WDCD urges creatives to build a circular society: One great idea at a time
What Design Can Do (WDCD)’s fourth challenge in partnership with the Ikea Foundation: the Make it Circular Challenge. Winning ideas are turned into reality with USD 9955 in funding and a global development programme co-created with Impact Hub Amsterdam, which includes online training, mentoring sessions and a bootcamp.
03 Nov 2022 | 842 Views | By WhatPackaging? Team
What Design Can Do (WDCD)’s fourth challenge in partnership with the Ikea Foundation: the Make it Circular Challenge opened its registrations on 11 October 2022 and invited designers and creative entrepreneurs globally to submit design-driven innovations.
Ayush Chauhan, managing partner & co-founder, Quicksand Design Studio & UnBox Cultural Futures Society, said “The Make it Circular Challenge shows how it is possible to use creative design practices to rethink our current problems, and address the most pressing needs in order to create a more equitable future for all. Our partnership with What Design Can Do will bring to designers and creative entrepreneurs an opportunity to drive meaningful change by submitting their radical climate solutions using actionable circular design principles.”
The challenge will be released and executed in India by local amplification partners UnBox Cultural Futures Society and research partners, Quicksand Design Studio.
From 11 October 2022 to 11 January 2023, the global design competition calls on all innovators — from designers to entrepreneurs — to submit their boldest climate solutions using circular design. Winning proposals will be made into reality with an impact-driven development programme. The end goal is to create products, services and systems that are both user-centred and earth-centred, showing that a circular future is not only imaginable but actionable too
Richard van der Laken, co-founder and creative director, WDCD, said “Many people become lost in the face of so much outrage, fatigue and disinterest — but not creatives.” He added “The ability to imagine is the creative community’s ideal domain: seeing what does not yet exist, taking on a challenge, forging ahead with optimism.”
How to apply
The Make it Circular Challenge provides in-depth design briefs presenting original research on circularity and highlighting opportunities for designers and entrepreneurs alike. Participants will submit projects across themes: what we eat, what we wear, what we buy, how we package and how we build. Check the Challenge website and follow What Design Can Do on social media for future updates about events in the open call, such as workshops, webinars and tutorials with tips on applying.
At the beginning of 2023, a jury of leading experts in design, social impact and climate action will select a minimum of 10 winners. Winning ideas are turned into reality with USD 9955 in funding and a global development programme co-created with Impact Hub Amsterdam, which includes online training, mentoring sessions and a bootcamp. This programme will support the winning teams in further strengthening their projects, and propelling them through 2023 and beyond.