Circular Economy, Bioeconomy and Regenerative Systems

Introduction & advanced study

The participants:
• analyze concepts and principles of the circular economy and the bioeconomy and critically assess their ecological, economic and social interactions.
• characterize and evaluate models of regenerative systems and derive their significance for sustainable transformation processes in a comprehensible way.
• examine material and value chains with regard to resource efficiency and circularity and develop optimization options.
• model systemic relationships between natural and technical cycles and translate them into integrated transformation approaches.
• reflect on the potentials and limitations of circular and bio-based economic models and discuss trade-offs between sustainability, economic viability and social acceptance.

Fundamentals of sustainability management

- Concepts and principles of the circular economy and the bioeconomy
- Regenerative systems and their role in sustainable transformation processes
- Material and value chains in the context of resource efficiency and circularity
- Systemic relationships between natural and technical cycles
- Potentials, limitations and trade-offs of circular and bio-based economic models
- Modeling and assessment of circular and regenerative systems approaches

- Fet, A. M. (Ed.). (2023). Business Transitions: A Path to Sustainability: The CapSEM Model. Springer International Publishing. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-22245-0
- Fischer, M., Foord, D., Frecè, J., Hillebrand, K., Kissling-Näf, I., Meili, R., Peskova, M., Risi, D., Schmidpeter, R., & Stucki, T. (2023). Sustainable Business: Managing the Challenges of the 21st Century. Springer International Publishing. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-25397-3
- Lehtimäki, H., Aarikka-Stenroos, L., Jokinen, A., & Jokinen, P. (Eds). (2024). The Routledge handbook of catalysts for a sustainable circular economy. Routledge, Taylor & Francis Group.
- Lewandowski, I., Gaudet, N., Lask, J., Maier, J., Tchouga, B., & Vargas-Carpintero, R. (Eds). (2018). Bioeconomy: Shaping the transition to a sustainable, biobased economy (1st edition 2018). Springer Open. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-68152-8
- Mavropoulos, A., & Nilsen, A. W. (2020). Industry 4.0 and circular economy: Towards a wasteless future or a wasteful planet? Wiley.
- Thrän, D., & Moesenfechtel, U. (Eds). (2022). The bioeconomy system. Springer Berlin Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-662-64415-7
- Weetman, C. (2021). A circular economy handbook: How to build a more resilient, competitive and sustainable business (Second edition). Kogan Page.

Portfolio examination

German

5

Lectures, discussions, exercises, case studies, group work, field trip

2