where design meets environmental science
Design doesn´t end at the product
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+ Design research and circular strategies
+ Life-cycle assessment and ecodesign
+ Product design compliant with upcoming regulation
+ Circular innovations and sustainable technologies
+ Trainings and implementation
The Circular Design Lab is part of Fraunhofer IZM Berlin, located in a former AEG factory, where electronics were already produced over a century ago. The lab is part of the “Environmental and Reliability Engineering” department and brings together technology development, design, life-cycle thinking, and circular economy principles.
more infoWe combine human-centred design and life-cycle thinking with newest insights from applied research to develop sustainable technologies and products, as well as business, service and ecosystem solutions.
With our experience in identifying user needs, customer demands, upcoming legislation and societal trends we help you to define requirements and translate them into sustainable technology solutions that contribute to a circular economy.
How to identify the interconnected barriers for the uptake of post-consumer recycled plastics along the life cycle
The challenge was to understand the “chicken and egg” issue that available post consumer recycled plastics (PCR plastic) is not fitting the quality requirements of OEMs in the electronic sector und thus demand is low. For a complex recycling system where everything from material flows and consumer behaviour to technology, policy, and market dynamics are interconnected, we identified stakeholder related barriers both on demand and supply side (take-back, collection, recycling, use of recycled plastics, and customer acceptance). Based on this, we created a causal loop diagram that explains the interdependencies. The helped us to identify leverage points and technical, economic, social and regulatory interventions to shift the system towards higher availability of PCR plastic and more demand. The causal loop diagram created a common system understanding among the stakeholders along the value chain and helped to identify legal, economic, technical and social interventions having the highest leverage to shift the system towards more use of recycled plastics.
Aluminium based multifunctional Wi-fi Router
ALU4CED is redefining the future of sustainable electronics. This Polish–German research initiative is developing next‑generation multifunctional aluminium housings that replace traditional plastic casings in ICT devices. By integrating 5G LDS antennas, sensors, UI elements, thermal management, and structural functions into a single recyclable aluminium enclosure, the project enables truly circular, high‑performance, long‑lasting electronics with minimal environmental impact. The project combines eco‑design, LCA‑driven development, and advanced manufacturing to create a mono‑material, modular, high‑integration housing that is easy to assemble, disassemble, repair, and recycle.
The ALU4CED demonstrator showcases how functionality meets ecology through modular electronics, fast dismantling, fewer parts, lower CO₂ emissions, and high material recovery at end‑of‑life.
Development of Eco2design process
We supported the development of sustainable electronics pilot product within the EU KDT Chips project SUSTRONICS using an LCA based approach. Within the project it was investigated, how the LCA based approach and the eco-design decisions influenced the development of circular business models. Based on those insights, we created a Eco2design process that aligns life-cycle-assessment and ecodesign with technology development, Circular Business Model development and the creation and operationalization of a circular value network. This interconnected and iterative process helps to align new sustainable product development with the creation of a circular business and value proposition – instead of interpreting sustainability as added costs with low added value, the process helps to create business opportunities through sustainable technology and product innovation.
Sensing Emission, Citizen Science approach torwards better crowd based emission sensing and communication.
A mobile NO2 measuring device developed by Scholz & Volkmer in Wiesbaden was used to enable air quality to be measured in a decentralized, 'crowd-based' manner by citizens and to visualize the relative distribution of city pollution in the form of a map.
The sensor network will enable citizens to contribute to collecting and using emission data, creating greater transparency for citizens about local emission levels and to control or change their individual mobility behavior.
Rethinking of Fashion in Research and Artistic collaboration for Urban Manufacturing
We supported 6 Teams in the creation of sustainable wearable artefacts. Our Support included eco-design sprints, development of eco-design criteria, support in the selection of sustainable materials and technologies – especially related to e-textiles or electronic devices.
We accompanied the teams along their research and development process in order to optimize the selection of technologies and materials with respect to their environmental performance along the life-cycle.
Togehter with design centres and leading service design agencies we developed methods that help designers and environmental experts to design product and service offers for the Circular Economy.
The design phase is crucial for any innovation and the development of sustainable business practices. Decisions taken in this pahse determine the sustainability across all life cycles. New technologies, communication means and deriving servitizable operations open up entirely new opportuinites for circular business models. The toolkit supports in idetifiying them and translating them into feasible strategies and actionable design concepts.
A pharmaceutical supplier was interested in how to make consumer goods for the pharmaceutical industry more sustainable.
In order to anchor life cycle thinking in the development teams, we worked with the teams to create a simplified life cycle analysis (LCA) for two products and supported the data collection process (life cycle inventory). Based on the "hotspots" of the environmental impact, we identified eco-design measures at product level together with the development teams in a workshop. We calculated the reduction potential of the measures to check their impact. We handed over the LCA model to the team so that they could continue working with it. We also translated the findings from the LCA into a generalised ecodesign guideline for development. We presented the procedure and the results of the project to other product developers in a short training session. We also identified measures at a strategic and operational level to stabilise eco-design as a process within the company. These were presented and discussed in a management meeting.
The Modest Circular Smartphone vision was a joint project of TU Berlin's MoDeSt Project and the Fraunhofer Circular Design Lab. Inspired by „Cultural Probe“ user studies we made use of our department's extensive expertise in sustainable electronics and circular design to invent two iconic concepts for future smartphones. Both address environmental along with user challenges and are ready for a circular economy.
Fraunhofer Institute for Reliability and Microintegration IZM