How do you make sustainable product choices that also make economic sense?

Simplified LCA: use your design freedom to make eco-conscious choices

Wondering whether your product development can live up to its sustainability ambitions? That's exactly what this masterclass delivers.

More and more designers, engineers and product developers want to make sustainability concrete — not just as a compliance obligation, but because it opens up business opportunities and aligns with their own sustainability goals. A full LCA is not always feasible in early design phases. Using a simplified approach and the open-source Ecocost Excel tool from TU Delft, you can map the environmental impact of your design choices quickly and rigorously, tailored to your product and context.

You make choices that are ecologically sound and consistent with your sustainability ambitions. You build insights into strategies such as material substitution, repair, reuse and refurbishing. In doing so, you contribute to the resilience and agility of your business. What at first glance looks like a sustainability investment turns out in practice to be a way to reduce dependencies and stabilise margins.

The masterclass draws on years of Sirris expertise and concrete industrial cases. You work with real examples, not theoretical scenarios. 

For Whom?

This masterclass targets professionals in the manufacturing industry who want to strategically strengthen sustainable product development. The session is relevant for professionals active in:

• Product design and R&D in manufacturing
• Innovation and development of sustainable products
• Business development and product management with an ESG focus
• Sustainability, environment, EHS and European regulations
• Management and strategy with responsibility for transition 

Key Takeaways

After this masterclass you will be able to:

• Estimate the product carbon footprint early, when design freedom is still large
• Compare sustainable material alternatives using the Ecocost Excel tool
• Focus on the most important environmental levers before costs are locked in
• Deal with missing data and well-founded assumptions
• Calculate the Ecovalue Ratio and translate environmental impact into economic value creation
• Formulate environmental claims correctly and avoid greenwashing 

Programme

Flemish companies can take advantage of a subsidy from VLAIO for this course

This programme is part of Industriepartnershap in which 13 Flemish innovation partners offer an integrated service to stimulate growth and innovation in the Flemish industry in the 6 following themes: AI, Cybersecurity, Circularity, Digitisation, Climate & Energy and Industry 4.0. They do so under the leadership of Agoria and Sirris and with the support of Agentschap Innoveren & Ondernemen.

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