Design-led innovation and Circular Economy practices in regional Queensland

Abstract

The Circular Economy proposes a sustainable economic model that encourages businesses and governments to work toward the goal of conserving natural resources and reducing waste. This model largely relies on government policies that encourage waste reduction and help businesses creating markets to re-purpose that waste profitably. Design-led innovation offers methods to drive required business model transformation and is recognized as one of the key enablers in the transition to a Circular Economy. It is evident globally that metropolitan cities and countries with high innovation indices are better able to transition to a Circular Economy by applying design-led innovation. Although more populous states and densely populated cities in Australia have started to initiate Circular Economy practices, it is unclear if similar initiatives could be developed in regional economies in Australia and if design-led innovation has a role to play in their acceptance and development. This study is an exploration into two regional areas in the state of Queensland: the Sunshine Coast and North Queensland. The qualitative study explores the views of waste managers of local councils, small scale applications of the Circular Economy on two university campuses and an experiment to introduce a street of business owners to Circular Economy practices.

Business Model Experimentation for the Circular Economy: Definition and Approaches

“…Rather specialized, washing machines were represented with three papers [16,57,58]. Sector-specific studies included online education [59], university campuses [60], travel [61], water filtration [62], electric motors [58], and fastmoving consumer goods [63]. Areas of technical innovation include Internet of Things (IoT) [16], smart grids [47], smart cities [50], and smart collection [51], suggesting the need to experiment at the intersection of technology and business models (see also [20,64]).…”

Effects of Circular Economy Policies on the Environment and Sustainable Growth: Worldwide Research

“…On other hand, the Chinese researcher Geng, Y., from Tongji University, is the author with the most articles published (21), the most citations (1285), the best average number of citations per article (61.19), and the highest h-index (16). The most prolific institution in this area of research is the Chinese Academy of Science, with 40 published articles, 1434 citations, and an average of 35.85 citations per article.…”

“…Since the planet's resources are scarce, we are forced to manage these assets to achieve what we lack. In this way, economic science analyzes the decision-making of individuals, organizations, and states, in order to allocate these scarce resources [15,16]. It is also in charge of studying the production process of goods and services, from the extraction of raw materials to their use by the final consumer, and assigning limited resources [17,18].…”

“…The author who heads Table 4 is Yong Geng and belongs to Tongji University (Shanghai, China). This Chinese author has the highest number of articles (21), h-index (16), and total citations (1285). He stands out for being the author with the longest research career, since his first article-"Implementing China's circular economy concept at the regional level: A review of progress in Dalian, China" [102]-was published in 2009.…”

“…This Chinese institution has the highest number of articles (40), total citations (1434), and average citations (35.85). Furthermore, it is the institution, together with Delft University of Technology, that has the highest h-index (16). On the other hand, the collaboration rate of this institution is 50%, so 20 articles have been published with the collaboration of other countries.…”