Academics for Circular Economy welcomes the creation of a Circular Economy Act that aims to address issues such as resource dependence, competitiveness, and environmental pressures. To leverage the full economic, social and environmental potential of the circular economy, the Circular Economy Act must address a number of critical points:

• Competitiveness through upstream innovation
• European resource independence by design
• Resilience of the single market
• Environmental protection via a regenerative bioeconomy
• Innovation driven by research and development

The BioBoosters hackathon model has brought together innovators who have come up with workable solutions for a wide range of challenges in the bioeconomy sector. The programme is coming to an end, and this report sets out how the project connected regional innovation systems across the Baltic Sea Region to a joint open innovation platform tackling business-driven circular transition challenges.

It explores the relevance, efficiency, impact and sustainability of the hackathon model and the inter-regional cooperation dimension.

The analysis is based on data and feedback from 18 challenge provider companies, nearly 100 mentored teams and over 500 connected industry and research specialists. It looks at what makes this hackathon model impactful and the added value of an international network.

BioBoosters is a bioeconomy business accelerator. It runs a business-driven hackathon concept to boost the circular transition of the bioeconomy sector. 

The hackathon concept is simple: identify a problem and bring innovators around the table to find a solution. For instance, hemp production in Estonia is flourishing – but the company growing it had no viable use for the stalks. The innovators explored options such as hemp-based filament for 3D printing, hemp as a substrate for mushroom cultivation for biodegradable packaging and extracting enzymes from hemp via fermentation-based processes.

This report covers another eight hackathons, tackling logistics, wood, activated carbon, wine corks, soil health and apples. 

This report explores the links between circularity and economic value, offering a new perspective on how linear practices lead to economic inefficiencies.

CGR has built up a huge body of data by mapping material flows, and this report uses that as a basis to look further and ask about the economic value of the materials we use, the products we consume and the systems we build—and where value is lost or not created.

Current economic models leave substantial value untapped: resources are over-extracted, materials wasted, products underused, and social and economic opportunities missed. The report looks at value creation and loss in mining & extraction, manufacturing, agrifood, construction, mobility and consumables. It also explores the circular potential in each sector.