On 16 May, the award ceremony of the Circular by Design Challenge took place in the presence of the economy minister, Franz Fayot, and the minister for SMEs and for Tourism, Lex Delles.
After being selected to participate in an intensive 12-week coaching programme, Äerd Lab, Luloop, Carrerouge and Amsol were awarded for their circular and sustainable projects at the end of the Circular By Design Challenge 2023. The jury’s favorite prize went to Metricsat.
Organized by Luxinnovation, with the support of the Ministry of the Economy, the competition is aimed at “inciting businesses and entrepreneurs to develop products and services that will contribute to a more circular and sustainable world”.
Four thematic challenges were proposed during this third edition: “Multifunctional urban furniture”, “Innovative solutions for sustainable business events”, “Circular products representing Luxembourg and the ‘LuXembourg’ brand” and “Innovative and sustainable solutions responding to development cooperation and humanitarian aid issues”.
The winning teams were announced on 16 May during an awards ceremony held at the Philharmonie Luxembourg in the presence of Franz Fayot (Minister of the Economy) and Lex Delles (Minister for SMEs and of Tourism). The winners received a €8,000 award.
“The quality of the projects awarded shows once again the richness and strength that can emanate from close collaborations between companies that develop sustainable solutions and public institutions and other economic actors.”
Johnny Brebels, Director Company Relations and Support at Luxinnovation
Close collaborations
Äerd Lab won the “Multifunctional urban furniture” call, with its EggShell wonder, a 3D printing system for outdoor furniture with eggshells as the fundamental material, as well as clay and other 100% natural materials. The project aimed to demonstrate the fusibility of reusing waste to create new robust and widely adopted products. 1Point61 SRL and Gradel were the two other finalists.
Luxembourg Urban Garden 2025 (LUGA) and Luxembourg Expo 2025 Osaka GIE were the call partners. Both were looking for innovative, circular and sustainable solutions for multifunctional urban furniture that will contribute to limiting their ecological footprint.
Luloop won the “Innovative solutions for sustainable business events” challenge, for its reusable cup system. The project aims to establish an international reuse ecosystem convenient and accessible to all, with the ambition to redesign existing consumption models to support the transition away from single-use plastic.
The Directorate-General for Tourism, the call partner, was looking for innovative and sustainable solutions contributing to reducing the carbon footprint of business events and making them more eco-responsible.
Carrérouge won the “Circular products representing Luxembourg and the ‘LuXembourg’ brand” with Quattromania, a strategic board game made in Luxembourg from recycled plastics, and in association with social partners. Comed and its “Green Desk Organiser” was the other finalist.
The call partner was the Luxembourg Ministry of Foreign and European Affairs. The current priority themes to be emphasized in the promotion of the country are diversity, creativity and sustainability. These themes are to be incorporated in the best way possible into the product concepts.
Amsol won the 4th call “Innovative and sustainable solutions responding to development cooperation and humanitarian aid issues”. Its robust and deployable 3D printing solution (Fieldready3Dprinters) allows humanitarian aid organizations to rely on withstanding harsh environments caused by natural disasters or wars around the world.
LuxAid, a collection team of the Ministry of Foreign and European Affairs, was the call partner. It was looking for circular project ideas in an aim of implementing innovative and sustainable solutions responding to development cooperation and humanitarian aid issues, and thereby contributing toward achieving the Agenda 2030 Sustainable Development Goals.
MetricSat was the other finalist. Its project “TopFodder” aims to promote regenerative agriculture among smallholder farmers in Rwanda. The data infrastructure and analytics startup received the jury’s favorite prize.
Johnny Brebels, Director Company Relations and Support at Luxinnovation, concluded the award ceremony: “The quality of the projects awarded shows once again the richness and strength that can emanate from close collaborations between companies that develop sustainable solutions and public institutions and other economic actors,” he said.
