Autor: Jonas Brinker

Products cannot be included early enough in the planning of a circular manufacturing process. However, because early incorporation brings additional complexity into play, product decisions are often set aside for later manufacturing stages. At this point, a decision-making tool that systematically reduces complexity and generally simplifies the process is therefore of great value – especially if it can also be used as a source of inspiration and orientation aid in the innovation phase.

Resource-efficient businesses have become increasingly important for companies in recent years. Although this brings new potentials, the practical implementation in the form of suitable business models is accompanied by challenges. In this paper, we will examine which concepts and methods already exist for the development of circular and resource- efficient business models and show approaches and solutions from science and practice using the example of interdisciplinary research projects.