Photo courtesy of Circular club

The Circular Hub is the knowledge and networking platform for circular economy in Switzerland. With its online magazine and courses, it accompanies entrepreneurs who want to implement circular business models. At the Circular Hub you will find inspiring examples and application-oriented methods. The exchange with like-minded people motivates to learn together and work co-creatively. The Circular Hub is supported by the Development Fund Engagement Migros and is one of the eight initiators of the “Circular Economy Switzerland” movement.

Marloes Fischer founded the Circular Hub at the beginning of 2019. The experienced manager and consultant and her team want to create a “Swiss Circular Valley”. In this, Swiss entrepreneurs cooperate in regional clusters in order to retain resources as long as possible and with the highest possible value in the economic system. With over 99 percent of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in Switzerland, the Circular Hub sees great potential for implementing circular thinking pragmatically. Because this is the logical next step to expand the current leading position of the Swiss economy for the future.

“The Circular Hub wants to sensitise entrepreneurs in the SME sector and accompany them in their efforts to make a contribution to a Switzerland that is fit for the future with their understanding of the circular-flow economy. In order to realise innovative, circular business models, courage, application-oriented knowledge and collaboration are needed. The Circular Hub is the place to go,” Fischer explains the approach.

The Circular Hub is supported in partnership by the Development Fund Engagement Migros, which supports pioneering projects in social change. “The Circular Hub promotes thinking and action in the field of circular economy. It thus initiates technological and social innovations and provides new impetus for Switzerland as a business location,” says Corinne Grässle, who supervises the project at Engagement Migros.

Entrepreneurs take the first step towards realizing a circular business model

The exchange with the Swiss business community has shown the Circular Hub team that the first step towards a circular economy is the biggest hurdle for many entrepreneurs. The term is on everyone’s lips, but it takes courage to take the first step.

What is circular economy? What can I do for it in my company and make profits at the same time? Where do I start? Answers to these and more questions find meanwhile over 500 entrepreneurs and interested in the monthly newsletter and in the online magazine with background articles and practical tipps. So-called Use Cases are central. The application examples point the way into the circularity of enterprises like from Koa, the juice from cocoa plants or from Schönthaler Betonsteinwerk and the building materials trade, which produce hemp bricks.

The first 35 course attendees this year took basic knowledge of recycling management, practical tools and valuable field reports from pioneers from the real world with them into their daily work. Concrete circular business ideas with initial starting points for implementation are developed in topic-specific master classes, which are moderated by experts and recycling industry pioneers from Switzerland and abroad.

“The course offered open and stimulating discussions that resulted from the concrete problems of the participants,” said Beda Kraft from the Kraftwerk1 construction and housing cooperative in Zurich, summing up his participation in the Masterclass Construction. A first concrete success story can already be recorded: At the end of November, two participants of this Masterclass took over the management of the «Bauteilbörse Basel». They will be able to use the skills they have acquired to align their business in a circular fashion, thus creating economic, social and ecological added value in equal measure.

Into the new year with great commitment and concrete projects

At the end of 2019, the Circular Hub concluded its first media partnership with the “Circular Economic Entrepreneurs – CE2” platform of the Swiss Economic Forum (SEF) to optimise its content distribution.  In 2020, the Circular Hub Academy will double its offerings. Masterclasses will be offered in areas such as food, packaging and construction. At the same time, an expansion of the network of experts is planned to assist entrepreneurs in realising their business ideas.

About Circular Hub

The Circular Hub is the knowledge and network platform for the circular economy in Switzerland and supports Switzerland’s transition to a circular economy. It informs entrepreneurs about the opportunities of the circular economy, imparts application-oriented knowledge and skills in courses and accompanies the realisation of circular business models. The online magazine and the academy are aimed at Swiss small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). The Zurich-based company was founded at the beginning of 2019. The Circular Hub is supported by the Development Fund Engagement Migros and is one of the eight initiators of the “Circular Economy Switzerland” movement.

For more information:

www.circularhub.ch

About Engagement Migros

The Development Fund Engagement Migros enables pioneering projects in the midst of social change that break new ground and test future-oriented solutions. The impact-oriented funding approach combines financial support with coaching services in the pioneer lab. Engagement Migros is made possible by the companies of the Migros Group with approximately ten million Swiss francs annually and has supplemented the Migros Culture Percentage since 2012.

For more information:

www.engagement-migros.ch