An Assessment Approach to Circular Business Models within an Industrial Ecosystem for Sustainable Territorial Development

In this work, the authors have made an attempt to develop a methodological approach to substantiate the socio-economic efficiency of enterprise performance within an industrial ecosystem in the context of a circular economy. The proposed approach has been verified via a case study of the industrial ecosystem in Novokuznetsk city. Based on the calculations, it has been evidenced that the creation of an industrial ecosystem in the region where the city is located would eliminate area sources of pollution and improve the quality of life of the population, which would advance regional sustainable development and strengthen territorial attractiveness for citizens. Thus, having used the proposed methodology, the prospects for the implementation of circular business models by enterprises in order to increase the efficiency of resource use and balanced and sustainable economic development of a territory have been substantiated. The transition to a circular economy can support the creation of favorable environmental conditions and increase the local community resilience, well-being, and quality of life.

Strategic Management of Industrial Ecosystems Based on the Platform Concept

Aim. The presented study aims to develop a structural model for industrial ecosystem management and to propose strategies for the industrial ecosystem orchestrator.Tasks. The authors systematize the landscape of existing research in the field of ecosystems; identify the problem and determine the research gap; develop the concept of ecosystem entity; determine the specific features of industrial ecosystem management; develop a structural model for industrial ecosystem management based on the platform concept; recommend strategies for the industrial ecosystem orchestrator.Methods. This study uses general scientific methods (synthesis, generalization, content analysis, graphical data interpretation), economic and statistical methods (correlation and regression analysis, mathematical statistics, expert methods, principal components analysis, hierarchical agglomerative clustering). As part of a study of economic sectors and digital technologies, the market structure is analyzed, and the dynamics of development indicators of digitalization processes is described.Results. The landscape of modern ecosystem research, types and properties of ecosystems, the composition of actors and exchange resources by ecosystem type are systematized, the concept of ecosystem entity is developed, and the specific features of industrial ecosystem management are determined. A structural model for industrial ecosystem management is developed. Four strategies for the industrial ecosystem orchestrator are recommended: increasing value, building trust, activating industrial ecology, institutionalization.Conclusions. In the context of digital transformation, it is advisable to implement strategic management of industrial ecosystems based on the platform concept. The results of managing an industrial ecosystem with the orchestrator function include enhancing the maturity and integration potential of synergetic interaction in the ecosystem, maintaining a high level of coherence (consistency) between actors at different hierarchical levels, creating long-term value and improving the quality of life.

Assessing Urban Metabolism through MSW Carbon Footprint and Conceptualizing Municipal-Industrial Symbiosis—The Case of Zaragoza City, Spain

This paper proposes a holistic vision of the urban metabolism (UM), viewing the city as a subsystem within an industrial ecosystem (IE) in which municipal-industrial symbiosis is essential to achieve sustainability goals. For this purpose, the metabolism of a large Spanish city, Zaragoza, was studied by analyzing the main fractions of its MSW. A methodology based on carbon footprint (CF) was developed to analyze the environmental impact—in terms of CO2—of the influence of households’ behavior, the City Council’s strategies, and the main MSW fractions. Zaragoza’s IE represents a footprint of 931,250 CO2 tons for the fractions studied, of which 438,000 CO2 tons are due to organic fraction, 180,371 to plastics and 154,607 to paper and cardboard, which are the three most significant contributors. If households selectively separated 100% of their waste, the footprint would drop to 648,660 tons of CO2. Furthermore, monetary savings were quantified through the CO2 emissions price. The proposed methodology accounts for the CF of the whole IE, not just the city. Moreover, it enables the creation of Sankey diagrams to visualize the distribution of emissions of each subsystem, highlighting the importance of cooperation between the city and its recycling industries to reduce its CF.

The economics of forest bioeconomy: new results

We examine the emerging forest bioeconomy as an integrated multi-product industrial ecosystem, where the traditional pulp mills allocate the use of side streams to independent biochemical companies manufacturing bioproducts in the vicinity of the pulp mills. Biochemical companies benefit from the proximity by receiving wood-based side streams at lower costs and pulp mills from having a new source of revenue from selling side streams. We focus on the economic interaction between the pulp mill and the biochemical company, and study the impacts on the use of wood and profits under perfect and imperfect competition. We demonstrate that the new industrial ecosystem uses more wood than traditional pulp mills, but, depending on the side stream, it may promote cascading use of wood-based side streams.

