Events

PLATE (Product Lifetimes and the Environment), the 3rd international conference to address product lifetimes in the context of sustainability will be held September 18-20, 2019 in Berlin, Germany, organised by Fraunhofer IZM in cooperation with Technische Universität Berlin.

Scope

PLATE aims to address the tremendous impacts of product lifetimes on the environment. The biannual conference brings together academics, industry, civil society and policy makers working in the field of sustainability and focusing on a variety of products like electronics, textiles, furniture and vehicles.

While discussions on product lifetimes have been going on for a number of years, the topic has come to the forefront of current political, scientific & societal debates due to its interconnectedness with a number of prominent movements of the last years like Circular Economy, collaborative consumption, DIY and maker communities as well as ecodesign. The 2019 PLATE conference encompasses these topics and will embrace a multi-disciplinary perspective including design, geography, technology, business, anthropology, economics, marketing, psychology, law and public policy. Specifically, we welcome submissions of abstracts for paper or poster presentations on the following or related topics:

1. Product lifetimes and product design
2. Circular Economy and circularity in business
3. Sustainable production and consumption
4. Sharing economy and collaborative consumption
5. Repair, DIY and maker communities
6. Policy, regulation and legislation for product longevity
7. Premature obsolescence and product lifetime optimisation
8. Obsolescence 4.0 – Digitalisation and product lifetimes

PLATE 2019 will offer a great variety of high-quality presentations, interesting keynotes, exciting workshops and side-events, a PhD-workshop and many opportunities for transdisciplinary exchange and networking.

Conference schedule

• Wednesday, September 18, 2019
  Starting 12.30 – Day 1 – Opening keynotes, sessions and reception (a PhD-workshop will be scheduled in the morning)
• Thursday, September 19, 2019
  Day 2 – Oral and poster sessions, keynotes, workshops, pop-up repair exhibition and workshop, science slam, conference dinner
• Friday, September 20, 2019
  Day 3 – Sessions, closing keynote, farewell drinks