Web-based platforms in support of industrial symbiosis Initiatives. A bibliometric review

The main purpose of this contribution is to depict most promising web-based solutions in terms of best configuration for symbiotic network. By examining 10 existing and functioning Wb-platforms of which only some have been previously explored in the previous literature, the paper aims at underling main contributions that platforms can provide to industrial symbiosis. Thanks to a mixed research method, the paper shows that the most promising way for enhancing Wb-platforms within industrial symbiosis framework is to consider multiple platforms for integrating the results obtained from the different platforms and for assessing multi-criteria procedures

Boosting co-creation practices in makespaces to support the design of more empowering and circular food systems at a neighbourhood scale

International audienceThe Fab Lab network is newly engaged in several projects that involve the idea of rethinking sustainability, re-localizing manufacturing and promoting a collaborative learning culture. Fab Labs, as makespaces, are now perceived as key spaces for actively developing practical knowledge and create interactions with local stakeholders toward a more sustainable and redistributed manufacturing. In this respect, makespaces are encouraged to redefine its relationship with the local ecosystem by exploring questions such as: What are the effective interactions with local communities? How to build local interventions for enabling more emerging futures? The paper aims at exploring what could be the role of co-creation in local context actions and what could be the community services developed in collaboration with makespaces for supporting the transition towards more circular cities. The results are based on an ongoing action-research at Fab Lab Barcelona called "El Barri Circular", which is designed in the frame of the EU-SISCODE project 1 as a 18 th month co-creation process about circular practices in the neighbourhood of Poblenou. This pilot has been engaging local stakeholders to create synergies in the specific context of food. The pilot used a set of design and co-creation methodologies to support a transition towards re-valuing surplus food and bio-waste at the neighbourhood scale. Over the project, El Barri Circular has collaborated with local km0 restaurants, cooperatives, local associations, urban gardens, and makers' community and engaged more specifically with three circular community projects connected to the food value chain: food waste redistribution, bio-waste-based material development and collective composting. Four interdependent types of community services for circular systems were imagined, and will now be co-produced and tested at the neighbourhood level: a set of learning and co-designed activities to support the local design and production of dedicated tools, a logistical service for food waste collection-processing and community engagement and an environmental monitoring system that measures the flow of materials, energy and resources in the local food system. The project outputs will be discussed within broader networks and feed a collective handbook that will contribute to envision the design of new circular practices in makespaces and thus, shape new forms of learning in local areas

Implementation Barriers of Industrial Symbiosis: A Systematic Review

Industrial Symbiosis is a regional inter-firm approach towards a more sustainable industry. However, the implementation of industrial symbiosis is hampered by a multitude and variety of barriers. Although, prior work has dealt with identifying barriers, an encompassing overview is missing to date. Therefore, this study provides a comprehensive overview and description of barriers of industrial symbiosis by reviewing the scientific literature. Barriers were identified and grouped through content analysis. In total, ca. 400 barriers for the implementation of industrial symbiosis were identified and categorized into three main categories and nine subcategories. The insights gained can be used to develop strategies and tools for further development and advancement of current industrial symbiosis practice to overcome existing barriers

Sustainable operations of industrial symbiosis: an enterprise input-output model integrated by agent-based simulation

Industrial symbiosis (IS) is a key for implementing circular economy. Through IS, wastes produced by one company are used as inputs by other companies. The operations of IS suffers from uncertainty barriers since wastes are not produced upon demand but emerge as secondary outputs. Such an uncertainty, triggered by waste supply-demand quantity mismatch, influences IS business dynamics. Accordingly, companies have difficulty to foresee potential costs and benefits of implementing IS. The paper adopts an enterprise input-output model providing a cost–benefit analysis of IS integrated to an agent-based model to simulate how companies share the total economic benefits stemming from IS. The proposed model allows to explore the space of cooperation, defined as the operationally favourable conditions to operate IS in an economically win-win manner. This approach, as a decision-support tool, allows the user to understand whether the IS relationship is created and how should the cost-sharing policy be. The proposed model is applied to a numerical example. Findings show that cost-sharing strategies are dramatically affected by waste supply-demand mismatch and by the relationship between saved and additional costs to run IS. Apart from methodological and theoretical contributions, the paper proposes managerial and practical implications for business strategy development in IS

An assessment of European information technology tools to support industrial symbiosis

Industrial symbiosis (IS) has proven to bring collective benefits to multiple stakeholders by minimising underutilised resources, sharing knowledge and improving business and technical processes. In Europe alone, over €130 million have been invested since 2006 in research projects that enable IS by developing a methodology, tool, software, platform or network that facilitates the uptake of IS by different economic actors. This paper discusses and assesses information technology (IT) developments for supporting IS in Europe, following the five-stage methodology of Grant et al. (2010). It provides guidance to the applicants and reviewers of publicly funded research projects by listing the developments and gaps in the newly developed IT tools for IS. Content analysis of publicly available information on 20 IS supporting IT tools reveals a strong focus on synergy identification but a lack of support for the implementation stage of IS. The paper indicates that a vast quantity of IT tools and knowledge is created during the IT tool development stage and newer IT tools now also include implicit information for identifying IS. It was found that successfully operational IT tools are either part of a national or local IS programme or owned by a private company. The paper ends with the recommendation that better mechanisms are needed to ensure that publicly funded IS-supporting IT tools successfully reach the market

