Crowdfunding and Design for Circularity: The State of the Art and Relevant Examples

To move toward the paradigm of a circular economy, one of the enabling factors for businesses is the ability to conduct circular design of their products. The chapter begins with an overview of the various types of circular products and then, through an empirical analysis, examines how the tool of reward-based crowdfunding has been used to support circular design. In particular, projects developed in crowdfunding campaigns hosted on Kickstarter and Indiegogo from 2009 to 2020 are analyzed, showing the types of sustainable projects that have been developed and their success rates. The results show that crowdfunding has a still-limited influence on the expansion and market penetration of these products, but there is still a huge untapped potential for this instrument. The chapter concludes by proposing a series of managerial considerations for both companies and platforms to facilitate the easier utilization of this instrument.