Leading institutors Tongji University in China and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in the US have this week become the latest supporters of the Schmidt-MacArthur Fellowship program, a scheme that aims to bring graduate business students and academics together in a bid to restructure the economy by championing sustainable business models based on the idea of a circular economy.
“MIT and Tongji University will join a powerful interdisciplinary group of educational institutions focused on design, engineering and business as the disciplines best placed to unlock the benefits of the circular economy,” Dame Ellen MacArthur told the Financial Times.
The circular economy model is an alternative to the current mainstream economic thinking. The current model is a linear; businesses source a product, make it into something, sell it to the consumer and then, at the end of its use, it is thrown away. The circular economy idea aims to reshape the entire system from the beginning. In this concept, the product is created to be recycled, meaning that the product is considerably more economically and environmentally sound. The product is cheaper for the consumer and works to provide sustainable business regardless of resource prices or availability.
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