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Foresight services to the European Commission

As part of the consortium led by the Austrian Institute of Technology, IFI supports the European Commission by providing “foresight on demand” services in science, technology, research and innovation policy.

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DG Research and Innovation has set-up a “Foresight-On-Demand” (FOD) mechanism to respond to the demand for quick inputs to policy-making, drawn on the best available foresight knowledge. FOD is aimed at offering Commission services with timely and effective support related to crisis situations, emerging risks, and policy challenges. The FOD services will include scanning and synthesis of foresight literature and data sources including horizon scanning, rapid foresight data collection and analysis, scenario building, and combinations of the above. Within this framework, IFI is providing foresight support among others to the Mission Boards, European Environmental Agency and the Commission Scientific Advisory Mechanism and SAPEA.

Digitalisation as the gear for circular economy

Totti Könnölä, experto en economía circular. FUNDACIÓN RAMÓN ARECES
Totti Könnölä, expert in circular economy. FUNDACIÓN RAMÓN ARECES

El Mundo, the leading newspaper in Spain, interviews Totti Könnölä on digitalisation and circular economy.

Totti Könnölä defends the role of ‘big data’, industry 4.0 or the economy and collaborative platforms as spurs to achieve economic and environmental sustainability.


A total of 16 tons. That is the amount of materials that each European consumes during a year. Of them, six tons end up turned into waste. And, of these, around 50% end up forgotten in a landfill with the consequent environmental impact and for the health of all.

This is an untenable situation for anyone with some common sense and who has driven political efforts of various kinds (recycling, restrictions on industrial waste, …), BUT often without addressing the root of the matter: the real nature of products and how they are generated, consumed and reused. We better talk about designing products thinking of their future beyond the life-cycle. To change our mindset from a model with beginning and end, to another where there are no extremes and everything flows forever.

“What we have now is a totally linear value chain, in contrast to what is being proposed by the circular economy: a systemic change that will allow us to reuse the products to create new ones and thus close the entire life cycle of the goods.“, Says Totti Könnölä, executive director of the Insight Foresight Institute. This man, whose life is halfway between Finland and Spain, is a recognized expert in innovation and sustainability.

The reason that the circular economy has not been firmly committed is that “typical chains have many actors and each of them seeks to optimize its business, but only does so with its share”. That inevitably results in a problem that is not technical (the recycling of materials takes years), but a business model. «The question is mainly organizational. Even in many cases, the waste is separated and then it ends up coming together again because it can not be used,” says Könnölä in an interview with INNOVADORES held at the Ramón Areces Foundation.

Faced with this panorama, marked by the dissonance between theory and practice, we asked Könnölä about the disruptor that makes this philosophy take off once and for all, not from production, but from survival as a species. «Digitization is key. Thanks to trends such as big data, we can take full traceability of the materials, know what their history is and how we can make better use of them, “he explains.

“concepts such as the collaborative platforms [e.g. Airbnb] allow better use of existing resources, avoiding the production of more goods than necessary. In addition, digitalization also facilitates that many products that were previously bought and sold, are now marketed as a service. By controlling the whole life cycle of the product, companies can design for future recycling or perform a more efficient preventive maintenance that reduces the need for spare parts.

Betting on the circular economy is the simplest solution to avoid reputational potholes derived from the purchase of materials (such as metals or minerals used in electronics) to countries in conflict, while reducing installed volatility in the commodity markets.

The platforms, adds this guru of the second opportunities, are especially interesting because, “as has happened with the music industry, intermediaries are removed from the chain, causing the different agents to abandon their traditional roles to connect or even be themselves both the producers and consumers of the same good ».

Some meeting points between two vertices can also be extended to the less glamorous area of ​​waste. “In Atlanta (USA) they have created a platform to coordinate the collection of garbage and make matching with companies that can take advantage of it. That is to make an innovative use of waste. turning the problem of garbage into tremendous opportunities ». If we add to this equation the 4.0 industry and its capacity to personalize products and adjust the use of materials to the maximum, we have the perfect bases to make the circular economy a reality. 

But first, as with any great revolution, we have to change our mentality. The citizens, of course, but also the companies. “As consumers we are vague, we do not look at the data where a product comes from and, furthermore, it is difficult to know. Now, with big data, we generate more information for users and that is an opportunity for companies that want to differentiate themselves in the market because of their transparency and trust, “Könnölä summarizes.
 
“Companies must also change the chip with what they understand with sustainability. For example, Apple boasts in its reports of the use of clean energy in its servers, but then uses different combinations of materials in its mobile phones that are very difficult to separate once their life cycle is over. Also, they prevent their equipment from opening easily, which makes it difficult to recycle other components. It is a question of your brand, but it is essential that you design your products thinking about their future uses.“
 
All this without forgetting the primary role of the public sector in these issues. “The Administration should guide and accelerate the adoption of the circular economy through environmental policies and reducing legal uncertainties in these matters. For example, stop crushing collaborative platforms and blocking new technological possibilities. But everything is a process of learning and continuous adaptation, not only in terms of the circular economy, but also for the digital economy and society in general”.

The interview available in English in El Mundo.

Find out also about our training on platforms.

Innovation, purchases and employment

Juan Mulet, the member of IFI Innovation Council writes in Cinco Dias, one of the leading economic daily papers in Spain on how innovation, purchase and employment are, or should be, connected.

The 1987 Nobel Prize for Economics, Robert Solow, proved that the four fifths of the United States economic growth of the first half of the past century, were the consequence of having improved the way in which the production factors were combined. Back in the days it was called a technical change, nowadays we would call it “innovation in its broadest sense”, or, as the economist prefer “total productivity of the factors” (TPF). Only the remaining fifth of the mentioned growth, was attributable to the increase in the use of capital and labour. According to the OECD, between 1985 and 2010, the contribution to the (TPF) to the GDP growth between 1985 and 2010 was of 72% in Germany, of 63% in South Korea and a 52% in France. This percentage represented only a 13% in Spain. It is obvious that our economy hasn´t experience the improvement in the use of capital and labour, one of its main ways and opportunities to grow…

Read the full article in Spanish.

image©cincodias

Sharing Economy…… End of the game?

A lot of businesses within the digital economy are structured around the so called digital platforms. Apple, Google, Amazon and Facebook are platforms, and up to a 70% of the new unicorns, with Uber leading them, as well. In USA and Asia the companies based in platforms represent a substantial part of the new digital economy. Surprisingly, Europe, contributes just a 4% in the total capitalization of the global platforms.

It is clear, that we should act in order for Europe to take advantage of what is still to come with the digital economy, which is a lot. That’s how the EC understands it, recently publishing two statements regarding the challenges and opportunities that the digital platforms represent for the European market; and also about the sharing economy.

Link to the full article in Spanish.