Objective of R-evolve
The European Furniture Industry grapples with challenges such as rising raw material costs, escalating energy expenses, and declining demand due to inflation. Builidng upon stakeholder interest in circular design and sustainability, the adoption of the ESPR offers additional business opportunities.
R-evolve will develop CE-oriented Product-System Innovations in collaboration with stakeholders across the furniture value chains, including costumers (B2B, B2G and private consumers). These innovations include CE business models (CEBM) with corresponding product design, including secondary and bio-based material choices, and digital solutions like the Digital Product Passport, AI and online platforms. The aim is to extend furniture longevity, increase the uptake of safe secondary and biobased materials, facilitate industrial symbiosis, enhance recycling rates, as well as maintenance, repair, reuse, refurbishment, and remanufacturing rates.
System innovations with new roles and actors
CE-oriented Product-System Innovations are at the centre of the R-evolve project. They may involve one or more of the three key elements: a) CEBM, b) circular product design, and c) circular materials. All three elements are interconnected and influence each other. To create a CE-oriented innovation, R-evolve proceeds as follows:
1. The project starts with the development phase. In this phase, the project partners collect, analyse and develop product and service innovations that will help companies to increase the circularity of their business and to implement the DPP in their value chains.
2. In the second phase, R-evolve tests some of the strategies, models and solutions developed in the first phase in 9 pilots. The results of the pilots improve the results of the first phase and together R-evolve transforms the results of both phases into information and training materials on product-system innovation.
3. The third phase includes the impact assessment (environmental, economic and social impact) of the product-system innovations developed and tested in the pilots.
4. The fourth phase is the large-scale implementation of the product-system innovations in 50 companies from the furniture value chains. During the implementation, the partners provide support and monitor the activities of the companies and the results achieved.
5. In the fifth phase, R-evolve disseminate the results of the project to a wide range of stakeholders in order to mobilise both the companies and their consumers. In addition, R-evolve will convene relevant stakeholders and initiate a Community of Practice for a circular furniture industry. This collaborative effort aims to foster knowledge exchange and further advance sustainability within the sector.
The project is divided into 8 work packages, which can be seen in the following illustration. The sofia and itp:ne team work in depth on the DPP and take the lead in the task to develop a governance framework for the DPP in the furniture industry [WP2] and to develop policy recommendations [WP6]. In addition to this leading role, both, sofia and itp:ne, will support the consortium in many other tasks.
What makes R-evolve stand out?
The consortium ensures broad industry participation, with more than a third of the partners being European, national and regional furniture associations. Other partners include seven companies from the furniture sector (four of which are SMEs) and seven research institutions. In total, the consortium consists of 23 partners from seven EU countries.
The benefits of this comprehensive project are shown in the illustration to the right.
Project data
Project team
Prof. Dr. Martin Führ (sofia)
Dr. rer. nat. Silke Kleihauer (itp:ne)
Partner
IFZ, FLA, HDA, ALPLES, F5, LAGO, EHR, STYKKA, TAKT, VS, EFIC, AMBIT, CLA, dID, IBA, LDC, VDM, WIC, POLIMI, TECN, TECC, UNIFI, WI
Funding
Funded by the HORIZON program of the European Union
Duration
2024-2028
Contact
silke.kleihauer@h-da.de
martin.führ@h-da.de