s mission is to deliver live data on materials and processes that make a circular economy easy and profitable.
Lendager Group ApS / Lendager TCW (The Circular Way) (Denmark), a Copenhagen-based innovation hub and consultancy specialised in the circular economy. The firm designs the world of tomorrow with the waste of today, while designing a world with no waste.
The Ocean Opportunity Lab (TOOL) (Norway), a global ecosystem and community that has launched TOOL Spawn—a “Tinder” for changemakers—the world’s first interactive matchmaking and opportunity creation platform for innovators within the ocean and renewable energy industries.
Again X (Norway), an Oslo-based company using Artificial Intelligence to augment human knowledge and experience in real estate to become more sustainable, from investment to maintenance.
International
reThink Green (Canada), a Northern Ontario-based not-for-profit environmental programmes incubator.
Avigation, LLC (U.S.A.), a Eugene, Oregon-based firm seeking to provide businesses with the deep insight necessary to realise the value of drone applications in all industries.
Inchainge B.V. / The Blue Connection (The Netherlands), a De Bilt-based consultancy that launched The Blue Connection, the first circular strategy simulation world-wide.
“With our move to a hybrid format, our programme featuring leading Nordic and international pitchers and speakers has never been more accessible,” says event moderator Cathrine Barth, Managing Partner, Nordic Circular Hotspot and co-founder, Circularities, an Oslo-based circular strategy studio. “It was the first time we conducted this hybrid experiment, which, to our delight, turned out to be quite a success. We are planning to repeat this formula at our Nordic Circular Summit in Copenhagen on November 23-26.”
The accelerator session was moderated by the Nordic Circular Hotspot’s Norwegian Managing Partners, Einar K. Holthe and Cathrine Barth, together with Marthe Haugland, Senior Innovation Adviser, Nordic Innovation. A virtual exhibition of 30 Nordic and international booths can be found at myOnvent website.
Nordic Circular Economy Playbook
During Nordic Innovation’s “Tools to Go Circular” accelerator session, designed for companies, participants were able to learn more about how to use the tools in the Nordic Circular Economy Playbook. Offering a concrete toolbox for firms to build their own circular plan and to act on it, the playbook addresses questions companies are facing when starting their transition from linear to circular business models.
“We are so pleased about this concrete tool for companies that want to transition to circular economy. Our cooperation with both Sitra’s Jyri Arponen and Accenture’s team on Industry and Sustainability has been invaluable in the process of creating and communicating the tool. The tool can be used by all companies, even if it is tailor-made for the manufacturing industry.”
Marthe Haugland, Nordic Innovation
For the first time, the World Circular Economy Forum was held in North America. Canada brings new energy and a unique approach to circular solutions. “Canada shares a similar climate and has similar socio-economic characteristics to the Nordic countries,” says Simon Blakeley, Programme Director, reThink Green. “It is therefore imperative that we share promising practices beyond borders so that we can all succeed in building the circular economy together.”