In English



Circulation economy in craft sector: Creative capacities promoting economic restructuring towards resource wisdom


According to Sitra, the circular economy focuses on reusing materials and value, and on creating added value in products through services and smart solutions. The resource wisdom is the ability to use different resources intelligent way while supporting wealth and sustainable development. The resource wisdom promotes circulation economy and use of renewable energy sources as well as decrease the use of non-renewable resources. This project aims to tackle with the promotion of resource wisdom in creative crafts, especially in clothing, textiles, carpenter and furniture.

Globally, there is growing interest towards more sustainable craft products in the markets. However, the use of bio- based, peat based and recycled material in creative sector has been modest. This is due to a variety of reasons. Firstly, the potentials of novel materials - based on renewable resources, industrial by-products or peat - are only little known. Secondly, the craft people are not familiar with the properties and the applicable working techniques suitable for these materials. Thirdly, the enterprises using more sustainable materials, often lack skills to industrialize the production and to enlarge the business.

In this project, the circulation economy capacities of creative sectors are promoted by combining education with knowledge promotion and experiences of more sustainable materials as well as capitalizing innovative business models benefitting cross-sectoral entrepreneurial cooperation. This is carried out by contributing the dual capacities and cooperation of the staffs of educational institutions, regional SMEs, potential entrepreneurs as well as students.
The advantages of this learning process are:
  • The understanding of the potential and opportunities of circulation economy and resource wisdom is promoted among the target group.
  • The material knowhow of more sustainable materials is exceeded by knowledge sharing and upgrading as well as through practical experiments and experiences.
  • The cross-sectoral working method of innovation development and industrializing process is developed and applied.
  • The entrepreneurship track and coaching method are constituted and experimented among students, young professionals and entrepreneurs.
  • The novel innovations and products are breed.
  • The results of learnings and findings of the project are widely disseminated.

The creative sector as well as bio-economy are in the focus of regional development. This project is carried out by Creative Campus of The Jyväskylä Educational Consortium (JEC) and JAMK University of Applied Sciences as well as regional creative sector stakeholders. The Creative Campus locates in Kangas that is the main urban development project in Jyväskylä for the next several decades. It is an area that hosts business entities, and a place for new ideas, businesses and innovations. In the future it will host 5 000 inhabitants and more than 2 000 new jobs.
Teksti Kirsi Knuuttila, Project Manager at JAMK University of Applied Sciences