While the terms Circular Economy and sustainability are increasingly gaining traction with academia, industry, and policymakers, the similarities and differences between both concepts remain ambiguous. The relationship between the concepts is not made explicit in literature, which is blurring their conceptual contours and constrains the efficacy of using the approaches in research and practice. This research addresses this gap and aims to provide conceptual clarity by distinguishing the terms and synthesising the different types of relationships between them. We conducted an extensive literature review, employing bibliometric analysis and snowballing techniques to investigate the state of the art in the field and synthesise the similarities, differences and relationships between both terms. We identified eight different relationship types in the literature and illustrated the most evident similarities and differences between both concepts.@en

Sustainable business model innovation is an emerging topic, but only few tools are currently available to assist companies in sustainable business modelling. This paper works towards closing this gap by bringing together ‘design thinking’ and ‘sustainable business model innovation’ to refine the creative process of developing sustainable value propositions and improve the overall business modelling process. This paper proposes a new workshop framework based on a value mapping process, which was developed by literature synthesis, expert interviews, and multiple workshops. The framework was transferred into a workshop routine and subsequently tested with companies and students. The resulting ‘Value Ideation’ process comprises value ideation, value opportunity selection, and value proposition prototyping. The integration of design thinking into the innovation process helps to create additional forms of value and include formerly underserved stakeholders in the value proposition. Thus, the Value Ideation process helps companies to improve their performance while becoming more sustainable. Workshop evaluations revealed that the Value Ideation process assists companies in enhancing their value proposition by including positive economic, societal, and environmental value and a wider range of stakeholder interests. The ‘design thinking’ elements stimulate the ideation process and help to harmonise often conflicting stakeholder interests.@en