Circular Innovation Collective Program Guide: Create your own circular venture program
With a strong commitment to empowering other cities to realize their circularity ambitions, the CIC introduces a tried-and-tested approach to driving circularity ambitions for local governments – offering comprehensive instructions for scoping out, designing, and executing local circular innovation programs.
With this guide, the CIC is now giving local governments, venture support organizations, impact investors, and entrepreneurs the roadmap necessary to help cities and regions accelerate their transition to a circular economy.
“For over 15 years, we’ve aimed for a more sustainable future, understanding the urgency of our actions. Now, with our partners Metabolic and Bankers without Boundaries, we’re enhancing our impact through a guide designed to help more regions replicate our circular economy initiatives.” – Manon Klein, Impact Hub
Central to CIC’s mission is the principle of collaboration and knowledge-sharing. Through their open-access approach, CIC is “sharing the recipe” for designing, and executing local innovation programs, ensuring that essential tools for transitioning to the circular economy are readily available to all stakeholders.
The guide is based on the flagship CIC circular textile program running in the MRA in 2022-2024, contributing to the ambition of having a 70% circular textile value chain by 2030. This programme helped accelerate the growth of 10 circular textile startups high on the R-strategy ladder. It facilitated pioneering circular innovations more accessible to consumers, created new circular jobs, connected startups to key investors, and helped them scale their impact, for example, by expanding their work to other European countries.
“To transition to an impact economy we need to radically change our approach. We need to work with front runners and entrepreneurs that tackle societal challenges and influence the broader ecosystem. With the CIC approach you can do just that.” – Egon van Wees, Programme Coordinator, Amsterdam Impact (CIC program Funder)
The circular innovation program created for Amsterdam will act as the flagship CIC pilot, showcasing the transformative power of circular innovation at the local level.
For more information on how to get involved and access CIC’s program guide, visit the Circular Innovation Collective, and download the guide here.
For media inquiries regarding CIC, please connect with:
Susan Kessing, Impact Venture Development lead, Impact Hub Amsterdam, susan.kessing@impacthub.net
For other program-related inquiries regarding CIC, please connect with:
Eva Lalakova, Program Manager – Circular Innovation Collective, Metabolic Ventures, lalakova@metabolic.nl
“We all work on grand societal transitions. But often, these transitions come with big hairy audacious goals and challenges. With the availability of the CIC guide, it becomes very low-key and easy for any city, municipality, or region, to start supporting pioneers and entrepreneurs, and work collaboratively towards a new impact economy. We invite everyone to stop ‘just’ believing, and start doing!” – Coen Persijn, Program Manager Regenerative Economy, The DOEN Foundation (CIC program funder)
About the Circular Innovation Collective
The Circular Innovation Collective is a consortium of impact-driven organizations initiated by Metabolic, Impact Hub Amsterdam, and Bankers without Boundaries. These founding members have successfully launched and executed CIC’s first pilot program in Amsterdam. With the support of the City of Amsterdam/Amsterdam Impact, The DOEN Foundation, and Goldschmeding Foundation, this initiative specifically targeted achieving 70% circular textiles in the Metropolitan Region Amsterdam by 2030. Demonstrating the potential for impactful change, CIC is now dedicated to sharing its knowledge, experience, and strategies in an open-source manner.
