Revolutionizing Product Innovation: Empowering Circular Economy Startups through Design Thinking

Circular Economy Incubation product sprint
At WomHub, we have designed our Circular Economy Incubator (#CEI) around a design sprint methodology in order to support and leverage rapid product growth and iteration for our cohort founders. Design thinking is a human-centric approach to problem-solving and innovation that places a strong emphasis on understanding the needs and preferences of users. When testing a new product for the market, applying design thinking principles can offer several benefits:

User-Centric Focus: Design thinking begins by empathizing with the end-users. This approach ensures that the product's design and features are aligned with the actual needs, behaviours, and desires of the target audience. By deeply understanding users, you increase the likelihood of creating a product that resonates with them.​
Enhanced User Experience: Design thinking encourages a holistic view of the user experience. Through iterative prototyping and testing, you can identify pain points, challenges, and opportunities to enhance the overall usability and satisfaction of the product.

Iterative Prototyping: Design thinking involves creating prototypes and mock-ups of the product early in the development process. By testing these prototypes with users, you can gather feedback, refine the design, and make improvements before investing significant resources in full-scale development.

Innovation and Creativity: Design thinking fosters a culture of creativity and encourages teams to think outside the box. By exploring a wide range of potential solutions, you increase the likelihood of uncovering unique features or approaches that can set your product apart in the market.

Reduced Risk of Failure: By involving users early and often in the design and testing process, you can identify and address potential issues and challenges before the product is launched. This reduces the risk of launching a product that fails to meet user expectations or market demands.


Cross-Functional Collaboration: Design thinking promotes collaboration between different teams and disciplines, such as designers, developers, marketers, and business analysts. This interdisciplinary approach ensures that all aspects of the product, from its functionality to its branding, are aligned and cohesive.

Flexibility and Adaptability: Design thinking encourages a flexible and adaptive mindset. As you gather feedback and insights from users, you can make informed adjustments to the product's design and features, ensuring that it remains relevant and valuable in a rapidly changing market.

Early Validation: Through rapid prototyping and testing, design thinking allows you to validate your product concept early in the development process. This validation helps you make data-driven decisions and minimizes the risk of investing in a product that doesn't resonate with the target market.

Empowerment of Stakeholders: Design thinking values input from various stakeholders, including users, clients, and internal teams. This inclusivity empowers stakeholders to contribute to the product's design and development, fostering a sense of ownership and engagement.

Focus on Long-Term Success: Design thinking isn't just about creating a product; it's about creating a product that solves real problems and provides long-term value to users. By prioritizing user needs and satisfaction, you increase the chances of building a successful and sustainable product in the market.

Incorporating design thinking principles into the process of testing a new product can lead to more user-centered, innovative, and effective outcomes, ultimately increasing the product's chances of success at market. The #CEI programme is an eight month hybrid programme that kicks off in September 2023 and is centered around these principles to test and validate circular solutions for either early stage ideation startups or for businesses that are currently at market but would like to test and validate more circular products and approaches. 

If you would like to read more on the circular economy and unpack the CE value chain, we have published these helpful links:

• What is the Circular Economy
• Circular Economy Value Chain
• Are you a Circular Startup
• SAFM radio interview on the Circular Economy

Click here to #Apply to the Circular Economy Incubator: Circular Economy Incubator - WomHub