On 26 January 2017 around 100 members from the Swedish Association for Sustainable Business (NMC) gathered in Solna to attend the network's 2017 kick-off conference.
The NMC is a professional association and cross-industry platform of around 235 organisations from various industries across Sweden. NMC facilitates discussion meetings, educational seminars, conferences, and other networking meetings for members as part of a sustainable business community.
The conference explored the topic How do we Accelerate the transition to a circular economy? - Barriers, Challenges and Opportunities. Peter Hopkins, Professor of Innovation and Environmental Strategy at the Bradford School of Management was the key speaker for the event and shared knowledge about the circular economy, and presented international examples of circular business models.
To provoke thoughts on how to address challenges transitioning to circular business models, ResCoM Project Manager and Associate Professor at KTH, Amir Rashid, was invited to host a workshop based on the issues being tackled by the ResCoM case study companies. These were presented as a starter for discussion on potential solutions to close product loops among the participants from a variety of industries. The workshop was followed by a presentation on the ResCoM project, highlighting the approach to developing the ResCoM tools and methodologies and the project developments.
The agenda also included additional presentations and discussions on circular economy initiatives and how to approach challenges associated with circular business models. Speakers included ResCoM Advisory Panel member Anders Wijkman, Erik Hedén, Founder and CEO of Sustainable Brand Insight, and Par Larshans, Sustainability Manager for Ragn Sells.