CIRCULAR DEVICES OY

Their core work

Circular Devices OY — operating under the brand Puzzlephone — is a Finnish technology SME that pioneered modular smartphone design as a practical strategy for extending consumer electronics lifecycles. Their core work sits at the intersection of product design and circular economy: designing devices that can be disassembled, remanufactured, and upgraded rather than discarded. Beyond device design, they have contributed to developing industrial infrastructure for this model — including sorting and disassembly automation and remanufacturing factory concepts. More recently, they have applied their expertise upstream into materials, working on grade systems and standards for post-consumer recycled plastics from waste electrical and electronic equipment (WEEE).

What they specialise in

How they've shifted over time

In their earliest H2020 work (2015 onward), Circular Devices OY was firmly focused on the device layer: modular hardware architecture, automated disassembly lines, remanufacturing factories, and the specific technical challenges of extending smartphone and tablet lifetimes. By their second project (from 2017), their focus shifted upstream toward materials and systems — WEEE plastics recycling, polymer grading, supply chain standardisation, and the business model innovation needed to make recycled-content electronics economically viable. This is a coherent progression: from "how do we design devices that can be taken apart and rebuilt" toward "how do we ensure the materials recovered are high enough quality to re-enter the supply chain."

Circular Devices OY is moving from hardware product innovation toward materials standards and circular supply chain systems — positioning them as a credible voice in WEEE policy and recycled-content procurement debates.

How they like to work

Circular Devices OY has participated exclusively as a consortium partner, never as project coordinator — a pattern consistent with a small, highly specialised SME that joins larger consortia to contribute specific industry knowledge rather than to lead research programs. Their two projects pulled in 37 unique partners across 14 countries, suggesting they operate in genuinely broad, multi-actor European consortia rather than in tight bilateral partnerships. Working with them likely means accessing a well-connected industry voice in the consumer electronics circular economy space, but not a project management function.

They have built a network of 37 unique partners across 14 countries through just two projects — an unusually broad reach for an SME of this size, indicating participation in large, geographically diverse innovation consortia. Their Finnish base (Espoo) places them in one of Europe's strongest hardware and electronics ecosystems.

What sets them apart

Circular Devices OY is rare among electronics SMEs in that their entire commercial identity — the Puzzlephone modular smartphone concept — was built around repairability and longevity as product features, not afterthoughts. This gives them hands-on product development credibility in circular electronics that most research partners lack. For consortia addressing WEEE policy, eco-design regulation (such as the EU's Right to Repair directive), or recycled-content requirements, they bring an industry practitioner perspective grounded in actual product design constraints.

Highlights from their portfolio

• sustainablySMART
  Their largest project (€378,966) and the one most directly tied to their core identity — modular smartphone design meeting automated remanufacturing infrastructure — making it the clearest window into their real-world expertise.
• PolyCE
  Demonstrates a strategic pivot toward materials standards and WEEE polymer supply chains, showing Circular Devices OY can contribute beyond device design into the upstream recycled materials economy.