Sustainable Smart Cities and Industrial Ecosystem: Structural and Relational Changes of the Smart City Industries in Korea

This paper examines the changing industrial ecosystem of smart cities in Korea using both input–output and structural path analysis from 1960 to 2015. The industry type of the input–output tables used in the Bank of Korea was reclassified into nine categories: Agriculture and Mining, Traditional Manufacturing, IT Manufacturing, Construction, Energy, IT Services, Knowledge Services, Traditional Services and other unclassified. The paper identified the changing patterns of an industrial ecosystem of smart cities in Korea. The study found that smart industries such as smart buildings and smart vehicles are anchor industries in Korean smart cities, and they are positively correlated with three other industries: IT Manufacturing, IT Services and Knowledge Services. The results of the input–output and structural path analysis show that the conventional industrial structure of labor-intensive manufacturing and diesel and petroleum cars has been transformed to the emerging high-tech industries and services in smart cities. Smart industries such as IT Manufacturing, IT Services and Knowledge Services have led to sustainable national economic growth, with greater value-added than other industries. The underlying demand for smart industries in Korea is rapidly growing, suggesting that other industries will seek further informatization, automatization and smartification. Consequently, smart industries are emerging as anchor industries which create value chains of new industries, serving as accelerators or incubators, for the development of other industries.

Engineering human-focused Industrial Cyber-Physical Systems in Industry 4.0 context

The world is increasingly interconnected, and this can also be seen in industry, where an ecosystem of digitalized assets, and humans with appropriate digital interfaces, constantly interact with each other. Digital transformation efforts in the industry rely on Industrial Cyber-Physical Systems that are driven by service-based cooperation among humans and digitalized industrial assets. This implies a radical paradigm change in their engineering and operation, which is focused on the symbiosis of digitalized assets and humans that cohabit a collaboration-driven industrial ecosystem. This work discusses how a digital transformation can effectively be achieved in an industrial ecosystem via a digitalization process performed along the three dimensions of the Reference Architecture Model for Industry 4.0, facilitated by the specification, development and implementation of an Asset Administration Shell. The discussion focus is put on humans and how the digitally transformed industrial environments empower her/his capabilities and interactions. It is also critically pointed out how one should go beyond technology and consider additional aspects. Therefore, it is argued that human-centred efforts in Industry 4.0 (I4.0) should be seen in the larger context of sustainability and circular economy in order to properly consider the interplay of the involved socio-technical dimensions. This article is part of the theme issue ‘Towards symbiotic autonomous systems’.

Industrial revolution 4.0: What should be prepared for the next stage?

This article aims to analyze the opportunities and challenges in the era of the industrial revolution 4.0. This research is a descriptive study with a qualitative approach and uses the literature study method. This study indicates that the opportunities in the era of the industrial revolution 4.0 are in the industrial ecosystem, which is increasingly open, and the challenges are focused on the readiness of human resources. This study formulates that to prepare competitive human resources in the era of the 4.0 industrial revolution, learning in tertiary institutions must be oriented towards a) inter-multi discipline; b) problem solving oriented; c) interpersonal skills, and d) innovation based on technology.

Canvas model of the mining regions’ industrial ecosystem based on a circular economy

In order to elaborate the concept of an industrial ecosystem for circular economy for old industrial coal mining regions in Ukraine, we apply Corrine Beaumont's Lean Tribe Canvas model. The concept is based on combination of several approaches, including smart shrinking, urban mines, smart specialisation. The main idea of this concept is to organize an integrated industrial ecosystem for processing of accumulated waste of coal mining and enrichment for decades using innovative technologies for retrieving energy and other products during waste processing, as well as restructuring abandoned housing and unused industrial infrastructure. This should slow down decline of mining settlements, allow to reducing effects of anthropogenic impact on the environment in these regions, as well as mitigate social tension in the places where closed coal mines and related businesses were located. The mining town of Bílytske in Donetsk oblast was chosen as an example to assess technical, social and economic feasibility of a project based on the stated concept.

From Economical Evolution to Industrial Revolution: Developing an IoT Based Co-creation Ecosystem

Recently, the concept of the Internet of things (IoT) has flourished and attracted many start-ups to invest in related industries. However, start-ups and new businesses often face challenges in initial development. The subject of this study, NewGreen (NewGreen Tech Co., Ltd), is an air quality sensor start-up that has operated for 3 years. NewGreen has connected air quality operators and experts from various fields, established databases, and combined air quality detection with equipment improvement to create a sensor, product, system, and platform chain, to promote the formation of an industrial ecosystem that co-creates value eventually. The company now works with the international brand “Acer” and obtained investment from the data network product manufacturer “Edimax”. This study analyzed NewGreen’s business development history, including sensor, product, system, platform, and Industrial Ecosystem, to observe how the company react rapidly to adapt itself to the resource and environment in the aspects of its strategic agility, enterprise resource bricolage, exploration toward new opportunity and exploitation on enterprise itself. The study results can serve as a reference for start-ups engaged in IoT technology development.