Increased co-resource effectiveness for circular retail

Purpose and goal

In this project we have initiated a larger effort in finding and creating industry-wide sustainable solutions based on a circular and resource-efficient system perspective. Key conclusions from the project are: 1) Actors must work significantly more actively together with sustainability and circular economy. 2) Digitization is a possibility, but the road is long before inter-organizational solutions can be used in everyday life. However, this requires both new capabilities and a shift in perspective from the individual company to the entire supply network.

Expected results and effects

Developing the actors´ capabilities to adapt to work circularly across organizational boundaries and providing them with evidence-based data in the form of information and data is clearly necessary in order to implement solutions that can generate the most sustainability effect. The potential is great if the industry can unite around areas where they can jointly minimize their negative impact on society without compromising the autonomy and competitiveness of each actor. The IoT solution used in the project is further elaborated by participating actors.

Planned approach and implementation

Based on two work packages; WP1, where industry-wide potentials and barriers are explored through interviews and WP2 where a specific digital IoT concept has been tested in several product flows, we have identified a number of obstacles and challenges that need to be addressed before the industry can reach the potentials that theoretically exist. Furthermore, we have developed an approach for a step 2 project based on a digital total solution, circular competence development and the creation of an industry-wide platform player.