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After a successful pilot project aimed at reducing furniture waste, the municipality of Oslo has decided to procure an innovative digital re-use platform.
The Norwegian startup Loopfront will provide the technical solution, while Sopra Steria will advise the municipality on effecting lasting changes for his important societal issue.
As Norway's largest purchaser after the Norwegian state, the Oslo municipality will soon realise both economic and climate gains through the Loopfront re-use platform. While over 100 million Norwegian kroner were spent last year on furniture and fixtures, the municipality can already expect cost savings of tens of millions in the first year. Additionally, re-using and recycling rather than purchasing new items will ensure CO₂ savings and waste reduction.
"I have high expectations for the gains we can achieve with the re-use platform, beyond the scope of the pilot project," says Finance Commissioner Hallstein Bjercke (The Norwegian political party, Venstre).
Expanding Usage
The pilot project was limited to furniture and fixtures, and the re-use platform will initially be used ifor the same items. It will now be possible for municipal entities such as schools, nursing homes, and municipal service offices to register furniture they no longer need. These will be made available on an internal marketplace, where entities in need of furniture can place orders. The platform will be free to use, and eventually, the city council aims to use it in completely different areas as well.
"In the long run, we envision the solution being expanded to include transportation services, storage solutions, and repair services. We need to facilitate re-use as easily as possible in the municipality to achieve the city council's ambition of making Oslo a model for the circular economy," explains Bjercke.
Sopra Steria as facilitator
Large, established companies are constantly looking for new and better ways to do things. Collaboration with startup ecosystems can be a good method to ensure innovation and access to new solutions faster.
"However, it's not necessarily unproblematic for a small startup and a large organizsation to find common methods of collaboration or good ways to implement new solutions. And that's where we come in," explains Tobias Studer Andersson, who leads the Scale up initiative, a spearhead environment for open innovation at Sopra Steria.
Open innovation is a methodology that involves combining internal expertise with expertise from external partners to increase the pace of innovation.
From Pilot to Value Creation, Sopra Steria Scale up helps large, established companies explore and scale solutions together with innovative growth companies. Bringing together the strengths of different actors in the same ecosystem can create enormous innovation power – which often leads to pilot projects. However, moving from pilot to full implementation significantly increases complexity. And here, Sopra Steria Scaleup can help.
"Our expertise helps reduce risk for all involved parties. Loopfront has a sharp product, which makes re-use and better resource utilisation easier. But for a digital solution to create lasting change, extensive effort is required – at all levels of the organisation. Our role is to take it further from the pilot and ensure that the Oslo municipality can derive effect and value going forward," explains Studer Andersson.
Loopfront is pleased to have Sopra Steria on board in the delivery to the Oslo municipality.
"Our platform is just a tool on the way to the goal. It's as much about the changes needed in the organisation. We depend on having an experienced partner who can assist with tasks unrelated to the technical solution. Sopra Steria has expertise in both sustainability and implementation, and this will help ensure that the Oslo municipality can derive actual results from our solution," says Taru Holm, commercial manager at Loopfront.
Common Vision
The implementation work that Sopra Steria is about to start involves everything from project management, change management, and competence development related to sustainability, re-use, and the circular economy.
"Both Sopra Steria and Loopfront share the vision of the Oslo municipality and look forward to contributing to the significant effort in the circular economy. All parties involved are dedicated to leading the way in sustainable development, and we are confident that the work will make a significant difference both for the Oslo municipality and for society as a whole," concludes Holm.
In the picture:
From left, Tobias Studer Andersson, leader of Sopra Steria Scale up, Finance Commissioner Hallstein Bjercke (V), and Loopfront's commercial manager Taru Holm