The Finnish Innovation Fund Sitra is a future fund collaborating with partners to research, trial and implement bold ideas that shape the future. It aims to make Finland a pioneer in sustainable well-being.

Since 2015, Sitra has been working to lead the way to a circular economy – a new kind of society in which everyday lives and well-being are no longer based on excessive consumption and fossil fuel use.

Currently, Sitra’s work focuses on supporting a fair transition to a circular economy and investigating how business can be based on sharing instead of ownership. Sitra is also working to advance circular trade policies, to increase the understanding of environmental effects of digitisation and to explore the potential of the circular economy to safeguard biodiversity.

The Collaborating Centre on Sustainable Consumption and Production (CSCP) is an international, non-profit think-and-do tank. Together with companies, political organisations and civil society actors, the CSCP pursues its mission to mainstream sustainability towards the good life for all.

From H2020 projects (R2Pi, Scalibur, Refresh and Spread), to CE Missions to Japan and Mexico, to launching the Consumer Insight Action Panel with the European Economic and Social Committee, co-developing the European Circular Cities Declaration or designing and running the Academy of Change – a unique capacity building programme that can be replicated across various topics - the CSCP integrates multiple stakeholders and various perspectives to help implement a systemic transition towards circularity.

The Ellen MacArthur Foundation develops and promotes the idea of a circular economy. It works with, and inspires, business, academia, policymakers, and institutions to mobilise systems solutions at scale, globally.

Its vision is a new economic system that delivers better outcomes for people and the environment. Business models, products, and materials are designed to increase use and reuse, replicating the balance of the natural world, where nothing becomes waste and everything has value.

A circular economy, increasingly built on renewable energy and materials, is distributed, diverse, and inclusive. The Foundation’s work focuses on six interlinking areas:

1. Learning
2. Business
3. Institutions, Governments and Cities
4. Insight and Analysis
5. Systemic Initiatives
6. Communications.

CIRCULÉIRE is Ireland’s first cross-sectoral circular economy innovation network, first designated EU circular economy hotspot, and is supported by several government departments. Its goal is to accelerate the transition towards a net-zero carbon circular economy in Ireland.
CIRCULÉIRE is co-creating innovative solutions with Irish industry from the agri-food, pharmaceutical, recycling, medical devices, ICT and built environment sectors. It has a dedicated innovation fund to invest in innovation demonstration projects.
CIRCULÉIRE also engages with a wide range of stakeholders from the Irish innovation ecosystem through our open-access circular economy knowledge library and capacity building activities including annual thematic working groups and workshops.

Initiated under the patronage of the German Development Minister Gerd Müller, the PREVENT Waste Alliance was launched in May 2019. It serves as a platform for exchange and international cooperation. Organisations from the private sector, academia, civil society and public institutions jointly engage for a circular economy.

The PREVENT Waste Alliance wants to contribute to minimising waste, eliminating pollutants and maximising the reuse of resources in the economy worldwide. Members of the platform work together for waste prevention, collection, and recycling as well as the increased uptake of secondary resources in low- and middle-income countries.

The platform focuses on waste from plastic packaging and single use products as well as waste electrical and electronic equipment.

REFLOW is an EU H2020 funded project that seeks to understand and transform urban material flows, co-create and test regenerative solutions at business, governance, and citizen levels to create a resilient circular economy.

The project aims to develop circular and regenerative cities through enabling active citizen involvement and systemic change to re-think the current approach to material flows in cities. For more info, read the Reflow whitepaper.

Hosted on the REFLOW website, the Community of Practice (CoP) houses a Forum for exchange, a Best Practice Database and a host of Circular Resources. By becoming a member of the community, you join an ecosystem that is designed to share resources, knowledge and practical solutions to accelerate the transition towards circular cities.