BE CIRCLE develops an operational set of services for industrial businesses and their ecosystem in order to facilitate their transition to a circular economy.
The Problem
Eco-industrial parks (EIPs), which use the outputs of one industrial process as inputs for another, have existed since the 1970s. However, they have not always been as successful or efficient as they could be. Numerous hurdles need to be overcome, including stakeholder engagement and buy-in, data collection and an understanding the local context.
The Solution
A consortium of stakeholders including ENGIE, ARX IT, CNR, Ecole Polytechnique, Provadis School of International Management and Technology and the Syndicat Mixte INSPIRA gathered in 2017 to launch the BE CIRCLE project, a web platform to support industrial ecosystems’ transition towards circular economy.
The service will help industrial park managers and developers, network operators and industrial actors generate a local industrial fabric and sustainable supply flows, as well as identify partners and solutions to build synergies that match their budgetary and environmental strategy.
The Impact
The web-based tool is currently being tested by business and production managers across Europe to plan, find input synergies and evaluate locations and costs. This digital service was crucial in the French industrial park INSPIRA’s journey to becoming an EIP: it provided early, tangible results and kept stakeholders onside.
BE CIRCLE shows that if all synergies made possible through the platform are adopted, greenhouse gas emissions could be reduced by up to 14 per cent.
EIT Climate KIC’s role
EIT Climate-KIC supported the market research and interviews with industrial leaders across France and Germany, to help prove the concept of the digital platform. EIT Climate-KIC has also funded demonstration of the platform to take it to market.
For more information visit BE CIRCLE.