The relevance of circular economy, in these days where the environmental impact and toll of humans’ activities is undeniable, grows steadily. Circular economy, founded on three basic principles, advocates for all materials to be kept in use for as long as possible. This takes a concrete shape, for example, in the importance of recycling materials.
However, recycling materials can be a trickier business than one might think. Nowadays materials are so complex and specialized, that recycling them properly requires precise knowledge of their composition and content. In a way, then, it can be argued that the exchange of this knowledge, from material manufacturers to recyclers, is a core enabler of circular economy. As information exchanges happen mostly digital, data becomes then the key asset in this depicted scenario.
Data exchanges are as well not an easy feat. Looking only at a business to business market, several obstacles refrain companies from sharing data more liberally. For once, openly sharing data exposes companies to threats from competitors and losses in their negotiating power.
Circularise, the start-up this project has been developed for, has come up with a technical solution for a data exchange system that relies on a distributed ledger. Thanks to their technological protocol, circularise can enable secure collaboration between material manufacturers and the rest of the supply chain, all the way to recyclers.
Despite the technological feasibility of the protocol, Circularise is struggling with finding clients. Currently the start-up has developed a value proposition that caters mainly towards material manufacturers and, as a consequence, material manufacturers are the only paying customer segment for them. In order for the protocol to have an effective impact and benefit on circular economy activities, expanding the client range is necessary for Circularise. This can be accomplished by expanding the start-up’s business model portfolio, so to speak. This means running two different business models at the same time, one being the existing one, catering to material manufacturers, and another one ensuring that a new customer segment receives an offer worth paying for.
This is the opportunity this project is built around. In the course of this graduation project a digital platform has being design and is explained in this report, together with a new business model for Circularise to cater to automotive OEMs with a tailored offer.

This project is executed on behalf of House of Denim; a non-profit organisation that wants to work towards a more sustainable, innovative and collaborative denim industry. Due to the fast-fashion phenomenon and our linear economic model, there is a growing demand for and pressure on cotton. This, combined with the increasing amount of clothes that are discarded and collected, asks for a systemic change: to work towards a more circular system. Since Amsterdam is internationally known as the jeans capital of Europe, the Dutch government wants to strive towards a circular denim industry in the Netherlands and involved House of Denim to work towards this goal. Increasing the use of post-consumer recycled cotton in denim production is defined as the first step. Increasing the use of recycled cotton in denim production is a complex systemic challenge. Designing for this challenge, asks for a systemic and holistic approach to be able to have a deep understanding of the current system and its complexity. Therefore this project is executed with a relatively new design approach: Systems Oriented Design (SOD). The project can serve as an example in incorporating systemic ways of designing in an educational programme. The main research question in this project is defined as: How can the demand for post-consumer recycled cotton in jeans production, started from within the Netherlands, be increased by triggering the key actor(s) or interaction(s) within the cycle? The research consisted mainly of interviews with experts of different parts of the value chain. By getting to know the different points of view, knowledge about the difficulties in producing and using PCR cotton, the role of all actors and the relations between the actors is gained. Three key problems are defined. 1. Brands have a negative perception of PCR denim. They perceive it as difficult, expensive and low quality fabric. 2. In order to work with PCR cotton, individual brands are given a complicated logistical challenge that results in a time consuming and expensive process. 3. The use of PCR fabric is not adopted as a common practice due to the lacking supply and demand of the fabric. Recycled denim products are not conventional in the shops and consumers do not actively demand it. The concept presented in this project is the Dutch Denim Programme. 
The Dutch Denim Programme is a collaborative and action-oriented program to work towards a Bright Blue loop: a circular denim industry in the Netherlands. The Dutch Denim Programme (DDP) helps brands to raise the demand for recycled cotton by stimulating them and facilitating a collaborative value chain. By setting up the network and initiating the material flow, the DDP will push participants to develop new recycled denim fabrics. Besides that, the DDP will launch the Bright Blue Loop label: a label for denim fabrics and products that contain 20% Dutch recycled cotton. By showing a joint effort, the industry can push the government to incentivize the use of recycled cotton. If the key-actors would participate in the Dutch Denim Programme, House of Denim would be able to realize a growth in the use of recycled cotton in denim production, which would reduce the environmental impact of the highly polluting denim industry.

One in four people in the world will be affected by mental or neurological disorders at some point in their lives (WHO, 2001). Around 450 million people currently suffer from such conditions, placing mental disorders among the leading causes of ill- health and disability worldwide, in particular in low-income countries, where many barriers to receiving support exist (WHO, 2001). Inuka is a social enterprise spun out from Philips that aims at tackling Mental Health by making psychological support more accessible, affordable, anonymous and qualified. Inuka offers life coaching via confidential chats on smartphones. On one side, Inuka trains and supervises lay health workers in delivering a Behavioral- Cognitive-Therapy method. On the other side, Inuka connects them with distressed clients that want to be supported in facing life challenges, through an online platform. To achieve further social impact, Inuka aims to scale out to new geographic, social and cultural contexts, starting from the Church context. As a matter of fact, distressed individuals, in particular in Africa, seek psychological support in religious leaders as one of the first touchpoints. Starting by translating Inuka to the Church context in Kenya (Inuka Faith), where part of Inuka team is based, this thesis aims to provide the company with a framework to support their future scaling-out processes. Drawing from literature research on scaling social enterprises and adapting Evidence-based interventions to new locations, a framework to adapt Inuka current service to the characteristics of a new context was designed. The framework was tested and iterated on by applying it to the Church context in Kenya. Three main iterations were carried on, one of which entails field research in Nairobi, where the author stayed for 4 weeks. The objectives of the field trip were to better understand the context, its stakeholders and target users and to set the ground for an actual implementation. The adaptation process proposed in the final framework entails three phases (“Assess the new context“, “Validate Inuka Value Hypothesis“ and “Adapt variable components“), is preceded by a phase that unlocks those three (“Assess Inuka’s resources“) and followed by the implementation and evaluation of a pilot. For each phase, Inuka team should assess whether it is reasonable to think that the phase is completed (and therefore go to the next phase), if it is better to pivot on that phase, or if advisable to stop the scaling out process to the new chosen context. The final framework does not aim to be a strict guide to be literally followed, but to provide the company with relevant elements that should be kept in mind and methods the company could use. The application of the designed framework to Inuka Faith case allowed to unveil barriers to its adoption by potential customers and new opportunities. For this reason, the framework is expected to achieve the same outcome when applied to other contexts. This is due to the twofold nature of the framework. On one side, the systematic nature of the framework allows Inuka team to easily appropriate it and to follow its steps, keeping in mind the aspects that turned out to be the most relevant when conducting Inuka Faith case. On the other side, its user-centered nature allows to carry on an adaptation to a new context that is deeply rooted in the users’ and in the stakeholders’ needs, wants and characteristics. With an adaptation based on the characteristics of the new context, Inuka is likely to succeed in the new context.