CIRCLOOPS

Motivation

The numerous circular economy concepts developed in recent years have seen little implementation in industry, even though the few exemplary applications demonstrate economic, environmental, and social benefits. In particular, complex value creation networks, technological uncertainties, and the difficulty of quantifying the added value of circular business models are regarded as key challenges to implementation. The CIRCLOOPS project aims to address these shortcomings through a holistic and integrated approach encompassing organization, people, and technology.

Objectives and Approach

The aim of the EUREKA research project is to holistically test circular value creation scenarios. To this end, international use cases in Germany, Luxembourg, Austria, and Switzerland will pilot innovative business models at the strategic level to enable trust-based collaboration within circular value creation networks.

At the operational level, the reprocessing of used products will be examined holistically, with a focus on technologies and approaches for production control, condition assessment, additive-subtractive reprocessing, and citizen development. In addition, the development and implementation of an interoperable, data-efficient digital product passport will create transparency throughout the entire product life cycle.

Alongside testing at the application partners’ facilities, the project results will also be transferred into demonstrators at the research institutes’ learning factories, thereby creating an industry-oriented learning environment. In addition, “Open House” formats will communicate the project results to the wider public beyond the consortium.

Innovations and Perspectives

CIRCLOOPS develops concepts and technologies that support companies in discrete manufacturing in putting circular value creation into practice and integrating it into existing industrial processes. The added value lies in the holistic perspective and the resulting interactions between strategic and operational areas. As a result, the approaches developed in CIRCLOOPS are not considered in isolation, but are embedded within the context of the entire value creation system and specifically geared toward their practical implementation in companies. This makes a significant contribution to ensuring the market viability and scalability of the project results and enables the establishment of cross-border flagship examples of circular value creation.

Acknowledgement

This project is funded by the Federal Ministry of Research, Technology and Space (BMFTR) and the Project Management Agency Karlsruhe (PTKA). We would like to express our gratitude for the opportunity to carry out this project.

Funding source

Project sponsor

Consortium partners