TRADESHIFT WAIVES DEVELOPMENT FEES FOR COMPANIES THAT BUILD APPS SUPPORTING THE PRINCIPLES OF A CIRCULAR ECONOMY

Initiative Inspired By Being Named a Finalist in The Circulars

Tradeshift, the fastest growing cloud-based platform digitally connecting enterprises with their suppliers, has been named as a finalist in The 2015 Circular Economy Awards’ Digital Disruption category. The Circulars is an annual event recognizing individuals and enterprises from commerce, civil society and academia that have made a notable contribution to driving circular economy principles.

Today, Tradeshift announced the company’s plan to waive the 30% revenue share they receive from organizations that build apps on the platform which help to support the circular economy. Organizations that build apps supporting the circular economy will receive all profit from their app.

The circular economy is an alternative to the traditional linear economy. It decouples growth from scarce resource use allowing economic development within natural resource limits and allowing companies to innovate to enable customers and users to adopt sustainable products and services.

“If you think about impact, it’s not enough to get just a few companies involved. You need to create a fundamental shift in the global supply chain and economy,” said Tradeshift Co-founder and CEO, Christian Lanng. “We’re very excited to invite like-minded companies and organizations that share these principles of the circular economy to innovate on top of the platform with the support of Tradeshift Studio.”

There’s growing consensus that the only way forward with sustainable production and growth is to switch from our current industrial linear model to one that is less dependent on primary energy and natural resources, and is also regenerative to reduce waste.There are strong signs that the circular economy is going to have an impact within business. Organizations like McKinsey, Ellen MacArthur Foundation, and an array of large companies like Accenture and Philips support the idea. Companies on the forefront of this wave can unleash innovations such as new product-to-service approaches, new materials recovery methods, and smarter projections and preparedness for future costs such as waste disposal or raw materials prices.

The Circulars consist of five categories: Leadership, Entrepreneurship, Pioneer, Digital Disruptor and Cities/Regions. The awards will be presented at the January 2015 gala award ceremony in Davos, Switzerland.