CIRCULAR ECONOMY
Creating circular channels on a Test Bed
A group of young entrepreneurs and their startups launched a challenge to one of our recognized strategic partners to create a competence centre to leverage the circular economy in Portugal in the coming years.
Together with our partner, we created a project for a Test Bed in the area of the Circular Economy, the “Digital Circular Innovation Loop”, for those Coimbra green techs. After working closely with these young entrepreneurs, we learned about the startup’s recent but valuable experience developing its LoopOS operating system in several projects. Through the applications already available through LoopOS, companies can quickly create circular channels for resale, renting, returns, refurbishment, donation, eco-disposal and others, to which complementary services can added as the project evolves. To support innovations and make them capable of evolving and scaling successfully, The Loop Co’s Test Bed thus offers a multidisciplinary range of services, from designing and creating circular channels to technological co-innovation and evaluation services, data analytics, and market trials.
The main objective of a Test Bed is to increase the number of commercially viable product pilots, shortening the innovation cycle from laboratory validation (TRL 5) to its commercialization phase (TRL 9), for which it is necessary the incorporation of specific technology (hardware and software) that participating companies usually do not have access to.
The “Digital Circular Innovation Loop” Test Bed responds to various areas and business sectors for adopting circular approaches for their businesses. This Test Bed intends to launch 57 new pilots in Portugal over the next two years.
WellAdvisedCo and its partner prepared this test bed’s application for the European funds of the Portuguese Recovery and Resilience Plan (PRR), Component 16 (Companies 4.0), which aimed to create a national network of test beds. This project was approved, having obtained co-financing of around 2 million euros from the NextGenerationEU fund.
Client: The Loop Co (Technological startups, focused on Circular Economy and Sustainability)
The Loop Company is a group of companies, formed by the startups Loop Circular, Lda, Book in Loop, Lda and Loop Future, Lda.
Industry: Circular Economy, Information Technologies, Greentech
