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Platforms and business models based on them have been around for many years. However, the rapid development of information technology in recent years has greatly reduced the need for physical assets and infrastructure to enable value creation. Digitalization enables highly efficient interactions among platform participants. This lowers the barriers to accessing tangible and intangible goods, which in turn opens up opportunities to develop instruments that improve the sustainability of platform results.

This article describes how companies can accelerate the implementation of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). As a guideline, we propose the concept of corporate purpose. By focusing on the added value generated for stakeholders, a corporate purpose has a meaningful effect and provides orientation. As part of our research, a self-assessment was developed, which makes the status quo of corporate purpose in companies measurable.

Correctly recycling obsolete refrigeration devices plays an important role in environmental and climate protection efforts. Recycling plants are subject to regular audits to ensure their compliance with strict environmental regulations. However, the collection of audit-related data is a challenging and time-consuming task, as it is usually done manually and is prone to errors. One solution for more sustainable and efficient monitoring is to automate digital data collection using sensors and artificial intelligence. This enables a direct estimate of the expected level of pollutants. This paves the way for continuous performance monitoring and efficient management of refrigeration appliance recycling plants.

In order to exploit the full potential of the circular economy, companies need to develop holistic solutions and rethink their business models. With this in mind, a summer school entitled Circular Economy was organized by Merseburg University's start-up service in September 2023 with the aim of developing innovative ideas for new business models with a focus on circular models. Current trends in materials science were used as conceivable scenarios for circular forms of economic activity in the idea generation process. Entrepreneurship is an interface function here. Entrepreneurs not only want to run companies, they also want to bring about change with new products, services and business processes.

The flow of materials along regional and global value chains has far-reaching environmental, economic and social effects. The sustainability profile of materials should therefore play a central role in management. Adapting material flows to adhere to sustainable principles requires an integrated approach that includes all areas of the company. The decisive factor is that sustainable materials management ultimately requires the entire life cycle of a product to be taken into account – from design and produc- tion through to sales and aftercare measures.

In additive manufacturing – which is also known as 3D printing – plastic waste is produced, for example in the form of required support structures or faulty prints. One option for resource recirculation in additive manufacturing is direct use in a pellet 3D printer that incorporates fused granulate fabrication (FGF). The elimination of the filament production process step reduces the manufacturing time and the energy required for recirculation.

Small batch sizes are a necessity in the textile industry due to the increasing diversification of products and end applications as well as short-term orders in networked value chains. At the same time, this involves a high level of configuration, planning, preparation and im-plementation. The costs increase disproportionately and are usually not directly quantifia-ble. In addition, sustainability considerations are now increasingly required. This article de-scribes an SME-suitable, simulation-based methodology for analyzing and configuring tex-tile manufacturing systems with regard to ecological and economic sustainability for small batch sizes in textile manufacturing and illustrates this using textile manufacturing in the weaving industry as an example.

The circular economy (CE) promises a more sustainable use of resources by managing products in a cycle and striving for a transformation from a linear to a circular supply chain. In particular, digital technologies as enablers for the circular economy have been increasingly researched and applied in practice in recent years. This article describes which digital technologies offer potential for increasing circularity in the production of circular photovoltaic (PV) systems.