SCIGC Circular Economy Symposium
Closing the loop through sustainable material, technology & business
Circular Economy Symposium: Sustainable Material & Design
“Closing the Loop through Sustainable Material, Technology & Business”
Hosted by the Stanford Center at the Incheon Global Campus
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*Zoom link will be provided before the event
*Offline participation is limited to 45 people
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In 2021, we are experiencing an unprecedented time of transformation in terms of our society, economy, and environment. In this symposium, we will imagine the future and discuss how Circular Economy is going to evolve. We aim to address the questions regarding the evolution of Circular Economy.
We will host participants around the world and open a platform to discuss a future together. |
Speakers
Matthew Kanan, Professor, Stanford University
Matt Kanan is an Associate Professor in the Department of Chemistry and Director of the TomKat Center for Sustainable Energy at Stanford. Prior to joining Stanford in 2009, he did his Ph.D. studies in organic chemistry at Harvard and postdoctoral research at MIT in inorganic chemistry.
Matt’s research addresses challenges in catalysis and synthetic chemistry with applications in energy conversion, sustainable resource utilization, carbon negative technology, and human health. His group has invented processes that utilize CO2 to streamline the synthesis of commodity chemicals and polymers, discovered catalysts that improve the efficiency of sustainable fuel synthesis, pioneered new design principles for heterogeneous catalysis, and developed new technology for ammonia detection.
Matt is a co-founder of ReSource Chemical Corp., a venture-backed start-up commercializing the production of plastics made from CO2 and inedible biomass, and Aza Technology, a start-up commercializing the first point-of-care blood ammonia monitoring device. His keynote talk will focus on the technology of making plastics from truly sustainable feedstocks and the importance of commercializing environmentally benign materials to spark sustainable innovation.
“Better Plastic Made from Truly Sustainable Feedstocks”
Plastics are indispensable for nearly every major industry, but their accumulation in nature and emissions-intensive production have sparked demand for environmentally benign alternatives. To be viable on a meaningful scale, replacements for conventional plastic cannot sacrifice performance. ReSource has created technology to produce the first commodity plastic that is made from truly sustainable feedstocks yet outperforms conventional materials and has a favorable end-of-use profile. Our first product is a platform chemical called FDCA, which is a replacement for the petrochemical known as PTA that is used to make polyester plastics. More than 50 million tons of PTA are produced annually, resulting in >100 million tons GHG emissions each year. Polyester represents a >$100B industry, with applications spanning packaging, bottles and fibers. Polyesters made using FDCA have superior gas barrier, thermal, and mechanical properties compared to conventional polyesters, which translates into better performance with less plastic. FDCA-based polyesters are also 100% recyclable, industrially compostable, and degrade much faster than conventional polyester if accidentally released into the environment. The commercialization of these materials has been impeded by the high complexity and cost of conventional technologies for making FDCA, all of which source FDCA from edible sugar. ReSource’s technology produces FDCA from CO2 and inedible biomass and eliminates two thirds of the process steps, resulting in dramatically reduced production cost that enables market penetration for high volume applications. In addition to favorable economics, we make it possible to produce FDCA with negative emissions.
Suyeol Hong, Chief Researcher, Resource Recycling Consulting
Suyeol Hong majored in Asian History at Seoul National University and completed his master's and doctorate degree at the Graduate School of Environment. Actively pursuing in-depth research and educational activities in waste management, he worked for the Korea Zero Waste Movement Network from 2001 to 2012 and has been leading the Resource Recycling Consulting Research Center since 2014. He runs his YouTube channel “Help Me Waste Expert” with the Seoul Federation for Environmental Movement and authored his book "That's not trash" (2020, Slobi). His keynote talk will highlight the concept and global trends of the circular economy and the tasks and implications for the implementation of the circular economy.
Eunjung Kim, CEO, Rewind
As a graphic designer and lettering artist, Eunjung Kim has authored several books and has experience as a lecturer. She created Calli-cycling artworks, which are lettering artworks made out of recycled materials. While she was pursuing her master’s degree in Green Design at Kookmin University, she realized the importance of life cycle transformation beyond the realm of fine arts. With this realization, she established Rewind Co., Ltd., in 2019, a social venture that creates a cradle-to-cradle solution for sustainable disposables and also runs a company-affiliated research institute in "sustainable design". Her keynote talk will explore ways to resource and compost in order to build a circular economy through sustainable disposable packaging.
Minjeong Kim, Merchandising Manager, Patagonia Korea
Minjeong Kim majored in Clothing and Business Administration at Kyungpook National University, and worked as a product planning merchandiser for ‘Maru Innerwear’ at the fashion brand Codez Combine. Currently, she has been working as a merchandising manager at Patagonia Korea for 11 years, a fashion brand that places sustainability as its core value. In order to minimize environmental damage, Patagonia pays close attention to making products from materials that are recyclable and durable that can be worn for a long time. In this presentation, with the theme of 'sustainable merchandising', introduces changes in the materials used at Patagonia and changes in the way products are consumed.
Sunzoo Park, Designer, KOLON RE;CODE
Sunzoo Park majored in Clothing & Textiles at Kyungpook National University. She joined Kolon in 2004 and is now the head of design for RE;CODE, Kolon's conscious brand that focuses on fulfilling its environmental and social responsibilities. RE;CODE is a brand that strives to help customers build a better relationship with the world through fashion with the belief that the daily act of wearing clothes can be a value practice for society and the environment. In this presentation, she will talk about her experiences as a leader who has been collaborating with various fields such as upcycling product design and related exhibitions at RE;CODE for 9 years, as well as product manufacturing process, and brand role and future as a “Cool Consciousness Seeker.”