Energy-based industrial symbiosis: a literature review for circular energy transition

Nowadays, industrial symbiosis (IS) is recognized as a key strategy to support the transition toward the circular economy. IS deals with the (re)use of wastes produced by a production process as a substitute for traditional production inputs of other traditionally disengaged processes. In this context, this paper provides a systematic literature review on the energy-based IS approach, i.e., IS synergies aimed at reducing the amount of energy requirement from outside industrial systems or the amount of traditional fuels used in energy production. This approach is claimed as effective aimed at reducing the use of traditional fuels in energy production, thus promoting a circular energy transition. 682 papers published between 1997 and 2018 have been collected, and energy-based IS cases have been identified among 96 of these. As a result of the literature review, three categories of symbiotic synergies have been identified: (1) energy cascade; (2) fuel replacement; and (3) bioenergy production. Through the review, different strategies to implement energy-based IS synergies are highlighted and discussed for each of the above-mentioned categories. Furthermore, drivers, barriers, and enablers of business development in energy-based IS are discussed from the technical, economic, regulatory, and institutional perspective. Accordingly, future research directions are recommended

A comprehensive review of industrial symbiosis

Industrial symbiosis, which allows entities and companies that traditionally be separated, to cooperate among them in the sharing of resources, contributes to the increase of sustainability with environmental, economic and social benefits. Examples of industrial symbiosis have grown over the years with increasing geographic dispersion. Thus, through a comprehensive review of previous studies, this work aims to trace the trend of industrial symbiosis research and to map the existing case studies around the world, with a critical analysis of its impact. The analysis of the 584 selected publications allowed tracing the evolution of these according to their content and the type of article, as well as its distribution by journals. Based on the literature review, the main lines for research in industrial symbiosis are assessed, as well as an updated study of the published case studies is provided with emphasis on the location, type of industry and employed methodologies. Several challenges are then identified for future research. The results reveal the number of articles on industrial symbiosis has greatly increased since 2007 and China is the country with the largest number of publications and cases of industrial symbiosis, followed by the United States. The methods for quantifying impacts and analysing industrial symbiosis networks were the most widely used. The analysis of the published case studies allowed an overview of the industrial symbiosis in the world and showed that the potential for application is enormous, both in developed countries and in countries with developing economies, and although the most present economic activities in the synergies are associated with the manufacturing sector, the possibilities of industrial symbiosis are not restricted to these activities nor to the number of entities involved. The symbioses between industry and the surrounding community also have great potential for development with numerous advantages for both parties.publishe

The current trends in industrial symbiosis and its potential implementation in Portuguese industrial parks

The negative effects of rising greenhouse gas emissions and resource consumption have driven countries to seek sustainable solutions that promote economic growth decoupled from rising emissions and rising resource consumption. In this context, industrial symbiosis, which consists of a collaborative approach between different entities involving the use of waste and by-products from one company as raw material in another company, can play an important role for sustainable development. With recognized environmental, economic and social benefits, this practice has been applied around the world, both in developed countries and in countries with developing economies. The main objective of this work is to contribute to the increase of the industrial symbiosis in Portugal, providing an analysis of the existing industrial symbiosis and establishing a series of recommendations and best practices to increase the number of synergies and improve those existing in Portugal. To achieve this main objective, other existing and potential cases of industrial symbiosis around the world have been compiled and analyzed in order to characterize the various synergy networks and to study factors that may inhibit or drive the creation and development of industrial symbiosis relationships. The results demonstrate the enormous potential of application of industrial symbiosis in Portugal. However, for the growth of this practice, various political, cultural and economic barriers have to be overcome and various measures have to be implemented.Os efeitos negativos do aumento das emissões de gases com efeito de estufa e do consumo de recursos têm impulsionado os países para a procura de soluções sustentáveis que promovam o crescimento económico dissociado do aumento das emissões e do aumento do consumo de recursos. Neste contexto, a simbiose industrial que consiste numa abordagem colaborativa entre diferentes entidades que envolve o uso de resíduos e subprodutos de uma empresa como matéria-prima em outra empresa, pode desempenhar um papel importante para o desenvolvimento sustentável. Com reconhecidos benefícios a nível ambiental, económico e social, esta prática tem sido aplicada um pouco por todo o mundo, quer em países desenvolvidos quer em países com economias em vias de desenvolvimento. O principal objectivo deste trabalho é contribuir para o aumento da simbiose industrial em Portugal, proporcionando uma análise da simbiose industrial existente e estabelecendo uma série de recomendações e melhores práticas para aumentar o número de sinergias e melhorar as existentes em Portugal. Para a concretização deste objectivo principal, outros casos de simbiose industrial existentes e potenciais em todo o mundo foram compilados e analisados a fim de caracterizar as várias redes de sinergia e estudar os factores que podem inibir ou impulsionar a criação e desenvolvimento das relações de simbiose industrial. Os resultados evidenciam o enorme potencial de aplicação da simbiose industrial em Portugal. Contudo, para o crescimento desta prática, várias barreiras políticas, culturais e económicas têm ainda que ser transpostas e várias medidas têm que ser implementadas