3rd PLATE Conference
September 18 – 20, 2019
Berlin, Germany
Nils F. Nissen
Melanie Jaeger-Erben (eds.)
Universitätsverlag der TU Berlin
Sumter, Deborah; de Koning, Jotte; Bakker, Conny; Balkenende, Ruud:
Design competencies for a circular economy . In: Nissen, Nils F.;
Jaeger-Erben, Melanie (Eds.): PLATE – Product Lifetimes And The Envi-
ronment : Proceedings, 3rd PLATE CONFERENCE, BERLIN, GERMANY,
18 – 20 September 2019. Berlin: Universitätsverlag der TU Berlin, 2021.
pp. 763 – 768. ISBN 978-3-7983-3125-9 (online). https://doi.org/10.14279/
depositonce-9253.
This article – except for quotes, fi gures and where otherwise noted – is
licensed under a CC BY 4.0 License (Creative Commons Attribution 4.0).
https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/.
763
3rd PLATE 2019 Conference
Berlin, Germany, 18-20 September 2019
Design Competencies for a Circular Economy
Sumter, Deborah; de Koning, Jotte; Bakker, Conny; Balkenende, Ruud
Faculty of Industrial Design Engineering, Delft University of Technology, Delft, the Netherlands
Keywords: Circular Economy; Product Design; Design Competencies.
Abstract: Limited research has been done on design competencies for a circular economy in practice.
Yet, an overview of design competencies for a circular economy would be useful to understand which
topics should be emphasized in both education and practice. This paper focuses on deriving circular
economy competencies for product designers working in industry. The study consisted of three focus
groups with twelve designers that are actively exploring circular economy opportunities in an industrial
product design context. We derived six design competencies for a circular economy: (1) circular
economy understanding, (2) circular economy storytelling (3) setting circular criteria, (4) assessing
circular solutions, (5) connecting reverse logistics with users, and (6) design for multiple use cycles.
These six competencies are presented and reflected upon by comparing them to competencies found in
literature. Two of the competencies found (i.e., circular economy understanding and storytelling) are
new compared to those mentioned in literature. The other four competencies found in this study overlap
or further specify competencies mentioned in literature. Ultimately, the relevancy of each of the six
competencies for an individual designer is determined by the role this designer has in a company.
Introduction
The increasing pressure on resources has
become a growing concern. The circular
economy, which is propagated by the Ellen
McArthur Foundation (2013) as “restorative and
regenerative by design”, offers a compelling
alternative to our current resource intensive
systems. The proposal to cycle material
resources is not new, but because the circular
economy makes it operationalizable (Ghisellini
et al., 2016; Kirchherr et al., 2017; Murray et al.,
2017) the concept has gained traction among
companies that want to contribute to
sustainable development (Kirchherr et al.,
2017). Circular economy emphasizes high
value and high-quality cycling of materials. By
advocating sharing and reusing it also connects
sustainable production and consumption
(Korhonen et al., 2018). Product designers are
seen as potential facilitators and even leaders
of the transition towards a circular economy
(Andrews, 2015, p.305), because they can
design products and services that fit multiple
lifecycles. While design for a circular economy
can be seen as part of the larger design for
sustainability landscape, its aims are more
explicit. Design for sustainability is aimed at the
broad concept of reducing environmental
impact. The aim of design for a circular
economy, based on its focus on resource
efficiency and economically viable closed-loop
systems, is more focused and aims to maintain
product integrity as long as possible over
multiple lifecycles (den Hollander, 2018).
Research has also suggested that the transition
towards a circular economy requires acquiring
new competencies and knowledge (EEA,
2016). This reflects the notion that the
competencies designers need to operate in the
sustainability landscape are changing. Yet,
there is a lack of understanding regarding these
changing competencies (de los Rios &
Charnley, 2016; Sumter et al., 2018). Although
limited, some research has been done
specifically on design competencies for a
circular economy. Often, these competencies
are derived from case studies with companies
that are exploring circular economy
opportunities. They are related to
“understanding product and service aspects of
the circular offering” (de los Rios & Charnley,
2016), “assessing environmental impact of the
circular solution”, “facilitating collaboration”,
“anticipating how the circular offering will
evolve”, and “integrating business model and
product’s design” (Sumter, 2018). In addition,
earlier research suggests that the role
designers have in companies determines which
“circular” design competencies are relevant
(Sumter et al., 2017b; Sumter, 2018).
