KIEHKURA - Julkiset hankinnat kestävän tuotekehityksen ja kiertotalousmarkkinoiden ajurina
The project supports product development based on the circular economy and the transition of business activities towards sustainability through public procurement. The objectives include extending the lifespan of devices, increasing utilization rates, reducing the burden of waste management, and considering recycled materials, spare parts, and repairability – while at the same time promoting SMEs’ RDI expertise and collaboration with higher education institutions. The project develops circular economy criteria, innovative procurement models, and shared-use ecosystems, pilots procurements, organizes market dialogues and workshops, and produces nationally applicable tools and guidelines to make public procurement more sustainable.
- Implementation date5/1/2025 - 12/31/2027
- FunderEAKR 2021-2027
- Research programmeService Business and Circular Economy
- Project typeKansallinen TK
- Themes
- Project managerMelisa Heiskanen
The KIEHKURA project is carried out in collaboration between four universities of applied sciences. The partners are Metropolia University of Applied Sciences (coordinator), Turku University of Applied Sciences, Jyväskylä University of Applied Sciences, and Laurea University of Applied Sciences.
The central idea of the project is to utilize public procurement as a driver of sustainable development. Public procurements of machinery and equipment play a significant role as a market trendsetter, and the project aims to ensure that they support product development based on the circular economy and the creation of new business models. In practice, this means for example, extending the lifespan of equipment, increasing their utilization rate, promoting repairability and maintainability, and making use of recycled materials and spare parts.
The role of SMEs is crucial in the project, as their innovations and RDI activities can generate new solutions that public procurements can scale to wider use. At the same time, the universities of applied sciences support companies by developing procurement criteria, providing expertise, and building cooperation networks.
The project also includes concrete pilots and experiments to test the use of circular economy criteria in public procurement. In addition, tools, guidelines, and operating models will be developed to promote sustainable public procurement nationwide. Through workshops and market dialogues, buyers, companies, and researchers are brought together to ensure that the solutions are practical and genuinely applicable across different sectors.
Overall, the KIEHKURA project acts as a driver for strengthening the circular economy market and helps public actors make procurements that support both environmental and economic sustainability. It also builds long-term cooperation between different stakeholders, laying the foundation for new innovations and circular economy–based business in Finland.
More information: https://kiehkura.fi/fi/
