Circular Economy Business Support for SMEs
Scottish SMEs receive high quality circular economy business support through this project which we are proud to deliver as a framework contractor to Zero Waste Scotland.
Objectives
We deliver tailored, expert, one-to-one consultancy directly to SMEs across all sectors in Scotland.
Through this support we help companies explore more circular ways of doing business which can result in resource efficiencies, improved profitability, higher quality products, increased customer base and alternative supply chains for business.
The support is open to businesses and organisations across all sectors in Scotland seeking to develop and/or implement new business models, technologies, practices, products or services which can embed circular economy principles.
This includes circular economy business models around sharing resources, modular design, reuse and repair, remanufacturing and reprocessing.
Approach
We guide businesses through a menu of support options:
- Innovation and opportunities identification
- Market assessment
- Stakeholder engagement
- Business plan support
- Lifecycle analysis
- Business case development
- Commercial case development
- Support in identifying funding opportunities
- Communications and marketing support
- Implementation support
We provide up to 30 days’ worth of consultancy support to advance the business’ circular economy proposition and to help them develop a more robust, fundable position.
Upon completion of the support, we recommend actions to businesses which may be eligible for funding – this can be applied for via the Circular Economy Development Grant or, for projects nearing commercialisation, the Circular Economy Investment Fund.
Outcomes
We’ve found that the businesses we have supported through the programme need assistance with building circular economy capacity in terms of skills and resource in order for their ideas to be successful.
Often businesses have very good ideas but need support to either test or demonstrate how robust their ideas are or scale up their ideas beyond pilot stages to commercialisation.
Businesses benefit from our support in these key areas:
- Governance
- Partnership development
- Conducting detailed market research
- Development of financial models
- Business and operating plan reviews
- Development of pilot roll out/scale up plans
With our support, businesses have gone on to implement their circular strategies or apply directly for funding.