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3rd PLATE Conference Berlin, Germany, 18-20 September 2019
Sumter D., de Koning J., Bakker C., Balkenende R.
Design competencies for a circular economy
This paper derives circular economy
competencies for product designers working in
industry through a series of three focus groups.
We use the following definition of a
competency: “a functionally linked complex of
knowledge, skills, and attitudes that enables
successful task performance and problem
solving” (Wiek et al., 2011, p.204). The focus is
on those designers that work for medium and
large companies. These are believed to have a
wider reach than small companies when
pursuing their sustainable or social activities
goals (Hockerts & Wüstenhagen, 2010).
Methods
This study is part of a wider collaborative
project (hereafter: co-project) titled Circular
Business Competencies Building: Business
function specific knowledge and competencies
for a circular economy. This co-project was
initiated by Philips and the University of Exeter
and facilitated by the Ellen MacArthur
Foundation. While the co-project focused on
deriving wider competencies for a circular
economy, this paper only presents and
discusses the circular economy competencies
relevant for product designers working in
industry. The co-project offered the opportunity
to gather perspectives from multiple designers
who have a wide range of roles in companies
that are actively exploring circular opportunities,
and identify and validate gaps in the design
competencies for a circular economy.
Data Collection
The full co-project ran from November 2018
until May 2019. Data was collected in three
focus group calls and two surveys between
March and April 2019. Table 1 shows the topics
and the number of participants who took part in
each step of the process. The principal
researcher of this study facilitated the calls with
the design practitioners in the co-project. A note
taker from the Ellen MacArthur Foundation was
present during each of the focus group calls to
make minutes.
Data collection
method (number of
participants)
Topics
Survey 1:
(8)
- Barriers and drivers
in exploring circular
opportunities
Call 1:
(8)
- Barriers in exploring
circular opportunities
and design
challenges
- Enabling conditions
Call 2:
(11)
- Challenges for
product creation
- Collaboration
- Communication
Survey 2:
(-)
- Company culture:
supporting/hampering
circular economy
Call 3:
(7)
- Design for circular
economy
competencies
- Resources needed to
address identified
competencies
Table 1. Data Collection Process and
Participant.
Participant selection
Companies selected employees with circular
economy knowledge and/or who were actively
exploring circular economy opportunities in
their daily work. The selected employees took
part in a kick of call, which each of the
participating companies organized separately.
During these calls the co-project was
introduced. Each of the five companies then
put forward two or three employees who took
part in the focus group calls. Table 2 gives an
overview of the participants and their job titles.
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3rd PLATE Conference Berlin, Germany, 18-20 September 2019
Sumter D., de Koning J., Bakker C., Balkenende R.
Design competencies for a circular economy
Company Job title
H&M Group Team Responsible for
Engineers
COS Brand Product Architect
Tarkett Design Manager
Tarkett Senior Design Manager
Tarkett Project Manager Sustainability
Tarkett Team Manager Design
Essity Global Brand Innovation
Manager
Essity Global Brand Innovation
Manager
Essity Regional Brand Director
Philips Senior Product Manager
Philips Product Designer
Coty Manager R&D Packaging
Table 2. Participants Data.
Data Analysis
The first survey and call were used to explore
the context the participants worked in. This
resulted in a wide array of barriers and drivers.
We used Covey’s “concern-circle of influence
model” (Covey, 2004) to separate the
challenges that were within their circle of
concern (e.g., key performance indicators that
are hindering the implementation of circular
initiatives) from the challenges that were within
their circle of influence (e.g., how to determine
the useful lifetime of components after take
back). The challenges that were within the
participants’ circle of influence were the focus
point in the second call. In the second analysis
round, based on challenges that were
discussed in the second call, we derived and
formulated design competencies for circular
economy competencies. These identified
competencies were then validated in the third
call, by asking the participants to comment on
the importance of the competencies that were
formulated.
Results
Based on the collected data six design
competencies for a circular economy were
derived from the calls with the product
designers working in industry (see table 3).
1. Circular economy understanding
2. Circular economy storytelling
3. Setting circular criteria
4. Assessing circular solutions
5. Connecting reverse logistics with users
6. Designing for multiple use cycles
Table 3. Six design for circular economy
competencies (validation).
