Industry 4.0 at the service of the circular economy
A recently published research study investigates the positive synergies between digital applications in productive processes and the latter’s environmental compatibility
Transitions: towards an increasingly digital economy and towards an increasingly “circular” one. Recognised paths that, though already intersecting in real life, nonetheless require to be supported by theoretical analyses focused on the synergetic relation between digitalisation and environmental care. This is what Derya Findik, Abdullah Tirgil and Fatih Cemil Özbuğday attempt to achieve with their recently published study entitled Industry 4.0 as an enabler of circular economy practices: Evidence from European SMEs.
The investigation takes its cue from an observation: while the investments of Industry 4.0 enterprises and the adoption of circular economy practices are seen as indispensable to a sustainable economy, the synergies deriving from their interaction have been much less systematically and empirically verified.
The overriding question is: which synergetic impact can the interaction between the investments concerning these two transformation paths of production organisations generate? An important question, whose answer is not trivial, even though, as the authors emphasise, it is expected that these “twin” transitions will mutually strengthen each other.
Focusing on small and medium companies, the research study examines the effects of Industry 4.0 technologies on their circular economy applications within the European Union and, indeed, the outcome of these econometric analyses corroborates a statistically significant positive impact of Industry 4.0 technologies on circular economy practices. However, Findik et al. go a step further, observing how these results indicate a need to prioritise, in economic policies, plans for the dissemination of Industry 4.0 components, in order to enhance and boost SMEs’ circular economy practices. Moreover, and from a more general standpoint, this work’s findings illustrates how Industry 4.0 technologies are indeed beneficial to companies’ environmental strategies, as well as digital and industrial ones.
Industry 4.0 as an enabler of circular economy practices: Evidence from European SMEs
Derya Findik, Abdullah Tirgil, Fatih Cemil Özbuğday
Journal of Cleaner Production, Volume 410.
A recently published research study investigates the positive synergies between digital applications in productive processes and the latter’s environmental compatibility
Transitions: towards an increasingly digital economy and towards an increasingly “circular” one. Recognised paths that, though already intersecting in real life, nonetheless require to be supported by theoretical analyses focused on the synergetic relation between digitalisation and environmental care. This is what Derya Findik, Abdullah Tirgil and Fatih Cemil Özbuğday attempt to achieve with their recently published study entitled Industry 4.0 as an enabler of circular economy practices: Evidence from European SMEs.
The investigation takes its cue from an observation: while the investments of Industry 4.0 enterprises and the adoption of circular economy practices are seen as indispensable to a sustainable economy, the synergies deriving from their interaction have been much less systematically and empirically verified.
The overriding question is: which synergetic impact can the interaction between the investments concerning these two transformation paths of production organisations generate? An important question, whose answer is not trivial, even though, as the authors emphasise, it is expected that these “twin” transitions will mutually strengthen each other.
Focusing on small and medium companies, the research study examines the effects of Industry 4.0 technologies on their circular economy applications within the European Union and, indeed, the outcome of these econometric analyses corroborates a statistically significant positive impact of Industry 4.0 technologies on circular economy practices. However, Findik et al. go a step further, observing how these results indicate a need to prioritise, in economic policies, plans for the dissemination of Industry 4.0 components, in order to enhance and boost SMEs’ circular economy practices. Moreover, and from a more general standpoint, this work’s findings illustrates how Industry 4.0 technologies are indeed beneficial to companies’ environmental strategies, as well as digital and industrial ones.
Industry 4.0 as an enabler of circular economy practices: Evidence from European SMEs
Derya Findik, Abdullah Tirgil, Fatih Cemil Özbuğday
Journal of Cleaner Production, Volume 410.