Embracing Circular Electronics: A Business Imperative

Innovative electronics play a critical role in enabling the transition towards sustainability, impacting diverse application areas such as value chain and device interconnectedness, automation, energy regulation, monitoring, traceability and not to mention AI. Electronics facilitate the collection, consolidation, analysis, and generation of decision-support data, allowing for the efficient control and optimization of applications and processes. We’ll need it to be sustainable in everything we do. 

Key circular electronics themes on the table

The electronics industry is not only an enabler of sustainable solutions but also faces its own set of sustainability challenges and opportunities:

• The concepts of green, bio-based and circular electronics emerge as a pivotal aspect. 
• Designing for product longevity is a key circular principle. This may clash with leveraging the benefits of the latest components. 
• There is great industrial expertise in designing for longevity in contrast to the rapid obsolescence observed in consumer electronics. 
• The integration of electronics and mechanics, while promoting compact designs, poses challenges for disassembly, reuse, and recycling. 
• The phase-out of hazardous substances may impact the performance of electronic components.
• There is a need for new and profitable circular business models that favor product longevity, component reuse and value retention. 
• The increasing volume of electronic waste is a significant challenge.
• Extensive collaboration along the value chain will be needed to succeed. 

Circular is the way forward

As the electronics industry grapples with sustainability challenges along the whole value chain, embracing circular practices becomes an essential step towards longevity, efficiency, and maintaining global competitiveness. Hence the future of electronics lies not only in technological innovation but also in business model transformation through the responsible and sustainable integration of these innovations into our daily lives. 

The shift towards circular electronics is not just an environmental imperative but a strategic business move that concerns the whole organization as well as its business model. And don’t forget, the greatest risk to your business is doing business as usual, when everything else changes. 

Launch of the Circular Business Lab for Electronics

On January 31^st The Circular Business Lab at RISE launched its Circular Electronics Initiative. The Circular Business Lab at RISE is a membership-based collaborative space for companies that want to accelerate their circular transition journeys. The Lab is backed by the full and broad research expertise of RISE in the areas of electronics and circularity. If you want to talk membership - send us us a message from the Circular Business Lab website https://www.ri.se/en/circularbusinesslab. We'll be in touch!

Some additional good reads:

Circular Business Lab: https://www.ri.se/en/circularbusinesslab

Svensk elektronik – en ledare i den gröna omställningen (in Swedish only): https://etn.se/index.php/nyheter/70631-las-nya-agendan.html

Sustainable electronics: https://www.ri.se/en/what-we-do/expertises/sustainable-electronics

Development and certification of electronics: https://www.ri.se/en/what-we-do/electronics

HyPELignum - Making greener electronics using wood materials: https://www.ri.se/en/what-we-do/projects/hypelignum-making-greener-electronics-using-wood-materials

SUSMAGPRO: https://www.ri.se/en/what-we-do/projects/susmagpro

Greener electronics - a necessary opportunity: https://www.ri.se/en/what-we-do/projects/greener-electronics-a-necessary-opportunity

Design för cirkularitet ger elektronikprodukter och material längre livslängd (in Swedish only): https://www.ri.se/sv/berattelser/design-for-cirkularitet-ger-elektronikprodukter-och-material-langre-livslangd

Recycling and circularity of batteries: https://www.ri.se/en/what-we-do/recycling-and-circularity-within-batteries

Förlängt liv för IT-produkter (in Swedish only): https://www.ri.se/sv/berattelser/forlangt-liv-for-it-produkter

POPFREE Industry - Towards a PFAS-free and circular industry: https://www.ri.se/en/popfree/popfree-industry

CIRPASS - Shaping the future of the Digital Product Passport: https://www.ri.se/sv/vad-vi-gor/projekt/cirpass-shaping-the-future-of-the-digital-product-passport