New Future Lab: Digitalisation in the Circular Economy Two TU institutes part of the project consortium
The new Future Lab Circular Economy will research innovative, digital solutions for the sustainable and efficient use of natural resources. It will receive 3.7 million euros in funding from the Lower Saxony Ministry of Science and the Volkswagen Foundation. Technische Universität Braunschweig is part of the project consortium with two institutes.
The transition to a resource-efficient and environmentally friendly economy is essential to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and protect the ecosystem. Digitalisation plays a crucial role in meeting these challenges, as it is driving widespread change in the economy and society.
To explore the possibilities of digitalisation, the Zentrum für digitale Innovationen Niedersachsen (ZDIN) (Centre for Digital Innovation Lower Saxony) is launching a new Future Lab: the Circular Economy Future Lab. The aim is to promote the resource-conserving transformation of the economy and society through circularly networked, digital and AI-supported products and services.
The Institute of Automotive Management and Industrial Production (Prof. Thomas Spengler) and the Institute of Machine Tools and Production Technology (Prof Christoph Herrmann) are involved on TU Braunschweig’s side. The focus of the Future Lab is on model-based decision support for the network design of industrial symbioses in the circular economy (Prof. Spengler) and on models and evaluation systems for processing strategies, derivation of a cyber-physical production system for Re-X processes (Prof. Christoph Herrmann).
The Ministry of Science and Culture (MWK) and the Volkswagen Foundation are providing a total of 3.7 million euros for the new Future Lab. The funding is financed from the “zukunft.niedersachsen” science programme and is valid for a period of five years.