Accenture Announces Winners of The Fourth Annual Circulars in Davos

The World Economic Forum and the Forum of Young Global Leaders, in collaboration with Accenture (NYSE:ACN), awarded The Circulars at the Annual Meeting of the World Economic Forum in Davos-Klosters. The awards recognize individuals and organizations that have made notable contributions to the circular economy. Accenture sees the circular economy as a way to harness innovative and disruptive technologies to move beyond the linear models of take, make, waste. Circular models emphasize decoupling scarce or harmful natural resources from growth and jobs, and delivering value to consumers and citizens in the global economy.

The Circulars fourth annual awards ceremony showcased advances from the private and public sectors as well as civil society that drive innovation and growth while reducing dependence on scarce natural resources.

The seven Circulars were awarded as follows:

The Fortune Award for Circular Economy Leadership: Frans van Houten, CEO, Philips, for leading the transformation of Philips into a circular company by shifting its business model, moving from selling equipment alone to providing solutions to customers, and sharing risk for results through long-term partnerships. Franz is also co-chair of the World Economic Forum Platform to Accelerate the Circular Economy and he strongly advocates the circular business and industry opportunity, and challenges organizations to operationalize these principles to deliver tangible impact.

The Accenture Strategy Award for Circular Economy Multinational: IKEA, for working with a circular model in all aspects of their company’s operations. From developing products and their supply chain, sourcing and mapping material in their business, implementing circular design principles, and adapting their model to meet their customers’ demands.

The Young Global Leaders Award for Circular Economy SME (Small to Medium Size Enterprise): Apto Solutions, for providing a wide range of services to help companies close the loop on electronic waste, including lifecycle asset management, responsible IT recycling, facility and data center consolidations, cloud migrations, repair and refurbishing, total device management solutions (TDM), as well as logistics, technology decommissioning and project management services.