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A transition toward the circular economy (CE) will be key to addressing future environmental and economic challenges, such as environmental pollution and resource scarcity. However, when introducing circular solutions, companies often face complex and disruptive changes that affect many stakeholders and require new innovation practices. This study investigates open circular innovation by analyzing the status quo of circular innovation, discussing the relevance and role of different stakeholders, and examining approaches for open circular innovation processes. The study employs a qualitative research design, including 14 in-depth interviews with CE and innovation experts. The findings indicate that companies currently focus on closed innovation approaches or collaborate with only one stakeholder at a time when developing circular innovations. Stakeholder groups, such as customers, suppliers, and academia, play a crucial role in the innovation process, whereas direct collaborations with governments and competitors are seen controversially. An open innovation network approach combined with crowdsourcing is regarded as the most promising for developing circular solutions. This study contributes to connecting open innovation with CE research and provides new knowledge at this interface. Additionally, this research gives managers guidance on how to approach open circular innovation and thus supports companies on their way toward a CE.

For a transition toward the circular economy (CE) at the firm level, circular innovations are an essential requirement. Many companies are still hesitant to introduce circular solutions, as their future success chances are difficult to predict. Circular solutions often imply a high uncertainty and complexity because they are designed over multiple life cycles and are strongly interconnected with diverse stakeholders. Therefore, an effective selection process tailored to circular innovation is of great advantage. This study examines circular project selection by investigating selection processes and evaluation criteria for circular innovation management. A qualitative research design was chosen, including 18 in-depth interviews with CE experts and representatives from CE pioneer companies. Findings on the selection process show that circular innovation projects are often embedded in a strategic CE framework decision. Whereas idea generation is usually approached bottom-up involving different stakeholders, project evaluation is rather performed top-down by top management or in cross-functional teams. Furthermore, the study discusses evaluation criteria and their CE implications in detail and structures them into a criteria framework that can be used in multi-criteria decision models. This paper makes a theoretical contribution by connecting innovation and CE literature and by providing new knowledge on the still scarcely explored topic of circular project selection. As practical contribution, the study guides managers on how to approach project selection in circular innovation management and thus supports their development toward a CE.

Circular solutions in industrial companies strongly depend on an interlinked network of diverse stakeholders. Therefore, innovations in the field of a circular economy are difficult to achieve in traditional innovation processes. They rather require an open innovation approach involving internal and external stakeholders in co-creations. This perspective article gives first insights on which stakeholders to involve, how to involve them, and how to overcome barriers. Research- and practice-based experience shows that diverse stakeholders should be selected based on the needs of the specific innovation context and are best involved in a network approach, possibly combined with crowdsourcing. A three-step process is suggested to overcome organizational barriers and to successfully anchor circular innovations in the company. As most firms are not experienced in open circular innovation yet, this article aims at giving them first insights on the topic to support them on their way toward a circular economy