BioInspired! So What? Now What!

by C.A. Bakker (Author), M.C. den Hollander (Author), E. van Hinte (Author), Y. Zijlstra (Author)

PRODUCTS THAT LAST - product design for circular business models- starts where most books on product development end. From the perspective of designers and entrepreneurs once a product has been designed, produced and sold, it disappears beyond the newness horizon. Little are they aware of the opportunities that exist in the next product universe, where money is made from products in use, as well as from a product's afterlife. These opportunities clearly exist, otherwise they would not be providing an income for so many people. However, to be recognised as segments of a circle of continuous value creation, they need reframing.

PRODUCTS THAT LAST offers readers an innovative and practical methodology to unravel a product's 'afterlife' and systematically scrutinise it for new opportunities. It introduces us to business models that benefit from the opportunities offered by a much longer product life.

A resource for exploring circular business models based on a systems approach that incorporate concepts from ecology (dynamic, connected, cycles and flows).  From Six design strategies for longer lasting products in circular economy:

The useful life of consumer products, being the amount of time between buying and discarding them, is getting ever shorter. What's more, most of these products are still functioning when they are discarded. Combine these facts with the rather steep and extremely volatile rise in the price of raw materials over the past decade and the predicted growth in global demand for raw materials and energy, and it becomes instantly clear that continuity and cost of supply are potentially major business risks. However, business risks often come along together with business opportunities, and it is exactly these that a project called Products That Last aims to explore.