Assessing the Role of Big Data and the Internet of Things on the Transition to Circular Economy: Part I

Abstract

The debate about circular economy (CE) is increasingly present in the strategic agenda of organisations around the world, being driven by government agencies and general population pressures, or by organisations’ own vision for a sustainable future. This is due in part to the increasing possibility of turning original theoretical CE proposals into real economically viable initiatives, now possible with modern technology applications such as big data and the internet of things (IoT). Information technology (IT) professionals have been called upon to incorporate technology projects into their strategic plans to support their organisations’ transition to CE, but a structured framework with the necessary IT capabilities still lacks. This study focuses on taking the first step towards this path, by extending the technology attributes present on the existing Ellen MacArthur Foundation (EMF) Regenerate, Share, Optimise, Loop, Virtualise and Exchange (ReSOLVE) framework. The research was conducted based on an extensive literature review through 226 articles retrieved from Scopus® and Web of ScienceTM databases, which were triangulated, validated and complemented with content analysis using the ‘R’ statistical tool, grey literature research and inputs from specialists. Part I describes the introduction and methods used in this study.

Circular economy‐based new products and company performance: The role of stakeholders and Industry 4.0 technologies

“…This finding indicates that CPD can be favored by the adoption of Industry 4.0 technologies. Besides adding new findings to the NPD and innovation technology literature, this result is aligned with previous studies (Nobre & Tavares, 2019; Rosa et al, 2020), which have pointed out that the adoption of these emerging technologies can contribute to the integration of CE in companies.…”

“…Moreover, as the Ellen MacArthur Foundation has pointed out, AI can accelerate the transition towards a CE at scale, offering substantial improvements into areas such as product design, operations, and infrastructure optimization (Ellen MacArthur Foundation, 2019). Big Data and IoT were also relevant technologies, even supporting the literature that points to IoT technology alongside the collection of a large amount of data (Nobre & Tavares, 2019;Rosa et al, 2020).…”

“…Within the field of emerging technologies, Industry 4.0 has introduced companies to the IoT or cyber‐physical systems, which have revolutionized inter‐equipment communication—through the internet and data storage in cloud computing, augmented and virtual reality, simulation and virtualization of production, among other technologies (Ávila‐Gutiérrez et al, 2019). IoT technology also allows companies to collect a large amount of data, usually called Big Data (Nobre & Tavares, 2019; Rosa et al, 2020). Thus, Big Data combined with appropriate analytics can advance management directed towards the CE by feeding sustainability‐oriented decision‐making processes with information on environmental impact throughout a product's life cycle (Kamble et al, 2021), also contributing to reuse, waste reduction, and product recycling (Awan et al, 2021).…”

Green Transition: The Frontier of the Digicircular Economy Evidenced from a Systematic Literature Review

“…In this cluster belong the manuscripts that expressly propose the use of technologies to promote the principles of the CE [55][56][57][58]. Table 12 summarizes a classification of documents by year, type of publication and main focus.…”

Circular Economy and Digital Technologies: A Review of the Current Research Streams

“…It includes journals on industrial and organization management, applied science, strategy and logistics, information technology, and communication. Considering the initial stage of researchers on this topic, the major of the studies explores the connection between I4.0 and CE concepts (e.g.,Nobre and Tavares, 2017, 2020b, 2020aChauhan, Sharma and Singh, 2019;Rosa et al, 2020). Additionally, some studies debate technology employment to a specific process.…”