A new future lab is beginning its work. The Digitalisation in the circular economy project, which is based at the Centre for Digital Innovations Lower Saxony (ZDIN), will investigate innovative digital solutions for the sustainable and efficient use of natural resources. To do this, it has received 3.7 million euros in funding for a period of five years from the Ministry of Science and Culture of Lower Saxony and the Volkswagen Foundation. The funding stems from the “zukunft.niedersachen” academic programme.
Leibniz University Hannover is represented by the Faculty of Mechanical Engineering’s Institute of Assembly Technology and Robotics and is playing a key role in the project. Other partners in the consortium are the Clausthal University of Technology (spokesperson), Carl von Ossietzky University of Oldenburg, the Fraunhofer Institute for Surface Engineering and Thin Films IST, the OFFIS – Institut for Informatik, the Ostfalia University of Applied Sciences and the Technische Universität Braunschweig. Numerous partners from companies, local authorities and networks will also take part.
Digitalisation plays a decisive role in successfully mastering the transformation to an economy that conserves resources and the environment. The researchers participating in the future lab have set the goal of promoting the transformation of the economy and society with the help of networked, digital and AI-supported products and services.
“A circular economy makes it possible to use products for longer, to reuse components from worn-out products, and to recycle materials: the efficient use of resources and the minimisation of waste and dependencies are key elements for Lower Saxony as a future-oriented, sustainable and resilient business hub,’ said Falko Mohrs, Lower Saxony’s minister of culture and science. “With its application-oriented research and the resulting scientific findings, the new future lab is making an important contribution to an effective circularly economy by leveraging the potential of digitalisation.”
A circular economy can, for example, make information about the sustainability of products or product use transparent and accessible, thus enabling consumers to make ecological decisions about their purchases. Innovative and digitalised service and business models make it possible to provide simple sharing, reuse and repair services across the board for users. Digitalisation can also contribute to a greater degree of information exchange and automation in the area of (replacement) component use and recycling, therefore enabling more effective and economical product use.
The future lab is one of several topic-specific future labs at the ZDIN. The network of members from academia, business and society provides space for research projects and connects actors, ideas and concepts from research and practice. The ZDIN brings together Lower Saxony’s digitalisation experts, across disciplines and locations.
