Call for coaches - Circular By Design Challenge 2nd edition

If you are a coach or expert in business advisory, circular economy, IP, design, marketing & communication, product & brand placement and/ or design thinking, then please read the following and get in touch to join our coaching pool for the Circular By Design Challenge.

Luxinnovation is launching a call for coaches for the second edition of the “Circular by Design Challenge” (hereafter called “Project”), a competition initiated by the Luxembourg Ministry of the Economy and managed by Luxinnovation. It aims to support companies and creative entrepreneurs seeking to develop products or services that implement and adhere to the principles of the circular economy (detailed in Annex A).

The Project spans across five different categories:

  • Fashion Design
  • Sustainable Cities
  • Industry 4.0
  • Mobility 
  • LuXembourg – Let’s make it happen 

For each category, the three best applicants will be selected to participate in a 12-week coaching programme to help them to develop their ideas into viable products. By the end of the coaching programme, the Participants must submit a pitch deck in order to demonstrate the circularity, feasibility and economic viability of their project.

The ‘Coaches’ are individuals recruited and selected based on their skills and experience in circular economy, circular design, entrepreneurship, business advice skills, as well as product branding and marketing & communication, to support the Participants individually in the development of their project on a regular basis.

A ‘Head Coach’ is appointed among coaches as the main contact person for the Participants during the coaching programme, and will closely liaise with the Organiser and other stakeholders.

The ‘Experts’ are appointed by the organisers to intervene on specific topics that are common to all Participants during workshops (e.g. Design Thinking, Circular Business Models, User Experience, brand positioning, IP issues …) or keynote speeches.

COACHING PROGRAMME

The purpose of the coaching programme is to help the Participants to refine and validate the ideas for circular products, services or business models and to develop these ideas into business cases.

Organisation of the coaching sessions

The head coach will be appointed and will be responsible for the coherence of the different coaching sessions that each Participant will receive. In a first individual session, the head coach will make an initial assessment of the needs of each Participant and set up a personalised coaching plan with clear KPIs. The Steering Committee will need to agree with these KPIs. The coaching plan can be adapted depending on the feedback that was provided by the Steering Committee.

The Participants benefit from a coaching programme that will span over 12 weeks with the following components:

  • Group sessions for all Participants, the first of which will serve as an introductory workshop.
  • Individual 1-hour coaching sessions based on their needs. These sessions will be organised as face-to-face or remote virtual meetings between the coaches and each Participant. In no case can the coaching plan exceed 12 hours of individual coaching per Participant.

Each Participant will benefit from maximum 23 hours of coaching support. Coaching will be remunerated at €150,00 per hour (ex VAT).

Profile of coaches

The programme is open to all coaches demonstrating:

  • Competence in one or several of the areas described under “The Coaches” in the “Definitions” section
  • Coaching shall be based on methodologies that have proven their value to achieve short-term goals
  • At least 3 years of experience in supporting innovative companies from the creative industries sector
  • Previous experience of coaching in circular design or circular economy or similar programmes
  • Expertise in Lean and the Agile methodology
  • Ability to deliver services in English.

For the consulting companies, a maximum of three CVs can be submitted.

References and case studies

All applicants are requested to:

  • Submit the description of 2 support cases carried out on behalf of clients and provide a list of 3 reference companies that the contractor has already provided support to and their contact details as reference.

Optional: Communicate a methodology and programme proposal.


How to apply

Please send an application letter, CV, and reference documents to anja.hoethker@luxinnovation.lu
Deadline for submitting applications: 15 October 2021.
The selected contractors will be contacted between 8 and 12 November 2021.

More information in attached pdf document. The document can be downloaded in right hand panel of this article.