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German Industrial Symbiosis Stakeholders gathered in Frankfurt for the 9th Open Innovation Workshop

40 stakeholders were welcomed at Provadis School of Business in Frankfurt and online for an Open Innovation Workshop on October 11th 2022. The event’s organisation was supported by the Process4Sustainability cluster and Provadis Hochschule.

The workshop provided a unique opportunity for German companies, associations, regional players, and public authorities to share their views on industrial symbiosis intakes in the German economy and the EU.

Several points were brought forward when setting the EU strategic landscape

  • Industrial symbiosis is a lever to reduce a region’s or industry’s environmental footprint
  • Transparency regarding the availability of waste and re-usable resource is an essential starting point to close local resource loops
  • The general perspective of industrial symbiosis and waste in general varies greatly between actors and across sectors. In general, it is important that waste be seen as a valuable resource.

The following projects and companies were presented as good practice examples of Industrial Symbiosis. Infraserv GmbH & Co. Höchst KG by Professor Thomas Bayer, INERATEC GmbH by Christina Kuhnle, ARCUS Greencycling Technology GmbH by Julian Odenthal and FES Frankfurter Entsorgungs- und Service GmbH by Benjamin Scheffler.

Among other things, the following points were brought forward in the presentations:

  • When considering the integration of sustainable practices, the easier the process is, the more likely it will be implemented
  • Waste is a complex flow and its supply can vary from day-to-day and player-to-player

The afternoon featured discussions on the implementation of circular practices and industrial symbiosis. Contributions were made from Dr. Christian Hey (Hessian Ministry for the Environment, Climate Protection, Agriculture and Consumer Protection), Jens Will (Rhein-Main-Abfall GmbH), and Dr. Rachel Lombardi (International Synergies Limited). The following points were brought forward:

  • Industrial Symbiosis is incorporated in numerous DGs in the European Commission through regulatory, strategic, and actions plans
  • Waste regulations and environmental permits are identified as key hindering factors to IS development in EU companies that operate in Germany
  • An additional challenge identified relates to incorporating IS practices within outdated management models

The full report of the German Open Innovation Workshop which includes more discussion takeaways can be found here.

Hear more about the take-aways from some workshop participants in the short video below:

Read about the other CircLean Open Innovation Workshops here:

  • CircLean Open Innovation Worlshop in Slovenia
  • CircLean Open Innovation Workshop in Finland
  • CircLean Open Innovation Workshop in Hungary
  • CircLean Open Innovation Workshop in Belgium
  • CircLean Open Innovation Workshop in Spain 

If you are interested in joining the CircLean network, don’t hesitate to contact us