Skill Course

Let’s get circular!

As the world shifts towards a circular economy, companies have to develop new business models. Do you want to translate global challenges into opportunities for your company?
Then you will need a Circular Innovation Manager on your team!

Circular Innovation Manager

With our skill course you will become a Circular Innovation Manager.
You learn how to translate the circular economy into new business models, products and services.

Since innovation is not a magic trick, you will learn by doing!
In this 8-week track, you apply your learnings into practice. During the course, you guide your company through a co-creation process that will result in a circular business-case.

This way, you will make your company more resilient and sustainable.

If you would like to host a customized version of our skills course for your network, company or accelerator, please let us know!

Course goals

What’s in it for you?

You will understand the circular economy

And you know how it impacts you and your company

You will get familiar with circular strategies

And you develop a circular business model for your company

You will gain insights in the innovation process

And you facilitate a workshop that results in your circular business concept

You will learn how to validate a business concept

And organize a small scale validation for your own circular business case

You will know the ins and outs of pitching a business case

And present your circular business case to your company

You will become a real changemaker

And you have the skills and expertise to realize real impact

Book your spot!
8 weeks, 5 learning loops, 1 skill course

How it works

This skill course to become a Circular Innovation Manager consists of 5 learning loops:

Understanding the circular economy
Exploring opportunities
Conceptualising strategies
Validating business models
Pitching your case

Each new loop builds on the previous and has a clear deliverable, deadline and learning outcome. Every loop follows the same 5 steps:

1
You'll get the necessary input through our online platform

Each learning loop starts with an educational video, which is designed to provide a comprehensive overview of the subject matter. This video is supported by a variety of best practices, hands-on exercises, and other supplemental materials that are accessible through our digital platform.

2
Our tools will help you to reflect on this

Our tools are designed to help you reflect on the specific topic of each learning loop. We encourage you to take the time to consider the implications of each topic, both for yourself and your company. This way you will be able to identify areas for growth and development.

3
You will organize internal workshops with your colleagues

Once you've booked your spot in the skill course, we send you a workshop-in-a-box, a complete set of tools that you will use in your workshops, sticky notes, voting dots, pens... In other words, everything you need to host your circular innovation workshops in your company.

4
Peer-to-peer reflection with your fellow participants

After each internal workshop, you will meet up with a selected group of peers to reflect on gained insights, workshop output and learning outcomes. We will moderate these sessions through an online collaboration platform.

5
1-on-1 coaching sessions at the end of each loop

We want to ensure that everyone has the opportunity to benefit from a high-quality, personalized learning experience. That's why we limit the number of applications to this course to 10 companies. This way we can provide coaching and feedback throughout the program, tailored to your individual needs and goals, and maximize the value of the program.

Are you ready? Book your spot for the next skill course!

We are currently looking for a date to host our next skill course for Circular Innovation Manager. You can already book your spot through the form below!

Once you enroll we’ll send you a full callsheet with all the dates, meetings, who to invite,… for the next 8 weeks. You’ll also receive our Circular Innovation Toolbox as a “workshop-in-a-box” to your desk, ensuring you’ve got all the support you need to do it yourself.

Our course only has 10 spots, so make sure to claim yours!
What’s included
  • 8 week intensive training program
  • 10 companies max
  • 1-on-1 coaching
  • Learning by doing
For business

€5.000 p.p. (VAT excl.)
€7.500 for 2 people from the same team  (VAT excl.)

Book your spot!

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Frequently Asked Questions

Still have questions?

Can’t find the answer you’re looking for? Don't hesitate to get in touch!

The position for Circular Innovation Manager does not exist at my company

Don't worry, that's exactly why we've made this skill course.

In the course we'll help you in defining what you as Circular Innovation Manager could do to bring the circular economy to the heart of your company.

Not only will you develop a circular business case, you'll also learn along the way what circular strategies exist, get insights in material and technology innovations, and map out different ways to make impact in your company in both the short and long term.

Basically you're not only designing your own circular business case, you're also defining your role in making impact happen at your company.

How do the workshops work?

Before the skill course starts, you will receive everything you need to both translate the content to your own context (reflection tools), but also (more importantly) everything you need to facilitate the workshops at your company that will help you in building your circular business case.

Practically this means that before the workshop starts, you will receive templates, tools, pens, sticky notes physically on your desk, but we’ll also provide you with all the digital content (slide-decks, templates as pdfs, agenda & timing…) to make sure that the only thing you have to worry about is getting the right people from your company to join the workshop.

In our video’s we’ll not only share with you the theoretical side of the workshops, but we’ll also give you all our tips & tricks we’ve gathered from hosting workshops and sessions for more than 150 companies.

What if a direct competitor also joins the course?

To make sure you don’t get in conflict with confidentiality, we have a policy that we only allow 2 participants that are direct competitors in the skill course at each run, and we will not group them in the same peer-review group. That way you will not know from each other what competitor has joined.

