Every second Wednesday, the Circular Industries Talks are organised at the Circular Industries Hub. On Wednesday January 11, Jaco Quist, Assistant Professor in Sustainable Innovation and Transitions at TU Delft, presented at the Circular Industries Talks. Jaco gave us a look into developments in the world of circular industries and the energy transition.
TU Delft Circularity Lab: a TPM perspective on circular industries and circularity of the energy transition.
The circular economy concept has gained increasing attention over the last years. Subsequently, support has been growing: the European Commission, national governments, and small and large businesses have endorsed the circular economy. Yet the transition towards the circular economy is slow; only 8.6% of the global economy is currently circular, a situation worse than 2 years ago.
Circularity and Circular Economy are important concepts, but can be criticised for instrumental view on consumers and limited attention for justice, social aspects and alternative economic models.
The circular economy is an important component to achieving sustainability and climate neutrality. Besides that, it can support economic recovery from the Covid crisis, and endows regions and cities with greater resilience to economic and environmental shocks. All the more reasons to pursue circular economy strategies and research. See Jaco Quist's key points or the recording of his presentation below for more ideas on these topics:
Key points
- Circularity and Circular Economy are important concepts, but can be criticised for instrumental view on consumers and limited attention for justice, social aspects and alternative economic models.
- Circularity transition (also referred to as materials transition) and energy transition are both needed for sustainable prosperity and strongly related, but the circularity transition needs more priority as the energy transition is ahead.
- Circularity and Circular Economy are quickly growing topics at TU Delft and at the Faculty of Technology, Policy Management (TPM)
- A TU-wide CE network and platform is being developed
- At TPM, Delft Circularity Lab@TPM has been started focusing on Circular Industries & Business Parks, Circularity of the Energy Transition, ICT for circularity, Resource/circular justice and value aspects, Circular Innovation & Entrepreneurship
- The TPM perspective on CE entails an interdisciplinary socio-technical system perspective on the transition to a Circular Economy
- The research approach in the TPM Delft Circularity Lab uses co-creation with stakeholders to developing CE scenarios and visions for larger socio-technical systems, such as industries, supply chains, eco-industrial & business parks, and (renewable) energy systems as a basis for socio-technical modelling and simulation that can be used for serious gaming and capacity building with stakeholders and in education, as well as development of CE-relevant tools and methods.
- Further development of research collaboration and exchange within TU Delft and LDE is important.
About Jaco Quist
Jaco Quist is an assistant professor in Sustainable Innovation and Transitions at the Energy & Industry Section of the Technology, Policy & Management Faculty, Delft University of Technology. His research and teaching evolves around sustainable innovation and transitions, in particular around visions, participatory backcasting and transition management.
Curious about Jaco Quist's talk?
The Circular Industries talks
The goal of the Circular Industries talks is to share knowledge across Leiden, Delft and Erasmus and to complement and deepen the knowledge already available within the Circular Industries Hub. The talks are organized on Wednesday morning from 10:00 to 11:00. The talks are online (Microsoft Teams).