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

30.07.2026

New Approaches to Sustainable Battery Raw Materials and Lithium Extraction

Lithium has become an indispensable part of our daily lives. At the same time, its extraction faces criticism because it harms the environment and local livelihoods. New technologies could bring about a decisive breakthrough. This is precisely where the German-Chilean research project “PaNaBat” comes in. PaNaBat aims to establish a long-term German–Chilean networking platform that promotes research collaboration, education, technology transfer and industrial cooperation.

Press release

24.07.2026

“Circular innovations often emerge at the intersections”

CIRCONOMY^® was launched four years ago. The initiative’s goal: to connect stakeholders from business, academia, politics, government and civil society within innovation ecosystems and to accelerate the practical implementation of the circular economy. In this interview, Hartmut Pflaum explains the momentum CIRCONOMY^® has already generated.

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22.07.2026

Tailored Yeast Strains and Scalable Bioprocesses for Industrial Bioeconomy

Developing the building blocks for sustainable chemistry using yeast—and reducing reliance on fossil-based feedstocks: Since March 2026, the Fraunhofer Institute for Applied Polymer Research IAP at Potsdam Science Park and the TAILOR junior research group at the University of Potsdam, funded by the German Federal Ministry of Research, Technology and Space (BMFTR), have joined forces to help make this vision a reality. Together, they offer companies seeking to make their processes more sustainable by using microorganisms an end-to-end development pipeline.

Press Release

21.07.2026

Biobased Polymers Between Innovation and Application

Bio-based polymers provide new possibilities for a circular plastics economy. Together with experts from industry and research, the Fraunhofer Cluster of Excellence Circular Plastics Economy CCPE will discuss the potential these polymers offer, the challenges that still need to be addressed, and will demonstrate their successful conversion into industrial applications in an interactive workshop on September 15, 2026, at the DECHEMA FORUM in Frankfurt.

Press Release