BluePoint: from marine plastics to new circular value chains and business models
BluePoint: from marine plastics to new circular value chains and business models
BluePoint: from marine plastics to new circular value chains and business models
At MIK, Mondragon Unibertsitatea’s Centre for Innovation in Business Management, we work to transform the challenges associated with the ecological transition into new opportunities for innovation and business development. One of the areas where this work takes shape is the blue circular economy, through the European BluePoint project
The presence of plastics in marine and river ecosystems represents a major environmental challenge. However, recovering this waste is not enough to close the loop. For these materials to be reintroduced into the production system, it is necessary to establish technologies, companies, capabilities, demand and business models that make their valorisation viable.
This is precisely one of the main challenges addressed by BluePoint: helping to activate a new circular value chain around marine and river plastics by connecting knowledge, technology, business and the market.
From dispersed waste to a circular value chain
BluePoint addresses the different stages required to move towards this new value chain: from the identification and recovery of waste to its sorting, treatment and transformation, as well as the development of new applications, products and services.
But a circular value chain is not created simply by incorporating new technologies or processes.
A recovery solution needs to be connected to appropriate sorting and treatment processes. Recovered materials need technically and economically viable applications. These applications require companies capable of developing new products or services and, ultimately, business models that enable these solutions to reach the market.
The challenge, therefore, lies in connecting the different links in the chain and generating new relationships between stakeholders that can transform waste into a resource capable of creating new value.
Identifying opportunities to activate the chain
Within BluePoint, MIK’s work places particular emphasis on understanding how this value chain is structured, which stakeholders and capabilities are involved, and where opportunities exist to drive new circular solutions.
This analysis makes it possible to identify unmet needs, capabilities that could be connected, underutilised resources or new applications capable of generating business opportunities.
The objective is to move from a vision focused exclusively on waste towards a broader perspective aimed at exploring what new value propositions can be generated around its circularity.
In this process, it is essential to combine knowledge of sustainability, markets, innovation and business models in order to determine not only which solutions are technically possible, but also which may be viable from a business perspective.
ROAD2BLUE: from knowledge to activation
This approach is also embodied in ROAD2BLUE, a digital strategic tool developed to support the activation of the marine plastic value chain through a territorial, systemic and action-oriented approach.
ROAD2BLUE helps structure and make visible opportunities, capabilities and potential connections within the ecosystem, enabling companies, public administrations, technology centres, universities and other stakeholders to identify points of connection and explore new initiatives. Its value therefore lies not only in organising knowledge, but also in helping turn that knowledge into collaboration and action.
From opportunity to new circular initiatives
Identifying an opportunity is only the first step. The real challenge is to activate the capabilities needed to turn it into a viable initiative, connecting the stakeholders who can contribute to its development.
Companies, public administrations, technology centres, universities and other organisations contribute complementary capabilities such as knowledge, technology, resources, production experience and market access. Combined, these capabilities make it possible to move from a potential opportunity towards new solutions, collaborative projects and circular business models.
It is precisely through this interaction that new collaborative initiatives, products, services and circular business models can begin to take shape.
Activating value chains therefore requires creating spaces where different stakeholders can share needs and capabilities, identify complementarities and explore new forms of collaboration.
From this perspective, the circular economy is not only about closing material loops. It also involves creating new economic and business relationships capable of sustaining those loops over time.
New business models to make circularity viable
One of the main challenges of any circular solution is ensuring that it can be sustained and scaled beyond an experimental project.
To achieve this, it is necessary to define who creates value within the new chain, who receives it, what relationships need to be established between the different stakeholders and how an economically sustainable model can be built.
This approach makes it possible to explore new value propositions linked to the recovery and valorisation of materials, the development of new products, the provision of new services or the creation of shared solutions between different organisations.
The development of circular business models therefore becomes a key element in ensuring that circularity moves from experimentation into business practice and the market.
An ecosystem to enable circularity
Creating new value chains does not depend on a single company, technology or institution.
It requires the participation of public administrations, companies, technology centres, universities and other stakeholders that perform different but complementary roles within the ecosystem.
BluePoint works from this systemic perspective, fostering connections between stakeholders that may traditionally not have been part of the same value chain and exploring new combinations of knowledge, capabilities and market opportunities.
Ultimately, the aim is to move from managing waste to activating an ecosystem capable of generating economic, environmental and social value through circularity.
Research aimed at generating new opportunities
The video accompanying this news article was recorded as part of the Ulysses project and provides an opportunity to show how different areas of research can contribute to addressing the challenge of marine waste.
At MIK, this research is particularly focused on ensuring that the knowledge generated can become a lever for action: helping to better understand value chains, identify opportunities, connect stakeholders and explore new business solutions.
BluePoint exemplifies this journey: from an environmental challenge to an opportunity; from an opportunity to new initiatives; and from new initiatives to value chains and business models capable of making the circular economy viable.
More information about BluePoint: https://mik.mondragon.edu/eu/bluepoint
More information about Ulysses: https://ulyssesproject.org/