From a circular economy perspective, SMEs interested in sustainability want to have a central role not only within their own reference market but in the entire ecosystem.
In order to achieve a totally “circular” management of the processes followed by the actors involved, it is necessary to build a new working method that allows the latter direct, fast and transparent communication.
Managing a circular production ecosystem
Circular ecosystems are based on two key principles: networking and common knowledge.
- The companies involved feel the need to create connections with each other, look for resources useful to them (products, waste, processes), look for other companies, interact with companies from other sectors, cooperate with other stakeholders to collect ideas, undertake new intersectoral collaborations.
- The companies involved are extremely curious, eager to share their knowledge, talk about their products (how they are made, what their life cycle is, how they can be reused) and their processes (what waste they produce and how they can be used in other processes), which regulations they follow, what is their economic and environmental impact, etc.
IoT platforms in the circular
An IoT platform can become a management tool for the circular production ecosystem. Data exchange within an ad hoc infrastructure allows user companies to generate secure, flexible and tracked information flows.
“So each company can see what the others offer and vice versa. This exchange of information allows you to find partners, customers, suppliers or services, creating a network of opportunities for recycling…” explains Dena Arabsolgar to @Digital360.
DeremCo project
The DeremCo project (G.A. I3-101084037), of which Holonix is a partner, aims to do just that: establish a circular economy solution that will unlock the cost-effective reuse of composite materials and post-use components in new high-value products.
At the heart of this IoT platform will be an advanced search system that will allow composite waste producers and material manufacturers to search for each other based on non-predefined terms and definitions. This will allow, for example, a manufacturer to search for a generic material with specific characteristics – for example density, temperature resistance – and to receive suggestions from the system on existing recycled materials, including from other sectors, that meet the need, so as to connect companies and create new collaborations.