Deadline: 11-Jan-23
The Make It Circular Challenge calls on designers, creative entrepreneurs, and startups from around the world to envision and build a circular society.
They Invite designers, creative entrepreneurs and startups from around the world to submit ideas and Innovations that radically rethink their way of life: from what they eat and wear, to why they buy and how they build. Using the power of design, they can make a circular future more accessible for all.
Award Information
The winners of the Make it Circular Challenge will take home an award package designed to bring their projects to the next level. They will gain access to a six-month-long development programme which has been co-created by experts from the global Impact Hub network. Winning teams will also receive €10.000 each to invest in their project, as well as valuable press and publicity through WDCD’s channels and those of their partners.
- Development Programme
- €10.000 Project Funding
- Press, Publicity & Network
Eligibility Criteria
- The Make it Circular Challenge is all about designing circular ways of living that help them tackle the root of the climate crisis. They are looking for ambitious, design-led initiatives and start-ups that reduce carbon emissions by cutting waste and rewriting the relationship between people, the planet and all the species who call it home.
Criteria
- At the end of the open call, an international jury will review the best and brightest proposals according to the following criteria.
- Make It Count! What can you say about the (potential) impact of your idea or initiative? Here, you can help the jury understand the difference you are trying to make by offering some quantitative and/ or qualitative data to back it up. Here are a few examples of impact ‘indicators’ that can be helpful to demonstrate the impact of your submission.
- Environmental Impacts: GHG Reduction: Are you able to estimate the amount of greenhouse gas emissions that is produced (or prevented) by your initiative?
- Circularity: Are you able to demonstrate the amount of resources and/or waste that is saved by your initiative?
- Do No Harm: Can you tell them about how your initiative regenerates — rather than depletes or pollutes — their natural ecosystems?
- Cultural Impacts: Policies: Does your initiative have the potential to influence policies about sustainable production and consumption?
- Social Norms: How do you imagine it will shift people’s habits and/or attitudes? Can you describe the impact it might have on the way society values things like novelty, growth, and throwaway culture?
- Social Impacts:
- Fair Pay: Are you able to demonstrate how your initiative impacts the people that make up its supply chain — and beyond?
- Diversity And Inclusion: How do you ensure equal opportunity in your organisation, irrespective of personal characteristics such as age, gender, sexual orientation, ethnicity, country of origin, or disability?
- Health: What can you tell them about how your organisation supports a healthy work culture?
- Make It Awesome! Here, they want to know what makes your design exciting and extraordinary. Is the idea fresh and innovative? Does it build on an existing solution in a new way? Do you have good visuals to make your story more tangible and engaging? They’ll also be looking for how you track or measure the impact of your design along its entire value chain. What improvements in resource extraction, production, distribution, consumption and waste handling can you attribute to the design of your project?
- Make It Real! They believe that the best solutions are rooted in real challenges and opportunities. What can you tell them about the specific context of your initiative? What kind of research have you done into the communities or economies you are working with? Have consulted experts to ensure your proposal is feasible: technically, economically, politically and socially?
- Make It Big! This criteria is all about how your initiative — and its impact — might evolve in the future. Maybe your initiative is small and developed for a specific location or community, but does it have the potential to be scaled up to benefit the many? Do you have a long-term vision for your initiative?
- Make It Together! Lastly, they are looking for initiatives that invest in collaborative relationships and networks. You may have started your project alone, but have you surrounded yourself with the right people to make it happen? Are you part of a team or in the process of assembling a team that is up to the job?
For more information, visit What Design Can Do.