Nearly 300 entrants from 45 countries competed for recognition of their
circular economy achievements and innovations
DAVOS, Switzerland -- (Business Wire)
The World
Economic Forum and the Forum of Young Global Leaders, in
collaboration with Accenture
(NYSE:ACN), awarded The Circulars at the Annual Meeting of the World
Economic Forum in Davos-Klosters. The awards recognize individuals and
organizations that have made notable contributions to the circular
economy. Accenture sees the circular economy as a way to harness
innovative and disruptive technologies to move beyond the linear models
of take, make, waste. Circular models emphasize decoupling scarce or
harmful natural resources from growth and jobs, and delivering value to
consumers and citizens in the global economy.
The Circulars fourth annual awards ceremony showcased advances from the
private and public sectors as well as civil society that drive
innovation and growth while reducing dependence on scarce natural
resources.
The seven Circulars were awarded as follows:
The Fortune Award for Circular Economy Leadership: Frans van
Houten, CEO, Philips, for leading the transformation of Philips into
a circular company by shifting its business model, moving from selling
equipment alone to providing solutions to customers, and sharing risk
for results through long-term partnerships. Franz is also co-chair of
the World Economic Forum Platform to Accelerate the Circular Economy and
he strongly advocates the circular business and industry opportunity,
and challenges organizations to operationalize these principles to
deliver tangible impact.
The Accenture
Strategy Award for Circular Economy Multinational:IKEA,
for working with a circular model in all aspects of their company’s
operations. From developing products and their supply chain, sourcing
and mapping material in their business, implementing circular design
principles, and adapting their model to meet their customers’ demands.
The Young Global Leaders Award for Circular Economy SME (Small to
Medium Size Enterprise): Apto Solutions, for providing a wide range
of services to help companies close the loop on electronic waste,
including lifecycle asset management, responsible IT recycling, facility
and data center consolidations, cloud migrations, repair and
refurbishing, total device management solutions (TDM), as well as
logistics, technology decommissioning and project management services.
The Award for Circular Economy Public Sector: Sitra, for playing
a key role in accelerating circular economy, and leading the building of
the ground-breaking Circular Economy Road Map for Finland 2016-2025,
which incorporated circular economy education across 1,500 elementary
schools and 50 high schools. Sitra also created the concept for and
hosted the first World Circular Economy Forum in 2017, co-organized
together with partners including the Nordic Council of Ministers, Ellen
MacArthur Foundation, European Commission, UN Environment, and other
very important partners.
The CNBC Award for Circular Economy Investor:ABN AMRO Bank NV,
for being at the forefront of circular finance, and using their circular
experts and relationship managers to work together in agile teams to
understand and enable financing of new business models emerging from the
principles of the circular economy.
The Ecolab Award for Circular Economy Digital Disruptor:AMP
Robotics, for successfully developing a new kind of sorting
technology for recycling facilities: Cortex robot. The Cortex can
automate the separation of waste with practically no retrofit or change
to existing operations. Cortex robots are powered by Neuron, the
artificial intelligence that perceives material in the dirty, commingled
conditions found in facilities today.
The Dell Circular Economy People’s Choice Award: Banyan Nation,
is India’s first vertically integrated recycling company, using data
intelligence to integrate a largely informal supply chain to maximize
plastics recovery and reuse. To date, Banyan has recycled more than
seven million pounds of plastics and integrated more than 2000 informal
sector waste workers in their value chain.
“Across the globe we continue to face the need to create growth, jobs
and a thriving global economy within the boundaries of sustainable
development. This is why The Circulars are more timely than ever with an
aim of identifying the organizations and individuals leading this
movement through innovation, growth and competitiveness,” said Peter
Lacy, senior managing director, Accenture
Strategy. “Accenture is pleased to play a key role in identifying
these organizations and individuals by recognizing those who are using
disruptive technologies and business models to address some of the most
pressing challenges our world is facing and at the same time turning
them into real opportunity.”
This year The Circulars attracted 296 entries from 45 countries. The
judging panel was drawn from the Young Global Leader community of the
World Economic Forum and leading experts across business and civil
society. In addition to Accenture Strategy, The Circulars are sponsored
by Dell and Ecolab, with CNBC and Fortune Magazine engaged as media
partners.
“As advancements in the circular economy continue to disrupt old-school
ideologies, The Circulars lead the way in identifying those
transformational businesses and individuals who through digital
connectivity, industrial design and progressive concepts have
contributed in a significant and positive way to the environment and to
economic growth,” said Antonia Gawal, Head of Circular Economy
Initiative, World Economic Forum. “The Circulars remain an important
initiative of the World Economic Forum and the Forum of Young Global
Leaders to celebrate such trailblazing innovation and impact.”
About Accenture
Accenture is a leading global professional services company, providing a
broad range of services and solutions in strategy, consulting, digital,
technology and operations. Combining unmatched experience and
specialized skills across more than 40 industries and all business
functions – underpinned by the world’s largest delivery network –
Accenture works at the intersection of business and technology to help
clients improve their performance and create sustainable value for their
stakeholders. With approximately 435,000 people serving clients in more
than 120 countries, Accenture drives innovation to improve the way the
world works and lives. Visit us at www.accenture.com.
Accenture Strategy operates at the intersection of business and
technology. We bring together our capabilities in business, technology,
operations and function strategy to help our clients envision and
execute industry-specific strategies that support enterprise wide
transformation. Our focus on issues related to digital disruption,
competitiveness, global operating models, talent and leadership help
drive both efficiencies and growth. For more information, follow @AccentureStrat
or visit www.accenture.com/strategy
About the Forum of Young Global Leaders
Established in 2004 by Professor Klaus Schwab, The Forum of Young Global
Leaders is a unique, multi-stakeholder community of the world’s most
extraordinary young leaders who dedicate a part of their time to jointly
address global challenges and who are committed to devote part of their
knowledge and energy to collectively work towards a better future.
Together the Young Global Leaders work to discover innovative solutions
to today’s most pressing problems through various initiatives and
workstreams, as well as catalyzing the next generation of leaders. Find
out more at: http://www.weforum.org/community/forum-young-global-leaders
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tourang.nazari@accenture.com
Source: Accenture
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