Multinational corporations and the circular economy: How Hewlett packard scales innovation and technology in its global supply chain

Abstract

Hewlett Packard discusses how companies can move from the conceptual ambiguity of the circular economy to operational reality. The development of the circular economy concept is described, in particular the extension from resource efficiency: the importance of moving from the idea of ‘consumers’ to ‘users’. Transitioning from a linear economy to a circular one will require disruptive innovation. For more than 30 years, HP technologies have led large scale changes in a wide range of markets. We describe how HP is designing products and services which meet and enable circular economy applications. The examples demonstrate how a major multinational company like HP can build on its long-held resource efficiency principles to profitably drive industry forward in the circular economy. It is clear that the ‘new style of IT’ enables many future and current circular economy initiatives, from car sharing; community garden/power tool sharing and developing further connections between networks – i.e. the ‘sharing economy’. The ‘internet of things’ has huge potential to retain and grow control over dispersed resources. Through collaborative technologies and partnerships, and by engaging the innovation potential of others, HP looks to lead the proliferation of full system solutions that can allow inventors and communities to design and innovate surpassing what can be imagined today.