Mivas Circular:

Sheltered workplaces or Work Integration Social Enterprises (WISE) Custom are an important figurehead of the social economy in Belgium. Based on the mission of employing people with a distance from the labor market, this sector of about fifty sheltered and sheltered workshops offers a socio-economic context to more than 26,000 people who can participate in our society in an inclusive way. Over the years, these impact-driven companies have anchored themselves in the local economy and built strong relationships with a range of customers. However, traditionally, these companies have an executive role in the value chain, which has led to a dependent position in the economy. Many mainstream companies still approach these workplaces because of the access to cheap labor and the reputation gains (CSR) that can be gained from such collaborations. However, we are seeing more and more influences from other impact-driven companies that want to work with sheltered workplaces in order to further deepen their positive social impact in addition to their other activities.

Mivas is a WISE company from Lier that employs 700 target group employees and functions as a case study in this research project. Their economic activities are mainly anchored in the packaging sector with major customers such as Kellogg's, Mondelez and Procter & Gamble for whom they make promotional bundles and displays, among other things. Due to an exponentially growing awareness of the need to make all our economic activities more sustainable and the changing legislation that responds to this, their packaging activities are under threat and continuing to participate in the linear economy does not seem a sustainable vision for the future. A transition to the circular economy presents itself as a possible answer to this changing context.

First of all, this research is looking for new strategic opportunities for sheltered workplaces at the intersection of the social and circular economy. This involves looking at the need for new stakeholders in setting up circular value chains and the match of these needs with the qualities and skills of WISE companies. Furthermore, the transition of WISE companies to a circular economy is examined from a systemic perspective. This leads to the formulation of barriers, levers and needs that can be united in an intervention model that forms the basis for transition management in this specific organizational context.

Finally, as part of the intervention model, a systemic innovation methodology is designed to meet the need for a multidimensional innovation structure. This also includes the design of a facilitation process that can support the co-creation of new circular value chains in the collaboration of a WISE company with multiple stakeholders. The aim is to embrace complexity and a systemic perspective in setting up these kinds of innovation processes.

In the transition to the circular economy and the implementation of reuse, there is a strong need to co-create new value chains with stakeholders who will be part of this new system. Designers have the skills and competences to guide these kinds of complex innovation processes and to take on a facilitating, visualizing and mediating role. By bringing together the necessary knowledge and parties at the start of the innovation process, including essential stakeholders such as customized service companies, the complexity of a circular value chain can be embraced and experiments can be conducted with the scalability of circular value chains and business models.