Last year I helped Flanders Circular, an initiative of Ovam, to develop the roadmap 2050 for the circular economy in Flanders. It was a project with a duration of 1 year (2021-2022) in which I helped define the vision for a circular economy in Flanders together with many experts. It was very interesting to be able to think that far ahead and help determine what the future of Flanders could look like.”

It’ s very interesting to be able to think far ahead and help determine what the future of Flanders could look like.”

In this project, I applied the T-plan method for road mapping. I’ve learned to use this tool in a number of previous projects and it was now also extremely suitable for arriving at a supported roadmap. In this method, we organize information in 3 layers: the first layer with market and business drivers, and in the second layer we position new products and services that we link to technology in a third layer. By placing the elements in time you get a well-organized roadmap. You can have a look at the result on the website of vlaanderen-circulair.be.

Today we see a huge increase in demand for circular and sustainable products and services compared to 5 years ago. This isn’t the case in all sectors, but is currently driven by markets where end consumers are making more sustainable choices. We see this for example at Henkel and P&G where this trend is manifesting itself mainly in the ‘laundry and home care’ segment. These companies are looking for more ecological packaging solutions and are working on new formulas and ingredients to meet the changing needs of their end consumers. This trend is also continuing in many other sectors.

Interested in becoming a Consultant InnoLab or working at Verhaert Strategic Innovation like Filiep?