Digital technologies and solutions are increasingly shaping our private and professional lives, as well as our social lives and the organisation of business and society. Smartphones have become increasingly important as multifunctional devices in recent years. They have become the central user interface for digital communication and (as technology advances), they will take on even more functions and services in the future.
However, with the increasing number of digital devices and applications, the associated ecological consequences are also becoming more and more visible. In addition to the digital world's contribution to climate change, the consumption of resources through the production of hardware and devices such as smartphones is becoming increasingly important.
Given the positive contributions and opportunities of digitalisation for solving the challenges of climate and environmental protection, the project CEVaC (explicitly) focuses on the ecological effects of the use of resources for digital (end) devices using the example of smartphones. It also analyses possible solutions for resource-saving strategies and business models in the sense of a sustainable circular economy. Thereby, the project is based on the guiding principle of conserving resources by extending the service life and increasing the utilisation intensity of products once they have been manufactured through new business models and services.
The aim of the project CEVaC is to contribute to a deeper understanding of the ecological problems and need for action surrounding the current smartphone product-service system. It also explores and evaluates circular economy solutions for sustainable, resource-conserving business models and services for the smartphone use case and thus contributes to the fundamental discourse in industry, society and politics.