CIRCONOMY® Hub

Welcome to the project

CIRCONOMY® Hub

Sustainable production, sustainable consumption and a circular economy require systemic and technological solutions, which are created in innovation networks. Fraunhofer proposes building a network of CIRCONOMY^® Hubs across Germany: These hubs are a new, agile instrument for cooperation on the basis of a shared mission and a reliable data space. They create added value regionally, nationally and internationally. In each hub, Fraunhofer institutes work with their partners in industry, science, politics and society on a mission not just to contribute to the circular economy, but to develop innovations for sovereign value cycles, climate neutrality, circularity and bioeconomy.

On this page you can read about how circularity is created out of shared values, cooperation and projects.

CIRCONOMY^® is the Fraunhofer brand for solutions, capacities and expertise for the circular economy. This brand represents shared values, strategies, target visions and, above all, innovation projects that put the great mission of “transformation to the circular economy” into practice.

CIRCONOMY^® Ticker

Building Materials and the Climate: Constructing a New Future

Under the premise that the world wants to achieve its goals for net-zero emissions from the construction sector by mid-century, there is an urgent need for action regarding the development of new models for collaboration on the decarbonization of building materials. We must pursue the following paths together:

1) Avoiding the extraction and production of raw materials by creating a circular economy

2) Shifting to circularly managed material practices through the use of ethically produced, low carbon, earth and bio-based building materials.

3) Optimizing methods to radically decarbonize conventional materials.

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Our offer

Services

Web services can be tested directly on a website. Techno-consulting helps keep innovation projects on track and successful.

Our services

CIRCONOMY^® Hubs

The concepts for the first CIRCONOMY^® Hubs are already being created, and circular ecosystems are forming. Be there as CIRCONOMY® Hubs shape the transformation.

Hubs overview

News

20.02.2025

Products made from alternative proteins and automated cleaning processes

From May 3-8, 2025, the leading international trade fair IFFA in Frankfurt am Main will revolve around the topic "Technology for Meat and Alternative Proteins". In line with this, the Fraunhofer Institute for Process Engineering and Packaging IVV will be showing how alternative ingredients and textured proteins can be used to create meat substitute products with the typical meat structure.

Press release

20.02.2025

Polyurethane with shape memory: From foil to foam

Researchers at the Fraunhofer Institute for Applied Polymer Research IAP have developed a foil that changes into polyurethane foam (PU foam) when heated – entirely without health risks. The foil allows for isocyanate-free foaming, thus improving workplace safety. Additionally, it offers logistics advantages for storage and transportation. The material can be customized for various applications ranging from the automotive and construction industries to packaging.

Press release

15.01.2025

Securing banks close to nature with biodegradable geotextiles

Banks along inland waterways are exposed to shipping and tidal forces. In order to prevent erosion, these are usually technically secured by stone embankments or walls. However, this has a negative impact on the ecosystems. In the joint research project "Bioshoreline" - funded by the Federal Ministry of Food and Agriculture - the researchers, led by Fraunhofer UMSICHT, developed a biodegradable geotextile made from renewable raw materials that serves as a temporary filter for bank protection on inland waterways.

Press release

12.12.2024

EU Project CIRCULAR FoodPack

Freising, Germany – After three and a half years of intensive research, the EU project CIRCULAR FoodPack has developed new processes to effectively recycle flexible polyethylene food packaging, blazing the trail for a sustainable circular economy in this sector. The project partners have applied and validated a tracer-based sorting technology that can separate food and non-food packaging waste. A combination of novel pre- and post-treatments with mechanical or solvent-based recycling processes is used to remove printing inks, odours and other impurities from the food packaging waste. The resulting post-consumer recyclates fulfil the quality requirements for their further processing in new flexible packaging.

Press release