New Digital Marketplace Launched to Support Canada’s Road to Circular Economy

By Tina Olivero, Publisher & Editor – TheOGM.com

Circular Innovation Council announced the launch of the Net-Zero Mission: Clean and Circular Innovation Marketplace at this year’s United Nations COP27 Climate Change Conference. Developed in collaboration with MaRS Discovery District as part of the Mission of MaRS: Net Zero program, the clean and circular innovation marketplace is designed to break down barriers to public procurement to encourage wide-scale adoption of low-carbon solutions.

“The climate crisis has been recognized by all levels of government across Canada, but action has been slow,” says Jo-Anne St. Godard, Executive Director of Circular Innovation Council. “Governments collectively spend 200 billion dollars on goods and services every year making up 13.4 % of GDP, but the current way of buying is disconnected from carbon reduction commitments.  Public procurement is a powerful but underutilized tool that can be used right now to transition the market to deliver results.” 

The Clean and Circular Innovation Marketplace demonstrates the Circular Innovation Council’s plan to level the playing field for low-carbon products and increase the flow of funding to climate tech and circular innovators. This phase includes the creation and launch of an online marketplace and other digital resources to support governments and communities of all sizes in Canada to achieve national carbon reduction and circular economy goals. 

“This new mission and its marketplace aim to de-risk the current traditional and limiting procurement process. By connecting government policy objectives and procurement actions with cleantech and circular innovators we can improve entrance and growth opportunities and accelerate the market transition,” adds St. Godard. 

The Clean and Circular Innovation Marketplace will connect both public and private sector buyers with innovative solutions providers and provide a series of procurement resources to help all levels of government and local communities to more easily identify and acquire these low-carbon and circular goods and services. In tandem with the Marketplace, an Adoption-Ready Certification Program will be guided by strict conditions to ensure solution providers are prequalified.

Circular Innovation Council and MaRS’ primary goals for this initiative include:  

• Simplifying procurement and legal processes that de-risk complex and new technologies and circular business models
• Testing models to adopt, deploy, and rapidly scale cleantech and circular innovations
• Improving access and capacity for government management to work with new low-carbon solutions and approaches
• Facilitating collaboration between governments to pool buying influence and standardize procurement to the best practice
• Leveling the playing field for Canadian cleantech and circular companies working with the government

By 2024 the goal is to pilot and scale Municipal and Federal procurement development, prototype provincial acquisition and launch the Marketplace Platform 

About MaRS

MaRS is North America’s largest urban innovation hub. A registered non-profit, MaRS supports high-growth start-ups and scale-ups tackling key issues in health, cleantech, fintech, and other sectors. In addition, MaRS convenes all members of the tech ecosystem to drive breakthrough discoveries, grow the economy and make an impact by solving real problems for real people — in Canada and around the world. 

www.marsdd.com

About Circular Innovation Council

Circular Innovation Council is a not-for-profit environmental organization operating nationally across Canada. For more than 40 years, the Circular Innovation Council has been delivering programs and projects that raise awareness and challenge Canadians to take action on waste reduction, resource efficiency, sustainability, and more recently the benefits of the circular economy. In concert with our members and partners, we leverage our experience to deliver on the broad gains inspired by the circular economy through programs, projects, and pilots. Our mandate is to inspire greater sustainability across Canada by putting circular economy concepts into action. 

www.circularinnovation.ca