Circular Economy - A game changer for the wood building industry

The overall goal for the project “Circular Economy – A Game Changer for the Wood Building Industry” is to boost regional companies competitiveness on the international market by initiating new technologies, networks and business ecosystems. The project will contribute to the EU Interreg Botnia-Atlantica business priority and offers an increased capacity for cross-border business cooperation for companies within the construction and property management industry. The project main goal is to support our regions SMEs in overcoming common barriers when trying to adopt circular business models.

Over the next 10 years, the demand for global construction is expected to increase by 70 %. This is a challenge in a world where more and more resources are becoming scarce. In addition to constructing new, there is also an urgent need to upgrade the existing building stock. Thus, it is a burning issue to develop new models and practices for the construction industry in order to prepare the trade for the future. Circular economy is an industrial system that replaces the traditional linear business model with a circular one. For companies this means introducing new business models based on repair, reuse, refurbishing, remanufacturing and recycling. For customers this means replacement of worn products with sustainable products or services.

Duration: 2018 - 2020
Main funding: EU Interreg Botnia-Atlantica
Partners: Novia University of Applied Sciences from Vaasa (leading partner), Tampere University of Technology/School of Architecture/Seinäjoki Urban Laboratory, Seinäjoki University of Applied Sciences, Umeå University/Department of Applied Physics and Electronics and Umeå University/Umeå School of Business and Economics.