Fondazione Iris Ceramica Group has partnered with Mario Cucinella’s SOS School of Sustainability to define a sustainable development model inspired by circular economy.
Fondazione Iris Ceramica Group has partnered with Mario Cucinella’s SOS School of Sustainability to define a sustainable development model inspired by circular economy principles and to implement economic, social and environmental regeneration processes for local communities and areas. The Building Green Futures non-profit organization will oversee the partnership between SOS and ICG, aimed at exploring new integrated service solutions that the Group’s companies can focus on in order to adopt a circular economy-based business model.
Today, circular economy is one of the major challenges that society as a whole has to face: it is the key strategy for achieving sustainable development.
The Iris Ceramica Group Foundation has decided to take on this challenge along with the companies of the Group it represents, setting itself the goal of designing a business model, driven by its innovative spirit. This requires starting with product design, service innovation and reorganising the system with a circular approach in order to create value over time while respecting sustainability principles.
These three transformation scenarios have been organized according to a circular model thanks to a Roadmap jointly created with the SOS – School of Sustainability and the Group, with the aim of scheduling planned activities and guiding research work: identifying the stakeholders involved in the process, redesigning the services map by understanding the needs driving demand, discussing how to optimize the production chain processes of ceramic products with the production department and, to conclude, analyzing the criteria that influence product design.
For several weeks now, the young professionals at SOS have been working alongside the Group’s R&D department, the Granitechteam experts and the in-house design business unit to promote innovative solutions for the manufacturing process of the ceramic product, which is no longer regarded as a simple finishing material, but as an integral part of the construction process. In fact, thanks to new installation techniques, integrated advanced sensors and the use of the IOT, it will accompany the entire life cycle of any project, right up to recovering raw materials that can be reused to create new products.
This project offers participants the opportunity to exchange views and take part in visits, workshops, focus groups and presentations for sharing work progress.