Circular Living 2040: Bringing the circular society to life, FHNW School of Business

The Circular Living 2040 project has the tangible goal of bringing the circular everyday life of 2040 to life, thereby mobilizing the general public for the upcoming social transformations. The aim is to open people's minds and hearts to the enormous potential of the circular economy, thereby paving the way for future innovations. The circular economy needs a circular society—and vice versa. New circular offerings from companies can only establish themselves if new social practices and framework conditions are implemented at the same time. Without concrete guidance and plausible targets, this interdependence slows down the transformation. Circular Living 2040 addresses this challenge by creating a holistic, attractive future scenario in which circular practices and offerings mesh seamlessly.

The project is divided into two main parts:

1. Part 1: Open Innovation: Within a free framework, the partners develop radical concept studies and speculative but plausible showcases.
2. Part 2: Future Apartment (Interactive Exhibition): The future scenario, the co-creation results, and reinterpreted traditional practices are linked into a coherent whole in a furnished apartment full of artifacts and traces of life. Visitors are encouraged to immerse themselves in this future and experience the circular everyday life in a tangible and experiential way.

To realize the vision of the circular everyday life of 2040, Circular Living 2040 builds on a broad spectrum of strategic partnerships. The project specifically connects three groups of actors: organizations that want to promote and establish circular practices; pioneers and startups that can radically rethink and scale their existing circular models for the future; and companies in the conventional economy that want to implement the circular principle on a relevant scale.

Through this targeted open innovation, the partners develop holistic ideas for their structures and offerings of tomorrow. The results serve as a strategic basis and inspiration for innovation and offer a public platform to position themselves as committed players in the circular economy.

The team at the Center for Sustainable Management and Circular Economy acts as a knowledge broker and methodological guide for the project by leading the co-creation process, ensuring access to SMEs and pioneers, and thus laying the scientific foundation for the innovative future scenario.

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