1. Circular economy understanding
“Circular economy understanding” is about
having a clear understanding of the circular
economy concept as well as mastering the
vocabulary to be able to communicate with
others. This competency was classified as
foundational. It was seen as a more general
competency that forms the basis for further
actions. A participant remarked: “circular
economy is often equated with recycling, while
this is the least preferred solution”. In order to
tackle the challenge of getting to higher order
circular concepts, such as reuse,
refurbishment and prolonged life, it is vital one
masters the ideas behind the circular economy
and is able to verbalize those.
2. Circular economy storytelling
To master “circular economy storytelling”
means being able to engage internal and
external stakeholders (e.g., consumers,
suppliers and partners) in the circular story.
Product designer should be able to interpret
what the benefits of a circular economy are
and what the consequences of “going circular”
are for the company and for the department
they are working in, and “sell” this to others in
an engaging way. This reflects the need to
create involvement and get commitment,
which was mainly expressed by the design
managers.
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Sumter D., de Koning J., Bakker C., Balkenende R.
Design competencies for a circular economy
3. Setting circular criteria
Setting circular economy criteria relates to
being able to determine the circularity of
products. This competency is based on the
challenge the participants faced when it comes
to checking whether products under
development are circular. They indicated that
they were struggling to determine what they
should consider and whether they were on the
right track when they were developing circular
solutions. Setting circular criteria could be
useful in guiding the design process:
participants working as design managers
mentioned that they were implementing criteria
in the form of ‘circularity’ checklists and product
scores (e.g., modularity, ease of disassembly
and recyclability of material) to transform the
design process. In addition, the criteria for
circular materials can also be used as a
standard in procurement when searching for
and buying materials.
4. Assessing circular solutions
“Assessing circular solutions”, is about being
able to make financial and environmental
assessments of the circular products over
multiple use cycles. This competency is
required as it can help to assess the viability of
proposed circular solutions for the company.
Participants mentioned that being able to make
a financial assessment is necessary, and
should be a starting point, as it helps designers
to estimate whether developing a circular
solution makes business sense. The
environmental component of this competency
entails being able to estimate what the impact
is over multiple use cycles. A design manager
mentioned that current environmental
assessment methods, such as Life Cycle
Assessment, did not align with the circular
solutions they were trying to assess.
5. Connecting reverse logistics with users
To master the competency “connecting reverse
logistics with users” entails being able to
engage users to participate in the reverse
logistics that have to be set up to facilitate the
take-back of circular products. Essentially this
competency connects two topics: customer
engagement and reverse logistics. Creating
customer engagement is connected with the
ability to determine what the implications are for
reverse logistics (e.g., which logistics channels
should be in place to facilitate, for example, take
back?). Participants stated that consumers
should be engaged to participate in circular
business models: “for the consumer it should be
very clear how to use the product, how to give it
back, how it is designed [] what his benefits
are and what environmental benefits are”.
6. Designing for multiple use cycles
Being able to “design for multiple use-cycles”,
entails designing product-service systems that
can serve multiple use cycles and/or users. In
addition, it includes being able to set up a
monitoring and tracking system to have an
overview of where company resources are and
the ability to determine in which state the
products are upon take back. Participants
found it important to be able to determine the
remaining useful life of particular components
upon takeback and to determine how often
they could be reused.
Role dependency of competencies
During the validation call, participants
emphasized that not all competencies were
applicable to them because they were not
involved in all phases of the design process.
For example, a product engineer mentioned
that he was not involved in initiating new
product development. Therefore, it was less
relevant for him to be able to do financial
assessments of circular solution. Instead, it was
important that he could “design for multiple use
cycles”. He added that product designers are
not always in the “driver’s seat” when it comes
to initiating the development of new circular
products or services. The business model is
often set by marketing. Design choices then
have to align with the scope of the business
model as determined by marketing: “if it is a
business model only relating to recycled
contents, then you only focus on that, if it is
refurbished content, then you focus on that.”
Discussion
The six identified design competencies for a
circular economy as indicated by the product
designers working in industry range from being
new to partially overlapping and further
specifying competencies found in literature.
First, “circular economy understanding” was
found to be a core competency that could serve
as a foundation to develop other competencies
such as “circular economy storytelling”. Circular
Economy understanding and storytelling are
highly connected competencies and were not
earlier mentioned in literature. When previous
research mentioned management buy-in and
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3rd PLATE Conference Berlin, Germany, 18-20 September 2019
Sumter D., de Koning J., Bakker C., Balkenende R.
