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276 CHAPTER 8 • PRoduCT And sERviCE dEvEloPmEnT And oRgAnisATion
elements, nor the relationship between them is changed. If the practice invests in a new
diagnostic heart scanner, that element of their diagnosis task has been changed and will
probably need new knowledge, but the overall architecture of the service has not been
changed. This innovation would be classed as ‘modular’. An example of architectural
innovation would be the practice providing ‘walk-in’ facilities in the local city centre.
It would provide more or less the same service as the regular surgery (no new compo-
nents), but the relationship between the service and patients has changed. Finally, if
the practice adopted some of the ‘telemedicine’ technology that monitors patient signs
and can react to significant changes in patient condition, then this would be radical
innovation. The components are novel (monitors) as is the overall architecture of the
service (distance diagnosis).

Example Product innovation for the circular economy 3
Design innovation is not just confined to the initial conception of a product; it also applies to
the end of its life. This idea is often called ‘designing for the circular economy’. The ‘circular
economy’ is proposed as an alternative to the traditional linear economy (or make, use, dispose,
as it is termed). The idea is to keep products in use for as long as possible, extract the maximum
value from them while in use and then recover and regenerate products and materials at the
end of their service life. But the circular economy is much more than a concern for recycling,
as opposed to disposal. The circular economy examines what can be done right along the sup-
ply and use chain so that as few resources as possible are used, then (and this is the important
bit) recover and regenerate products at the end of their conventional life. This means designing
products for longevity, reparability, ease of dismantling and recycling.
Typical of the companies that have either adopted this idea, or have been set up specially to
promote it, is Newlife Paints, based on the south coast of England; it ‘remanufactures’ waste
water–based paint back into a premium grade emulsion. All products in their paint range guar-
antee a minimum 50 per cent recycled content, made up from waste paint diverted from landfill
or incineration. The idea for the company began to take root in the mind of industrial chem-
ist, Keith Harrison. His garage was becoming a little unruly, after many years of do-it-yourself
projects. Encouraged by his wife to clear out the mess, he realised that the stacked up tins of
paint represented a shocking waste. It was then that his search began for a sensible and envi-
ronmentally responsible solution to waste paint. ‘I kept thinking I could do something with it;
the paint had an intrinsic value. It would have been a huge waste just to throw it away’, said the
former industrial chemist. Keith thought somebody must be recycling it, but no one was, and
he set about finding a way to reprocess waste paint back to a superior grade emulsion. After two
years of research, Keith successfully developed his technology, which involves removing lefto-
ver paint from tins that have been diverted from landfill, and blending and filtering them to
produce colour-matched new paints. The company has also launched a premium brand, aimed
at affluent customers with a green conscience, called Reborn Paints, the development of which
was partly funded by Akzo Nobel, maker of Dulux Paints. Although Keith started small (in his
garage) he now licenses his technology to companies such as the giant waste company Veolia.
‘By licensing we can have more impact and spread internationally’, he says. He also points
out that manufacturers could plan more imaginatively for the afterlife of their products. For
example, simply adding more symbols to packs to assist when sorting waste paints into types
would help. ‘At the moment we’re fighting fires, because the paints we pull out of the waste
stream today were manufactured five or so years ago, when the circular economy was barely
on the horizon’, he says.

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