What if all startup incubators and accelerators integrated design principles that foster circularity? How will this look like and how will it impact ventures going through these programs?

At Impact Hub, we have been exploring these questions over the past 12 months. Here’s what we have learned so far:

As of 2020, only 8.6% of the global economy is circular

For Impact Hub it is clear that we need to move away from the standard business practice of take-make-waste to a planet-friendly loop. Why? Here are three key reasons:

1. Electronic waste worth USD 63 billion is generated globally each year – of which only 20% is collected and recycled under appropriate conditions.
2. One garbage truck of textiles is landfilled or incinerated every second – representing a lot opportunity of USD 100 billion annually.
3. 75% of municipal solid waste consist of discarded consumer goods – of which 80% is burned, landfilled our dumped because of poor design and/or lack of end-of-life collection options.

*Source: Ellen MacArthur Foundation.

Small and growing businesses driving the transition to circularity

In the startup and venture world, there are two options for integrating circularity. Either right from the start (circular natives) or by shifting your existing venture later on (circular adapters).

Circularity-focused incubation and acceleration programs already exist, but there are two problems:

1. There aren’t enough of them to transform the private sector as a whole.
2. Mostly, startups that already identify with the concept of circularity join them.

This way, the transition to a regenerative economy is going to take decades. But the time to act is now. We need to mainstream circular design principles across all small and growing businesses regardless of whether they are social, environmental or profit-driven.

What if all venture support programs integrated circular design principles?

Within a year since we asked this question, we went from an idea to a toolkit to design a training. At the moment, 12 pilots across Africa, Asia, Europe, and Latin America are integrating circularity into their programs.

The circularity toolkit Impact Hub produced will be shared in 2022, when all tools & materials are tested, but here is a first taster.

Starting with 80 ventures in 12 programs

Each of our pilot programs focuses on different industries based on the local context. From health to waste management, agriculture to education, or technology to transport and manufacturing. By the end of April 2022, 80 ventures will go through the programs, becoming more sustainable and developing or adjusting their products and business models to become circular. This is just a pilot – imagine taking this to the next level with thousands of enterprises going through this transition.

Integrating circularity into 200+ programs in the coming years

Right now, it looks promising that increased education and support to integrate circular design principles will lead to more and more small & growing businesses becoming circular.

While we will measure the results and see how many ventures integrated the concept successfully, we are already thinking about scaling this approach. We hope to do it in the Impact Hub network, which runs 240+ incubators and accelerators across 60 countries.

Equally important is making the training and toolkit accessible to other incubators and accelerators across the world. The transition happens when the majority of business development service providers integrate circularity and support small and growing businesses to make the transition.

We are ready to see a shift towards circularity and a regenerative economy. Are you?