Industrial symbiosis enables companies to collaborate by exchanging resources such as energy, water, by-products, infrastructure, and services. Yet moving from individual exchanges to large-scale and resilient circular ecosystems requires more than technological solutions. It also calls for shared infrastructure, effective governance, viable business and financial models, stakeholder engagement, and digital decision-support tools.

Drawing on the Horizon Europe project entitled “Sustainable Circular Economy Transition: from Industrial Symbiosis to Hubs for Circularity (IS2H4C)”, this presentation will introduce the concept of Hubs for Circularity and explore how industrial symbiosis can be scaled up into regional ecosystems connecting industry, public authorities, knowledge institutions, and surrounding communities. Examples from four European demonstration hubs will illustrate how technological innovation and systemic collaboration can jointly support the transition towards resource-efficient, low-emission, and resilient industrial regions.

Potential thesis opportunities and company collaborations will be shared with students at the end of the presentation.

Short bio:

Devrim Murat Yazan is Full Professor of Sustainable Circular Economy at the University of Twente. With a background in industrial engineering, his research focuses on sustainable supply chain management, industrial symbiosis, circular business models, and the transition from linear industrial systems to circular ecosystems. He is the coordinator of IS2H4C, a €23.5 million Horizon Europe project involving 34 partners from nine countries and four European demonstration hubs. He also chairs the Resilience Research Theme at the University of Twente’s Faculty of Behavioural, Management and Social Sciences and is the founder of the Sustainable and Resilient Circular Economy Laboratory and Circular Economy Platform Twente.