New Industrial Revolution

For decades, growth in wealth and well-being, particularly in Europe, has been based on over-use of resources. This use is also associated with emissions and other environmental impacts. In order to reduce these negative consequences of resource use to a tolerable level, more efficient methods are needed. One example is the recycling of waste into secondary resources. This method conserves our natural resources and avoids the usual "downcycling" of materials, in which the quality of the material is reduced with each cycle. A radical transition from waste management to recycling could help to make consumption and production patterns more sustainable.

Dr. Henning Wilts, Director of the Circular Economy Division, Oliver Lah, Head of the Mobility and International Cooperation Research Unit, and Laura Galinski (former Reserach Fellow, Circular Economy Division) have published an article in the eBook "Industry 4.0: Empowering ASEAN for the Circular Economy" entitled "The Evolution of Industry 4.0 and its Impact on the Knowledge Base for the Circular Economy". They analyse the synergies and challenges that can arise at the interface of the presented innovation paths, especially with regard to the availability and provision of data, information and knowledge as crucial aspects in both concepts. The team of authors concludes that completely new governance approaches are necessary to link these fields at different spatial levels.

The complete articles can be downloaded free of charge from the Publication Server under the following links.