Design for long lifecycle and higher value – MAKE

The EU aims to move away from the linear "take-make-waste" model and shift toward more sustainable, circular-economy-based business models.

The project “Design for long lifecycle and higher value – MAKE” supports this transition among companies in the Päijät-Häme region. Its goal is to build design expertise for the circular economy and establish a shared network and operating model that helps companies extend product lifecycles, keep products in circulation, and increase the value embedded in them. The project addresses the "make" stage, where sustainable products are designed, while also working to replace the "waste" stage with remanufacturing — supported throughout by a digital platform.

A co-creative design process will be used to develop and deliver a series of training sessions for companies on the conditions and opportunities for design that supports circular-economy business. Participating companies can develop their own operations while helping shape the shared model, working alongside students from LAB University of Applied Sciences to ideate and develop circular-economy solutions. The aim is to make the circular economy and growing lifecycle value part of everyday practice — and the resulting solutions are tested to help ensure this.

The project engages professions and actors — such as small business owners, repair services, small-scale industry, and craft entrepreneurs — whose expertise in extending product lifecycles is currently undervalued and underused, despite being essential to advancing the circular economy.

Through collaboration, the project helps extend product lifecycles while also supporting responsible consumption and building consumer understanding of sustainable, environmentally responsible practices. Design and visual communication are further used to build a more appealing image of the circular economy, reuse, and sustainable business models.

These activities strengthen the competitiveness of the region and its actors, creating an advantage in a changing operating environment where the green and digital transitions should progress hand in hand — both supporting carbon-neutrality goals that matter locally and globally.