In recent years, the concept of a circular Sustainable development conference sessions economy has evolved from a promising sustainability buzz-word into a powerful Sustainable development conference sessions strategic framework for businesses, governments and communities. But as we move ahead, the imperative goes beyond closing the loop on resource flows: we must shift towards creating circular impact — business models that generate measurable value across environmental, social and economic dimensions, while scaling sustainably. This session, “From Circular Economy to Circular Impact: Next-Gen Sustainable Business Models,” invites thought-leaders, innovators and practitioners to explore how organisations can operationalise circularity at scale, transform value chains, and embed purpose at the heart of business strategy.
The session will examine how the classic circular economy pillars — designing out waste & pollution, keeping products and materials in use, regenerating natural systems — are being translated into next-generation business models that move from incremental improvements to system-wide transformation. Participants will engage in discussion around what it takes to turn circular design into circular impact: devising metrics and business cases that internalise externalities; deploying digital technologies and enabling infrastructure; re-imagining partnerships across sectors; and shifting organisational mind-sets from linear-growth to regenerative thinking.
Why This Matters for ICSIFT 2025
At ICSIFT 2025, the conference’s major themes of sustainability, innovation and future technologies are front and centre. According to the conference overview, key focus areas include circular economy, smart cities, green technology innovation and sustainable development goals. ICSIFT+1 Our session links directly to the “Circular Economy” segment and furthers it: moving from conceptual adoption to real world impact. It fits especially well on Day 2 of the conference agenda, which includes a keynote on circular economy (as listed in the schedule). ICSIFT Attendees will include researchers, industry professionals, entrepreneurs and policy-makers — all of whom must grapple with how to embed circularity into business models that deliver measurable impact.
Key Questions
The session will be structured around several core questions:
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What constitutes a “circular business model” today, and how is it evolving into a “circular impact model”?
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How can businesses quantify and report circular impact — across environmental (e.g., material savings, carbon avoidance), social (job creation, community benefits) and economic (cost savings, revenue streams) dimensions?
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Which enablers — such as digital platforms, product-as-a-service, reverse logistics, material recovery ecosystems — are proving effective in scaling circular solutions?
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How do collaboration and ecosystem thinking (between businesses, governments, academia and civil society) accelerate circular model adoption and systemic change?
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What are the barriers — regulatory, behavioural, financial, technological — inhibiting transition from circular economy rhetoric to circular business impact?
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How do next-gen business models reconcile growth ambitions with regeneration and resource constraints rather than simply sustaining the current system?
Session Format & Outcomes
This session will be a 90-minute interactive segment combining:
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A brief (15-20 minute) keynote by a business leader or academic who has implemented a circular-impact model at scale.
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Two rapid case-study presentations (10 minutes each) showcasing different sectors (for instance, manufacturing & consumer-goods; services & digital platforms) that have successfully pivoted to circular-impact-oriented business models.
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A facilitated panel discussion (30 minutes) engaging the keynote and presenters, moderated by a circular-economy expert, focusing on scaling lessons and metrics.
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A breakout-discussion exercise (20 minutes) where participants split into small groups and brainstorm an existing business or value chain they are familiar with, identifying how to redesign it for circular impact, what metrics to track, and what partnerships to forge.
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A short wrap-up (5 minutes) summarising key take-aways and inviting participants to continue the conversation during networking times.
By the end of the session, participants will leave with:
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A sharpened understanding of how to move from circular economy thinking to circular impact action.
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Practical frameworks and metrics for measuring circular impact across triple-bottom-line dimensions.
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Insights into enabling factors and ecosystem approaches for scaling circular business models.
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Concrete ideas and peer insights from the breakout exercise that they can apply in their own organisation or research.
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Networking leads and next steps for collaboration in circular-impact innovation.
Why Business Models Need to Evolve
Many organisations adopting circular economy practices have focused on incremental changes: recycling more, designing for disassembly, extending product life. These are valuable, but often insufficient to transform the linear system. The next frontier is business models that embed circularity at their core: shifting from selling products to offering services, leveraging digital platforms to enable sharing or remanufacturing, creating closed-loop supply chains, and regenerating natural capital rather than simply sustaining it.
For example, in industrial manufacturing, a business may shift from selling components to offering “performance as a service” with embedded sensors, long-term maintenance and take-back of materials for reuse. In consumer goods, a company may build a buy-back platform, refurbish returned items, and integrate materials into new units — enabling new revenue streams and lower supply-risk exposure. The challenge is to link these models with measurable impact: how many tonnes of material are diverted? How much carbon emissions are avoided? What social benefits (jobs, livelihoods) are created? And how do these feed into financial returns or investor metrics?
