Operating in the circular economy: From idea to Business – our co-hosted event with Oxfordshire Greentech

On Wednesday 22 March, we were delighted to co-host an in-person event with Oxfordshire Greentech held at the magnificent College Chapel at the University College, Oxford on “Operating in the circular economy: From idea to Business”.

The aim of this event was to connect experts and innovators in the circular economy field and to discuss turning great ideas into thriving businesses.  Also to provide a forum for people to share and learn from each other.

The circular economy is often described as the opposite of the “take, make and waste” model in which materials are taken from a natural resource, made into a product which is used once and then thrown away. More specifically, the circular economy refers to an industrial model based on the principles of designing out waste and pollution where possible; keeping products and materials in use where their use is necessary and regenerating natural systems.

Our first speaker was Martin Lamb, Chairman of Enval who gave a talk on their technology for pyrolyzing hard-to-recycle laminate packaging.  Next up was Dr Tiancun Xiao, co-founder of OxCCU with a fascinating talk focusing on the conversion of carbon dioxide into jet fuel and biodegradable plastics.  Our third speaker was James Hayward from Cambridge Future Tech, a venture building company with a portfolio of start-up companies. James’ talk focussed on how to create the right conditions to grow early stage businesses, with a particular emphasis on funding.  Our last speaker was Mewburn’s Eleanor Maciver, who gave a fantastic summary of how IP can be used to help grow sustainable technologies, touching on both patents and trade marks.

Finally, we handed over to  Hannah Scott, CEO of Oxfordshire Greentech to facilitate a roundtable discussion with our speakers, with lots of engagement from the audience.

The event offered a great networking opportunity and provided a platform for all attendees to talk not only to our speakers, but also to each other. It was great to see everyone who came along connecting and talking about potential collaborations.

Thank you to our wonderful speakers, to everyone who attended the event and a special thank you to Oxfordshire Greentech for partnering with us.

Future Events

We have several events planned with a circularity focus this year, including a patenting webinar for green businesses due to take place on 21 June.  

Sign up our new Circular Economy newsletter

Mewburn Ellis is delighted to be partnering with Oxfordshire Greentech to provide a quarterly newsletter.  If you would like to be kept up to date with developments with the Circular Economy network you can sign up here and get our news straight to your inbox.

Get involved with the Oxfordshire Greentech Circular Economy Special Interest Group

You can also find out more about the Circular Economy special interest group here.