Arne Remmen is Professor in Technology, Environment and Society at Department of Development and Planning, Aalborg University in Denmark and did his Ph.D on Constructive Technology Assessment. He has since 1980 done research in the relations between technological and social change and especially on the innovation dynamics within clean tech.
The research focus has been on cleaner production, environmental management and cleaner products in industries as well as on the incentives and policy instruments to support this. Eco-design and life cycle management has been tools for enterprises to incorporate environment in product innovation and to manage the value chain. Furthermore, the research focus has been on integrated product policy and the linkages between policy instruments from minimum performance requirements (e.g the eco-design directive) to incentives to front-runner companies via energy- and eco-labelling, sustainable public procurement, etc. Several research projects have been carried out on eco-design and circular business models, and in recent years, circular economy has become the core focus with attention to narrowing, slowing and closing the resource loops via innovative partnerships between different stakeholders.
Abstract title: The Roots of Circular Economy – from cleaner production over eco-design to sustainable business models
The talk will examine the roots of circular economy in some of the key concepts that have been applied in the research on cleaner production and consumption over the years. Several inspirations to the research on circular economy can be found in this former research, so a reflection of the trends as well as strengths and limitations will be given. A couple of case examples on combinations of circular design and business models will be given based on a recent research project involving 20 Danish enterprises.
