Introduction
Our economic system of industrial production is currently going through a transition process from a linear  economy to a more sustainable, circular economy. In this second of a series of three masterclasses the topic of this transition towards a Circular Economy will be explored, from both a local and regional perspective. In this process startup enterprises as well as more established companies increasingly feel the need to make their products and business processes fit within a circular economy. But what is a circular economy, and how should we understand this process of transition from a linear to a circular economy? And what are the opportunities and obstacles we are faced with in this transition process?

Our guest speaker will first approach these questions from a regional point of view, with a particular focus of recent developments in South America where initiatives have been launched to come up with a Circular Economy platform. From this introduction local challenges and opportunities for entrepreneurs, local governments and higher education will be explored. Also a number of examples will be given to illustrate the route to a circular economy, in particular that for an island context such as Aruba.