Boosting Circular Economy Innovation through emerging technologies application

While policymakers are yet to actively link digitalisation with wider sustainability efforts when developing policies and financing projects, there is a growing need to align the circular and digital agendas. The Green Deal recognises that circular economy and strong involvement from industry is central to making the EU’s economy sustainable.



Digitalization is a driving force behind a number of industries. Circular economy, on the other hand, aims at optimizing resource use within industries. There is a clear connection between these two trends, and in order to accelerate change towards a sustainable circular economy, further coordination is needed. Digitalization can help drive this transition towards circular business.



Regions can benefit from exploring and copying digital innovators' achievements, deploying supportive incentive and financing schemes to uphold the implementation of digital innovations in CE thus boosting the change toward more circularity in regions to reach EU's 2050 targets, while ensuring sustainable future.



Project period
-
Project state
On-going
Project area
International
Project funding
Interreg Europe 2021-2027
LAB role
Partner
Unit
Institute of Design and Fine Arts
Project focus area
Intangible value creation
Objectives
The project aims at improving policies for easing and speeding up the twin transition to ensure that Green Growth and Digital Transformation go hand in hand to drive regions’ recovery and prosperity. It will focus at enhancing policies conditions in 9 countries for boosting the application of emerging digital innovations to support the growth of circular economy at regional, local or national level, gathering expertise from different regions, different levels' policymakers and leading innovation ecosystems' actors.



The project will investigate and test approaches and tools to assess, strengthen and support both regional digital and circular innovation ecosystems in non-metropolitan, rural and emerging regions in Europe. It will explore, cross-fertilise, select and adapt for transfer the best-fit intervention approaches for addressing the identified challenges through digital innovations in circular economy, serving as a model to be followed.
Realisation of goals
LAB University of Applied Sciences hosts 3rd Interregional partner meeting focused on circular economy and digitalization in Lahti on 3-4 September 2024 bringing together stakeholders from across Europe to discuss and advance strategies for promoting a circular economy through digitalization. The two-day event will gather key representatives from various regions to share insights, good practices, and innovative approaches to sustainability.



The event will kick off on September 3rd. The morning sessions will feature presentations on national and regional strategies for promoting circular economy and sustainable digitalization, followed by a campus tour showcasing Lahti’s advancements in green mobility and circular economy laboratories.



In the afternoon, participants will engage in a workshop focused on interregional stakeholder collaboration, examining the intersection of digital innovations and circular economy ecosystems analysis and thematic analysis in advancing policy improvements.



The second day showcases good practices of Päijät-Häme and Finland, including innovative solutions such as Purkutori’s recycling site, Second Thought’s digital product information, Voglia’s clothing impact calculator developed by Kuuki and HukkaAI’s food waste reduction software.



Participants will also visit local sites such as Kempower, a leader in electric mobility, and Luhta Re-Use, highlighting the region’s commitment to sustainability and resource efficiency.



The event is organized by the Interreg Europe -project CEI BOOST in cooperation with the LAB University of Applied Sciences and the Regional Council of Päijät-Häme. The goal of the CEI BOOST project is to increase the use of digital innovations to support the circular economy in SMEs.



Please note that this text was generated by ChatGPT based on the program created by the organizer.
Outcomes
The platform Design for Sustainable Business is responsible for the CEI Boost project in LAB. Currently LAB has several RDI projects in the fields related to digitalization, sustainability and circular economy, and also knowledge in utilizing design in this development. This approach is LAB's contribution to the project: strengthening the role of design in Green Growth and Digital Transformation.



https://www.interregeurope.eu/cei-boost





Blogs on the subject:

Ari Hautaniemi: Environmental Impact of Increasing ICT

https://blogit.lab.fi/labfocus/en/environmental-impact-of-increasing-ict/
Sustainable Development Goals
Project managers

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