The new tool, aimed at organisations and individuals, helps identify how businesses can reuse materials, rather than discard them.
The tool uses prompts based on natural systems, such as how ecosystems maintain balance, form relationships and adapt to change, to help teams rethink how materials, products and processes can be reused, rather than discarded.
In practice, this can mean identifying new ways to work with suppliers and local partners or finding opportunities to turn existing waste streams into inputs for new processes.
Developed by Dr Emma Fromberg at the Centre for Sustainable Business, the tool, ‘Nature’s Playbook: Ecological Design Thinking for a Circular Economy’, has recently been tested in a pilot workshop with participants from retail, consulting, manufacturing and the public sector.
The project builds on four years of doctoral research exploring how ecological thinking can support more systemic approaches to business innovation.
Dr Emma Fromberg, Centre for Sustainable Business at King’s Business School, commented: “What people mostly found is that it helped them to think differently about existing circularity challenges and draw inspiration from natural systems.”
“In addition to that, also to turn that shift in perspective into practical ideas they could take back into their organisations and start applying straight away.”
The tool has been selected for support through King’s SPARK Innovation Fund, which backs research with strong potential for real-world impact.
The funding will support further development of the tool, including international expansion and translation into Mandarin.
Commenting on the tool, Ross Phillips, Sustainable Transport Manager, Cross River Partnership, said: “The Ecological Design Thinking workshop encouraged us to think differently and more experimentally about complex challenges.”
“It broadened our perspective and helped us think more holistically about the systems we work within. I left with new approaches that I’m already applying in my work.”
