The potentials of digitalization for implementing circular economy – research lecture by Prof. Christoph Herrmann at SIMTech was followed by a fruitful discussion

14/10/2019 By

This year’s annual invited research lecture of Prof. Herrmann took place on the 3rd of October. It was presented under the headline of bringing together circular economy and industry 4.0 technologies. Great attendance with an audience from industry and research showed the interest and actuality of this topic. Prof. Herrmann, who has been appointed as a Visiting SIMTech Fellow at the Singapore Institute of Manufacturing Technology since 2012, addressed the question if digitalization is empowering the closing of material and energy flows. The 90-minute lecture was divided into two parts, whereby an overview on circular economy regarding motivation, challenges and strategies as well as on industry 4.0 was given first. The explanation of implementation examples in which digitization supported circular economy concepts offered the participants enough for a productive discussion during the interim break and an opportunity for networking.

For the second part of the talk, Prof. Herrmann chose the case of Electro mobility and traction batteries to illustrate the potential benefits within a current topic. The lecture offered an engineering perspective on the role of traction batteries and gave an insight into the importance of their recycling for the success of the electric-mobility age. At the end, the audience seized the opportunity to ask Prof. Herrmann further questions.

The research lecture was part of a 1-week visit of Prof. Herrmann in Singapore. The long-lasting collaboration and the strategic development of the research presence ISUrF-Hub at SIMTech were intensified and plans for joint activities elaborated. Falling together with a visit of a delegation from Lower Saxony including minister president Stephan Weil to Singapore, the visibility of ISUrF-Hub and the collaboration of TU Braunschweig and SIMTech were enhanced even further.