‘Creating change at XLabs’ – Reflections on collaboration in 2020
By Bree Asmus
Over the past few months the Circularity team and partners have been working to scale up and bring XLabs to life for Aotearoa— including creating an online circular economy course to help NZ businesses put the principles into practice. As we get ready to announce the first of twenty businesses joining the full program for 2022... I thought I’d share an insight into the journey we’ve been on, and a personal reflection from the lab last year.
So more recently behind the scenes (and in our lockdown zoom calls) we've been exploring what the experience of XLabs LIVE might look like in April 2022. This is where up to 20 New Zealand businesses come together alongside a range of experts, collaborators and creative game-changers to turn their circular ideas into tangible solutions they can develop, prototype, collaborate on and start testing.
And for me… this week is the really exciting part of XLabs.
This is where design and creativity can play a leading role in changing the narrative of our current economy. It's where we lift up out of “that’s impossible” and start reimagining the parameters of what we choose to create... and start making the steps to get there.
Like on Day 2 in the lab last year, where the theme of ‘Growing our World’ saw our 18 teams explore how smart materials and regenerative behaviours could inspire new thinking, solutions and impact. The day itself was a beautiful collision of experiences that included reconnecting to the natural world, experimenting with materials, pushing their limits and taking time to connect over local kai.
It was at about this point in the lab, that the different teams and businesses began to really collaborate... sparking new ideas, building on possibilities and creating solutions that they wouldn’t have thought of alone.
That's the magic. Those are the moments I see us making real change for Aotearoa New Zealand. When the systems, roles, constraints and industry silos we all play by day-to-day begin to blur and we can collectively redesign a better path forward...
And that's what I'm looking forward to seeing more of at XLabs in 2022.
So watch this space... or sign up to be part of the journey.
And as always — a big shout out to the partnerships that make XLabs possible; Ministry for the Environment, Auckland Unlimited and Circularity alongside New Zealand Trade and Enterprise, Callaghan Innovation, Trees That Count, and Greenhouse Capital New Zealand
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