Design competencies for a circular economy
support as important driver for implementing
circular solutions (Sumter et al., 2018, p.12) it
was seen as a general requirement for
introducing change in companies. Yet, the
industrial design practitioners who participated
in this study shared that they struggled with
engaging stakeholders inter alia due to the fact
that they insufficiently mastered the circular
economy vocabulary. Hence, these
competencies were derived and formulated.
Second, within this study, it appeared that there
is a need to develop a competency in doing
financial and environmental assessments over
multiple use cycles for circular solutions. When
it comes to environmental assessment a related
competency was mentioned in literature:
“estimating the environmental impact on a
systems level over multiple life cycles” (Sumter
et al., 2018, p.12). Yet, while relevant according
to industry when it comes to financial
assessment literature does not mention related
competencies. While both competencies reflect
a need to be able to also “anticipate how the
circular offering will evolve over multiple
lifecycles” (Sumter et al., 2018, p.12), financial
assessment is done on company level while the
environmental assessment is done on system
level.
Third, “connecting reverse logistics with users”
reflects the expanding design domain in which
customers should be engaged to participate in
circular business models. Literature shows that
this competency also means there is a need to
understand that in the context of access-based
models consumers are framed as users (de los
Rios & Charnley, 2016) as they temporarily get
access to products. Within this context,
literature furthermore mentions the following
competencies: “understanding factors of the
use experience”, “understanding processes for
reverse and re-manufacturing”
and “understanding logistics and distribution
processes” (de los Rios & Charnley, 2016, p.
118). This reflects an emphasis on the user
within circular economy literature. Yet, industry
is more concerned with how to set up of the
(physical) reverse logistics system and connect
it with the users.
Fourth, the identified competency “designing for
multiple use cycles” corresponds strongly to
three competencies mentioned in literature that
are all related to understanding product and
service aspects of the circular
offering: “understanding the service experience
and how to design services”, “understanding
product wear by use”, and “understand failure
mode and maintenance procedures” (De los
Rios & Charnley, 2016, p.). Further, this
competency relates to the competency to
“anticipate how the circular offering will evolve
over multiple life cycles” (Sumter et al., 2018,
p.12). This challenges the current mindset of
designers as it requires them to look further
ahead predict how the product will be used,
what the potential useful lifetime of product is
and which value recovery strategy to apply.
Last, while the participants recognized the
importance of certain competencies, they did
not feel the need to acquire all the identified
competencies. The perceived relevance seems
to be dependent on the position that they are
working in. For example, “setting circular
criteria”, was a competency that was mainly
reflected by the participants working in more
strategic roles as they felt responsible for
guiding colleagues in the design process. There
is a need to keep exploring circular design
competencies, as they help to understand how
organizations learn and how design roles
evolve in the context of a circular economy.
Further research should lead to a
comprehensive framework in which design
competencies for a circular economy are
allocated to the roles designers could have in
sustainability transitions.
Conclusion
In this study we derived six design circular
economy competencies for product designers
working in industry: (1) circular economy
understanding, (2) circular economy storytelling
(3) setting circular criteria, (4) assessing circular
solutions, (5) connecting reverse logistics with
users, and (6) design for multiple use cycles.
"Circular economy understanding” and “circular
storytelling” are new compared to those
mentioned in literature. In addition, when it
comes to the competency “assessing circular
solutions”, financial assessment was not
mentioned before within literature. Furthermore,
while literature focused on topics related to the
changing role of consumers in circular
economy, industry practitioners are more
concerned in acquiring competencies that help
them determine the implications for customer
engagement on reverse logistics. This reflects
that industry puts more emphasis on
competencies to tackle short term barriers. The
six competencies reflect the expanding role of
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3rd PLATE Conference Berlin, Germany, 18-20 September 2019
Sumter D., de Koning J., Bakker C., Balkenende R.
Design competencies for a circular economy
product design needed to contribute to circular
activities. Yet, the role designers have in these
settings determines the relevancy of acquiring
one of the six competencies. The insights
following from these explorations can be used
to shape and keep design education up to date.
Acknowledgments
This work was conducted as part of a
collaborative project (co-project) Circular
Business Competencies Building: Business
function specific knowledge and competencies
for a circular economy that was initiated at the
Acceleration Workshop in November 2018 in
Lisbon by Philips and the University of Exeter.
The project was facilitated by the Ellen
MacArthur Foundation. The authors would like
to thank the participating organizations for their
openness, and the designers for their
participation in the focus group calls.
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