This is why the shift from “economy” to “impact” matters: a circular economy mindset looks at closing loops; a circular impact mindset demands that those loops deliver measurable value that aligns with corporate purpose, investor expectations and global sustainability imperatives (such as the Sustainable Development Goals). At ICSIFT 2025, we emphasise actionable methods, not just conceptual frameworks. ICSIFT+1
The Role of Innovation & Technology
One of the conference’s core threads is future technologies driving sustainability. Circular impact business models are enabled by digital innovation: IoT sensors enable real-time tracking of product life and material flows; AI analytics optimise reuse and remanufacturing; blockchain can provide provenance and trust in recycled materials marketplaces; platforms can orchestrate sharing, pooling and reverse logistics. These technological levers enable business models to scale, reduce costs, and provide new forms of value.
Moreover, innovations in materials science, biologically-inspired design, modularity and manufacturing for remanufacture are making circular models more feasible than ever. The interplay of technology and business model design is critical, and this session will address how organisations can align investments in innovation with business-model innovation to achieve circular impact.
Measuring & Reporting Impact
A key barrier many organisations face is shifting from activity-level metrics (e.g., percentage of recycled materials) to impact-level metrics (e.g., tonnes of virgin material avoided, carbon emissions reduced, jobs created in circular value chains). This session will highlight emerging approaches: life-cycle assessment (LCA) linked to business-model KPIs; material-flow cost accounting; integrated reporting frameworks (ESG, impact investing) that recognise circular business models; and new metrics such as “material circularity indicator”, “importance of renewal”, or “circular revenue share”.
Participants will discuss how to integrate these metrics into board-level reporting, investor communications and internal performance management. They will explore case examples where circular models have been embedded into strategic KPIs, connected with rewards and risk frameworks, and linked to long-term value creation.
Ecosystem & Collaboration
Circular impact cannot be achieved in isolation. It often requires re-thinking supply chains, engaging with end-users, creating take-back systems, forging partnerships with recyclers and remanufacturers, working with governments on policy and infrastructure, and collaborating with start-ups and academia on innovation. The session will emphasise the role of ecosystem thinking — how business models can shift from transactional to systemic value creation by co-creating circular value chains with multiple stakeholders.
Attention will also be paid to policy and financial enablers: regulatory frameworks (extended producer responsibility, landfill taxes), public-private partnerships, innovative financing (circular bonds, impact investment), and incentives that accelerate circular model deployment. Participants will explore how to build the “enabling environment” around their business model and how to anticipate or shape policy shifts — a key topic at ICSIFT given its emphasis on actionable strategies. ICSIFT
Challenges and Roadblocks
Despite the promise, shifting to circular impact business models comes with challenges: legacy linear systems, capital-intensive infrastructure, lack of transparency in material flows, behavioural inertia among consumers, difficulty in capturing value flows from reused or shared products, regulatory ambiguity, and measurement/data limitations. The session will provide an honest appraisal of these challenges, invite participants to share their lived experience, and collectively derive mitigation strategies. Practical guidance will emerge on how to pilot circular models, scale them, manage risk, and institutionalise circular impact within organisations.
Why Attend & Who Should Attend
This session is highly recommended for:
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Corporate sustainability and strategy leaders keen to embed circular thinking into business models.
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Entrepreneurs and start-ups developing circular-economy solutions or platforms for sharing, remanufacture, take-back.
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Researchers and academics working on circular business models, business model innovation, sustainability metrics or technology-enabled circular systems.
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Policymakers, regulators and investors interested in the business case for circular economy, and how to create the environment for circular impact.
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Consultants, change-agents and professionals in supply-chain, product-design, materials management, waste-and-resource industries who want to shift from incremental gains to transformative models.
By joining this session at ICSIFT 2025, participants will not only gain insights, but make actionable connections and leave with next-steps to accelerate circular impact in their organisation or field.
Conclusion
In an era where planetary boundaries are tightening, resources are under pressure and the need for systemic transformation is urgent, businesses cannot afford to simply optimise their linear legacy models. This session — “From Circular Economy to Circular Impact: Next-Gen Sustainable Business Models” — will provoke, inspire and equip participants to rethink the way value is created, captured and shared. It will accelerate the shift from doing more with less to doing more with purpose: designing business models that regenerate, rather than extract; that collaborate rather than compete; that measure impact rather than output. We look forward to seeing you at ICSIFT 2025, as we collectively pioneer the circular-impact frontier.
