Fraunhofer Institute for Environmental, Safety and Energy Technology UMSICHT"The circular economy means rethinking value chains"
Four questions to...
What is the circular economy? How can CIRCONOMY® Hubs contribute to it? What is next for the initiative? And what added value does the work being done in CIRCONOMY® Hubs bring? In “Four questions to...”, we regularly interview participants in the CIRCONOMY® initiative. This time with Dr. Daniela Pufky-Heinrich from the Fraunhofer Center for International Management and Knowledge Economy IMW.
(1) What does the circular economy mean to you?
The circular economy means rethinking value chains — moving away from the cradle-to-grave approach and towards processes in which no waste is generated and residual materials become new raw materials. This requires innovative processes for recycling and reuse, but also new types of business models for companies that ensure that raw materials are supplied and processed in a targeted way. However, the circular economy also means that raw material cycles and recyclability must be included right from the product ideation, design and development stages. This will ultimately require a reorientation in all economic sectors.
(2) CIRCONOMY® Hubs are a new infrastructure for the circular economy. How can you and your institute contribute to this?
With our socio- and techno-economic research approaches, we support technological innovations and build bridges to economic applications. We work with data- and AI-supported methods and models to outline and assess future scenarios from an economic, ecological and social perspective. This can lead to advantageous investment decisions and sustainably successful business models.
(3) The CIRCONOMY® Hubs are set to be implemented in 2022: What are your hopes for the future?
After an intensive design phase between the institutes at the working level, concrete research projects with great application potential can now be initiated and implemented. Different perspectives have been gathered thanks to the cooperation of different stakeholders from science, research, business and society. The openness of the CIRCONOMY® Hubs to all applications and technologies also creates the conditions for successful transfers to industrial application.
(4) What added value can the Fraunhofer partners who participate in CIRCONOMY® Hubs expect?
Research and application partners benefit from access to cutting-edge technological research, providing an opportunity to gain an innovative edge. Tailored technology solutions allow for applied implementation in designs with long-term viability. The partners also benefit from the interdisciplinary and cross-sector network of the CIRCONOMY® Hubs, which extends into science and research and to potential cooperation partners and customers.