If on the other hand your company would like to keep everything that comes out of the course confidential by default, you can also choose to opt out from the peer reviewing part of the course. We do not recommend this however since it’s the part of the course where you’ll get the most direct feedback from people who are encountering similar challenges.

Can I join as a corporate intrapreneur, start-up, or one-man-army?

If you would like to join our program as a start-up or scale-up or as part of an intrapreneur track in your company, please ensure that you have a high level of engagement from others.

You will need to gather a diverse group of individuals with different backgrounds, including those with experience in sales, strategy, marketing, and engineering, who are willing to participate actively in the feedback process and workshops.

It is important to note that the success of this program depends heavily on the diversity of its participants. By bringing together individuals with different backgrounds and experiences, you can build a more dynamic and innovative group that can better address the challenges of today's business landscape.

How many people of my team can join?

The course was created to ensure that you can confidently host all workshops to design your circular business case by yourself. However, having an additional participant can provide you with a extra perspectives and insights that you may not have considered before.

If you would like to join with a partner or colleague, we encourage you to do so. In fact, we offer a special discount for the second participant. By enrolling together, you can both benefit from the course and its resources at a reduced cost. If you would like to join with 2 people, the second participant can join at half the price (making it € 7.500,00 in total for both). Don't hesitate to take advantage of this offer and bring someone along with you!

How much of my time will this course take?

We want to emphasize that this course requires a high level of engagement. The program is purposefully designed to be dense and fast-paced, lasting only 8 weeks, in order to maintain strong momentum. During this time, we expect you to commit to approximately 1-1.5 days of engagement per week.

Your responsibilities will include reviewing course videos, reflecting on them personally, applying your learnings in workshops, and providing feedback in both peer-to-peer and one-on-one review sessions.

We have designed the course to be tightly structured because time is the biggest cost in innovation. Our goal is to demonstrate the power of closely following and understanding a high-paced innovation process, in which you can develop great new ideas and concepts within just 8 weeks.

Who do I have to engage in these workshops?

Once enrolled in the course, we will send you a clear call-sheet with all dates, deadlines, and who to invite for what part of the process. The course is build up out of 3 workshops, a market validation and a pre-pitching of your business case:

  1. Workshop 1: Wat does impact mean for us: For this short (1,5 hours) workshop, you will need to gather a group of about 5 people with different roles in the company, but who all can influence or at least have a good insight in the company strategy (both current and future). Ideally these people are also invested in the topic of sustainability and impact.
  2. Workshop 2: Exploring circular business patterns: This is a half day, high-paced, very strategic workshop for about 6-7 participants. Try to get people on board with a strong strategic role in the company, from different business units or department, and who dare to push the boundaries of what our company does today.
  3. Workshop 3: Concept development: Again a half-day high-paced workshop, albeit a bit more operational than the previous one. Again for 6-7 participants ideally. Try to get a good mix of previous participants with a high engagement, and 1 or 2 new faces with fresh ideas who you know will bring a positive, constructive energy to the table.‍
  4. Market validation: You could run the market validation on your own, but often times your marketing and sales team will have good insights on your customers, suppliers and behaviour. Try to include them in this!‍
  5. Pre-pitching: Not obligatory, but it could help to broaden the support base for your business case to pre-pitch the final circular business case to the participants of the workshops to show them how their input helped in shaping a sustainable, circular future opportunity for their company.
Do I get (online) access to the content after the masterclass?

Yes, we’ve developed a custom learning platform where you will be able to access all learning loops and find all course material. You’ll also find a link there to all templates used, extra brainstorm cases and additional inspiration sources to learn from.

We believe that if you buy something you should always have access to it, so even if you have finished the course, you will always keep this access to all the content.

Can I host a skill course program for my own network?

Yes.
For network organizations we offer the skill course as a package you can bring to your own network members.

If it's a local network we might even be able to host the lectures and/or peer-to-peer sessions offline!

Get in touch with us to hear what's possible!

What do I need to know about circular economy and innovation beforehand?

Nothing. We’ll give you a good insight in what it is and how it works. Please note that this course is not designed as a masterclass on Circular Economy. There will still be enough to discover about it afterwards.

Our goal is to teach you how to implement Circular Economy and actively engage with it at the core of your company. This course is designed for those who want to put the theory into practice, not just become experts on the subject. While there are many people talking about Circular Economy, this course is for those who want to do it.

Once I’ve finished the course, what’s next?

Once you’ve finished the course, you will have a better view on what making impact and the circular economy could mean for you and your job, and also understand what opportunities lie in applying it in your company.

You will have all the tools and knowledge to host innovation sprints at your company, pushing the strategic agenda, and making the company more resilient and future-proof.

KMO groeisubsidie (VLAIO)

For people in Flanders there’s an interesting subsidy called the “KMO groeisubsidie” by VLAIO. This course can be entered in that subsidy call as external strategic guidance, especially when hiring a new profile to bring the circular economy to the core of your company and building the business models and making the strategic decisions for that.

Still have questions?

Can’t find the answer you’re looking for? Please chat to our friendly team.