Interregional Meeting 2 - Liege, Belgium
Innovation through design in Wallonia: Welcoming a European delegation
Wallonie Design is a partner in the Interreg Europe project Design Collaboration for Sustainable Business (DeCo). This project aims to exchange best practices in circular design and manufacturing between seven European regions, located in Finland, the Czech Republic, Croatia, Spain, Poland, Greece and Belgium.
In this context, we have welcomed a delegation of representatives from these regions to showcase companies and design studios as well as projects by Walloon operators who are putting the expertise, tools and methods of design at the service of the transition to a circular economy.
DeCo partners visiting Liege - Picture: Tommi Mustaniemi
Day 1
Participants were welcomed at the Design Station (Liège) for a morning of talks. After a presentation of Wallonie Design by Clio Brzakala, director, Chloé Hanin and Adeline Gommet, SPW attachés, presented the specific Circular Wallonia actions linked to design, such as CIRCO Hub Wallonie, Circular Design in Plastics and Design & Circular Economy
Sara Boxus, Design and Circular Economy Project Leader at Wallonie Design, presented the specific added value of designers' expertise in circular economy projects, as well as concrete applications in Walloon SMEs and through company support: Innovation tracks and Circular Explore
Finally, Geneviève Halin, Circular Economy Expert at EcoRes, ended the morning with an introduction to the Eco-design checklist, an environmental assessment tool developed by Karine Van Doorsselaer (UAntwerp).
Before setting off on their tour, participants were also able to visit the texlab - Wallonie Design's textile prototyping space.
"Introduction" by Head of Wallonie Design, Clio Brzakala - Picture: Tommi Mustaniemi
DeCo partners and stakeholders listening about Regional circular economy strategy - "Circular Wallonia" by Chloé Hanin - Picture: Tommi Mustaniemi
The afternoon focused on two company visits: iol Strategic Design and Schréder.
Iol Strategic Design, an industrial design studio, presented their expertise and various projects relating to the circular economy. Like design expertise, circularity needs to be integrated as early as possible in the product and service development process. Participants then had the opportunity to see prototypes of various projects and ask questions to the designers.
Schréder presented their strategy for extending the life of their products and improving their repair and recycling, in order to reduce their environmental impact. The company has even developed eco-design guidelines that must be applied to every new product development.
Visiting company iol Strategic Design and learning about their industrial design strategy - Picture: Tommi Mustaniemi
Presentation of the strategy and projects regarding circularity by Jean-Luc Lambert of Schréder - Picture: Tommi Mustaniemi
Day 2
We headed to Bois-de-Villers for a day at Stûv showroom, starting with a presentation of the company and its positioning in terms of sustainability (local sourcing and production, development of technology aimed at the energy performance of products, reparability, etc.) by CEO Jean-François Sidler, followed by a tour of the production site. Design is at the heart of the company's values, enabling them to anticipate user needs and stand out from the competition.
Laetitia Zacheo, Circular Project Manager (Pôle Mecatech), presented the support and guidance provided to companies in connection with the circular economy and eco-design: the CIRCO Hub wallon, Proof Of Circularity (POC) and Factory 5.0 (CAP Impact Program).
The second day ended with Yaprak Hamarat, designer at the EU Policy Lab Design (European Commission), explaining how to apply design methods and tools to the implementation of public policies at European level. Participants were able to discover the work carried out by EU Policy Lab designers in harmonising waste sorting labels.
Learning about Stûv and their approach to strategy and projects regarding circularity and how design help them stand out from the concurrence - with Jean-François Sidler (CEO) - Picture: Tommi Mustaniemi
Getting to know the design methods and tools at EU level from Yaprak Hamarat, Ph.D. - "Design for Policy" Joint Research Centre - European Commission - Picture: Tommi Mustaniemi
During these two days of visits and meetings, the European partners were able to discover a sample of the projects combining design and circular economy that are being implemented in our region, and perhaps take some inspiration from them!
The next interregional visit will be organised by the Regional Development Fund of Central Macedonia and the International University and will take place in Thessaloniki (Greece). We'll be sure to let you know about it.
Article written by Cécilia Rigaux and Sara Boxus (Wallonie Design)
with the support of the Interreg Europe project DeCo