Designing a circular economy learning environment: Topinpuisto learning platform

This Master’s thesis focuses on developing the Topinpuisto learning environment and especially their learning platform together with the key stakeholders. Topinpuisto is a circular economy hub that aims to create a seamless network between circular economy actors and universities and, via the learning environment, provide possibilities for unique learning experience and business development. The aim of the research was to improve Topinpuisto learning platform and its existing backend processes. The goal was to create an effective and efficient visual user interface for the learning platform, which would reflect user needs and aspirations as well as help users to collaborate efficiently in the platform. Another goal was to provide Topinpuisto a structured view for the learning environment, through which they would be able to develop their processes. \n \nThe theoretical background of the study focuses on circular economy and learning platforms, explaining circular economy from global to grassroots and providing an outlook for the future. The current trends of learning platforms and the importance of using universities as a driving force for circular economy are discussed. The study adopted a double diamond model to understand the gaps in the organization’s current processes, to study the challenges and motivations of the service users and thereafter brainstorm and ideate with stakeholders to create a more valuable service concept. In benchmarking the current Topinpuisto learning platform, actors were selected within circular economy and outside the industry; the aim was to gather elements common in most platforms that could be adopted for improvement. Users’ needs and aspirations were gathered with semi-structured interviews. Service design tools and methods were widely adopted in the research and a stakeholder map, personas, customer journey maps, value proposition canvases, a service blueprint and a moodboard were created to further visualize various aspects of the users’ needs and ways of improving communication and seamless collaborations among the stakeholders. \n \nThe study revealed that more collaboration is possible between the stakeholders if adequate information and expertise is available on the platform. Again, a standard schedule would aid Topinpuisto employees to better manage the learning platform and could extend the circular economy network effortlessly. In addition, the study showed a critical need for an improved learning platform. The information gained from interacting with the stakeholders was used in creating a prototype learning platform that is robust and more engaging, as well as a year clock to standardize Topinpuisto back end processes.