Transfer center for circular economy in the textile industry

The aim of the transfer center is the development and barrier-free dissemination of knowledge and concepts for a sustainable, holistic circular economy in cooperation with politics, science and society. The focus is on the recovery and reuse of textile waste for the regeneration of new textile fibers and the development of innovative business models for a sustainable circular economy.

The focus is on three central areas:

• Technological solutions: The team at the University of Innsbruck is developing processes for the recovery of fiber materials from textile waste for fiber-to-fiber recycling.
• Market and behavioral analyses: The Business Informatics Research Center and the Empirical Social Sciences research groups are analyzing consumer behavior and market potential for circular textile products.
• Circular business models: The Digital Business Transformation research group develops concepts for scalable business models, sustainable ecosystems and transformation paths towards a circular textile economy.

By closely combining technology development and market orientation, the transfer center aims to provide concrete impetus for companies, especially for economically viable and sustainable solutions for circular economy in the textile industry.

Voices from research:

FHV project managers provide insights into the topics they are driving forward at the new transfer center and the contribution their work is making to innovation and knowledge transfer in the region.

"The transfer center deals with solutions for strengthening the circular economy in the textile sector. The FHV's Business Informatics research centre is contributing its expertise to research how circular innovations can be implemented with the involvement of customers - with the aim of jointly solving social challenges by combining science, Business and Management," explains Steffen Finck, Business Informatics research centre at the FHV.

"The Digital Business Transformation research group at the FHV is developing viable business models and ecosystems as part of the Transfer Center for Circular Economy in the Textile Industry in order to successfully transfer technological innovations in material separation into the real cycles of the textile industry," describes Sabrina Schneider, Digital Business Informatics research group at the FHV.

"As the Empirical Social Sciences research group, we bring in the consumer's perspective. We want to understand how people think about circular textiles, what they need, what they expect and what prevents them from choosing sustainable products. For us, the project is an opportunity to bring science, business and society into conversation with each other - so that circular innovations really reach people," emphasizes Fabian Rebitzer, Empirical Social Sciences research group at the FHV.

Facts

Contact 

Dr. Sabrina SCHNEIDER Head of the Digital Business Transformation Research Group and Blum Endowed Professor +43 5572 792 3881 sabrina.schneider@fhv.at		Dr.-Ing. Steffen FINCK Senior Lecturer, Head of Competence Area  Software Engineering, Research Center Business Informatics +43 5572 792 7122 steffen.finck@fhv.at
Mag. Fabian Andreas REBITZER Head of the Research Group for Empirical Social Sciences, Unit for Diversity and Equal Treatment +43 5572 792 5307 fabian.rebitzer@fhv.at