Circular Economy Meets Social Innovation
2026-10-01 How can we work together to achieve a circular economy? In the SIGU Spotlight from September 28, Alexa Böckel and Frederic Kohlhase share their insights. From the perspective of the Leuphana Social Innovation Community (LSIC), this involves new partnerships, the shared use of resources, and social justice.
In the interview, Frederic Kohlhase, Community Manager at LSIC, emphasizes that we have numerous circular startups both within the Holistic Impact Incubator and in the community. One example from the community is AllerLeih: The startup has received state funding to build a digital infrastructure for lending shops. This helps facilitate shared use.
The perspective shared in the interview aligns with our mission as a community: to bring together people and organizations working toward social change. For those interested, this publication offers a starting point for discussing their own ideas and finding potential partners for circular economy projects.
Shaping the Circular Economy Together
“Who owns resources? Who has access to them? Who decides how they are used?” With these questions, Kohlhase brings the social dimension into focus. For us, this is an opportunity to shape the circular economy together—with room for different interests and the question of who benefits from new solutions in everyday life.
What ideas would we like to test in the region, and what partners do we need to do so? This interview invites us to bring these questions to the community. We want to deepen the dialogue between research and practice and explore together where shared resources and new collaborations can create social value.