Jeongche Yoon, General Manager, KLIO Design
After an internship in future mobility research at the Volkswagen Group headquarters and in the field of personalized product design at Opel, a GM design center in Europe, Jeongche Yoon worked as an automotive designer at GM design center in Korea since 2011 and contributed to the design development of mass-produced design such as Chevrolet, Buick, and Opel. As a founding member of KLIO which is a design and consulting specialized company in 2011, he is currently performing one-stop service from future mobility prior design to prototyping as a design partner of Hyundai, Daelim, DY, Unmanned Solution, etc. From 2021, he was a person in charge of managing R&D business and operating makerspace MecaLab in Uiwang, Korea. Under the featuring theme of sustainable mobility design, his keynote talk will explore sustainable solutions for the mobility industry that has undergone new challenges and suggest the role of resource circulation ecosystem and design that can be implemented through local makerspaces.
Halin Lee & Eunji Jun, Co-Founder, WKND Lab
Harlin Lee majored in visual design at Korea National University of Arts and Eunji Jun majored in product design at HSLU in Switzerland. The WKND Lab, which was established from ideas exchanged through video conferencing in Korea and Switzerland every weekend, is a design studio that practices sustainable designs with the motto of ‘Materials for tomorrow’. Their work field varies from material research, object, to furniture design. They pursue design with material-driven narratives to tell their philosophy about relationships between design, humans, and nature. Their keynote talk will share what they are working on and sustainable and eco-friendly lifestyle as a designer in the 21st century beyond developing and designing materials.
Christian Theusen, Professor, Technical University of Denmark
Christian Thuesen is Associate Professor in project and construction management at the Technical University of Denmark (DTU) and has been a Fulbright scholar at UC Berkeley and Stanford. He has worked with projects for more than 20 years as lecturer, researcher, and consultant in various engineering settings, including construction and IT. This has sparked his fundamental research interest in the role of projects as vehicle for industrial and societal change but also more broadly in projects role in today’s society – as a human condition. To pursue this agenda he co-founded DTUs ProjectLab (www.doing-projects.org) which he currently directs. His current research develops a research agenda on the transformation of the construction industry towards sustainability, leveraging developing digital capabilities.
“Construction Transformation towards Circular Economy”
The construction sector has been key in building our modern societies, and today increasing population and urbanization create global demand for construction. But in absolute measures, current construction practices are unsustainable as these contribute to the exceedance of absolute environmental boundaries and resource supply horizons. Thus, these cannot be considered blueprints for the rise of the developing world.
To improve the sustainable impact of construction, we must transform the practices of our industry towards a circular economy targeting four prioritized societal challenges:
- Climate challenge: Reduce the GHG emissions to the lowest possible
- Resource challenge: Material scarcity and waste handling for reuse
- Value challenge: Limited value delivery
- Social challenge: Shaping (future) demands from users and employees
Circular construction practices seek to address these challenges through improved resource efficiency fostered by increasing circularity in processes and materials within the AEC(Architecture, Engineering and Construction) industry. This talk presents the current “state of play” on transforming the Danish AEC industry towards circularity and discuss the implications for the clients, architects, advisors, contractors and suppliers.
Anne Catherine, Investment Manager, Bestseller Foundation
With a background in International Business and Politics, Anne Cathrine Garde has worked in the sustainability and international development field for more than 10 years. Anne Cathrine worked at PwC, initially in the Sustainability Consulting practice and lastly in the Corporate Finance (M&A) practice to transition herself into impact investing. She is currently working as an Investment Manager at the BESTSELLER Foundation, investing in circular economy companies in Sub-Saharan Africa. Her keynote talk will share early observations from the deployment of a circular economy investment strategy and showcase how finance and an ecosystem approach are needed to close the loops in emerging markets.
“Early-stage Investing in the Circular Economy – An Emerging Market Perspective”
Increasingly adopted as a powerful framework to address the world’s most intractable challenges, the transition towards the circular economy is well underway. In parallel, the finance sector is responding to this shift with the deployment of sustainable investment strategies. During the last few years there has been a proliferation of investors deploying the circular economy as a framework for making investment decisions across many asset classes. While for some investors the adoption of these strategies is a matter of de-risking, early-stage capital is also particularly well suited for catalyzing breakthrough innovations for the circular economy. This is particularly interesting in emerging markets, where many countries have no linear economy lock-in – representing a timely opportunity to leapfrog, meanwhile addressing the growing challenges arising in the wake of megatrends like resource scarcity, rapid urbanization and demographic changes. This presentation, informed by the work of the BESTSELLER FOUNDATION, will share early observations from the deployment of a circular economy investment strategy and showcase how an ecosystem approach is needed to close the loops in emerging markets. Finance can play a decisive role in catalyzing and supporting the shift towards a circular economy. However, it is clear that far more capital is needed to address the world’s most pressing challenges and thus bringing attention to the financial “early adopters” is an important step in attracting more capital to build on this momentum.
Organizers
Circular Economy Symposium
Stanford Center at the Incheon Global Campus, #4019
119 Songdo Munhwa-ro, Yeonsu-gu, Incheon, South Korea
Zoom link will be provided to registered guests closer to the date
Stanford Center at Incheon Global CampusStanford Center at Incheon Global Campus (SCIGC) is a global community of scholars and practitioners focused on. Our research focuses on the key aspects of sustainability and smart cities on a global scale. In this symposium, we plan to gather various attendees from Stanford affiliated faculty, academic partners worldwide, and corporate partners, incorporating different cultural perspectives that increase the chances of breakthrough innovation in Circular Economy. Through our center, we aim to develop a community bridging a variety of social entities across countries and disciplines. |
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