circle17 'Matchmaking'

Challenge 1 – Many of us are inclined to use unsustainable transport, such as the car to go to work or airplane to a holiday destination, because it is more convenient and perceived cheaper than a sustainable alternative. Many of us are buying online because it is more comfortable and cheaper than going to local stores.

How can we satisfy our desires and be more sustainable at the same time? Many of us want to change – however, more sustainable solutions often tend to be more expensive than sustainable ones due to a lack of true-cost pricing (e.g. flying versus taking the train). To create change, we need solutions that are as comfortable and economic as unsustainable alternatives and are therefore not socially exclusive. If those conditions are fulfilled, change to new practices can be facilitated and people can be motivated to modify their transportation behaviour towards being more sustainable.

Competition between different suppliers of mobility has been one of the main problems hindering the creation of sustainable practices and an ecosystem for cooperation, innovation and joint solutions. To create novel systemic models in the mobility and transportation sector, cooperation between different stakeholders is necessary. Organisations cannot build new innovative solutions alone, hence new collaboration models for joint innovation efforts are needed.

Challenge 2 – Awareness about agricultural production, its effects on the climate and often unfair labour conditions has increased significantly. Sustainable local production could reduce negative consequences of food production. However, local and sustainable production is often small-scale and labour-intensive, thereby making those products more expensive. Additionally, consumers often lack access to locally produced, sustainable products and therefore prefer the easier choice of buying non-regional food.

Enhancing the accessibility of local agricultural products for consumers can be the first step towards the creation of a sustainable agricultural system. How can we create systems that enable both ends of the value chain to change their practices and to understand each other’s needs and challenges?
This enhanced awareness creates a community that cares for each other and creates higher value on both sides.

Challenge 3 – Cities are growing rapidly worldwide and becoming the predominant space to live and work in. The visibility and allocation of resources in urban are essential to secure inclusive and resilient cities. Urban resources can have a physical and an immaterial appearance. They appear as raw materials, e.g. for buildings and infrastructure, for food production, or as once used resources, like vacant buildings. Moreover, they could be talents or innovations that only need to be linked to their practical use.

Many resources are left unused in the urban space or, rather, the incentives to (re)use urban resources are missing. Some are abandoned, some are tried out once and left to be covered by dust (e.g. innovative research projects, prototypes), others lie dormant and have not been seen as a potential resource so far. Too many resources are being wasted, because they have not yet been discovered by the appropriate user. It is often cheaper to demolish, e.g. to tear down existing infrastructure. How can we incentivise the re-use of materials, rather than increasing the input of new primary raw materials and therefore exploiting natural and human resources?