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

18.02.2026

AI-supported life cycle assessments in the circular economy of batteries

How can relevant data from batteries be digitally recorded, linked, and made usable for informed decisions along the entire value chain? In practice, data on battery composition, environmental impacts, and optimal recycling pathways are often incomplete or inconsistent. This is where the new publicly funded research project “DiVaBatt – Digital Value Chain Resource Planning” for circular battery cell production, which started on February 1, 2026, comes in.

Press release

02.02.2026

Sustainable Polyurethane Production Without Toxic Isocyanate

Polyurethanes (PUR) are found in many products, such as upholstered furniture, foam or insulation materials, flooring, paints and even medical catheter tubes. The production of these high-demand plastics, however, relies on toxic isocyanate. Fraunhofer researchers have now developed an alternative production process using harmless dicarbamate.

Press release

05.01.2026

Sustainable Design of Geosynthetics and Roof Underlayments Made from Recyclates

Is it possible to recover plastic recyclates from previously unused waste streams in order to produce high-quality fibers and films? How can bio-based polymer fibers be manufactured so as to allow adjustable biodegradability? These are the questions being addressed by researchers from the Fraunhofer Cluster of Excellence Circular Plastics Economy CCPE in the Zirk-Tex project.

Press Release

20.11.2025

Pioneering Partnership to Shape the Future of Food and Packaging

A high-level, 50-member business delegation from Flanders visited the Fraunhofer Institute for Process Engineering and Packaging IVV to explore cutting-edge innovations in food development, packaging, and recycling technologies. Bringing together leaders from the food, packaging, machinery, chemical, wood, and textile sectors.

Press Release