The Circular Economy Consortium, led by Cambridge’s Centre for Human-Inspired Artificial Intelligence (CHIA) and the Department of Engineering, is building a trusted and efficient data ecosystem to address the fragmented and inconsistent landscape that currently limits progress towards a circular economy. The consortium’s mission is to create a robust data environment that enables trackable, comparable and actionable insights to inform and accelerate circular practices.

The transition to a circular economy is essential for a sustainable and resilient future. Yet across sectors, organisations continue to face barriers: inconsistent data standards, limited interoperability, and a lack of transparency make it difficult for businesses, investors, governments and consumers to make informed decisions. These challenges hinder the adoption of circular models and constrain the development of effective policy and investment strategies.

To address these issues, Professor Lili Jia, Head of the Sustainable Innovation Lab at CHIA and Internal Visitor to the Institute for Manufacturing (IfM), together with Professor Ioannis Brilakis, Laing O'Rourke Professor of Digital Civil Engineering, and Professor Steve Evans, Director of Research in Industrial Sustainability at the IfM, are establishing an inclusive, dynamic and innovative community for researchers, industry leaders and policymakers. Their shared goal is to design a trusted data ecosystem capable of supporting the widespread adoption of circular economy principles and enabling system-wide change.

This new consortium builds on the IfM’s longstanding commitment to connecting rigorous research with real-world industrial needs. Through cross-sector collaboration, the initiative aims to develop shared methodologies, improve data transparency, and support decision makers as they navigate the transition to more circular and sustainable systems. IfM Engage, the knowledge transfer arm of the IfM, will support the project through the facilitation of member workshops and continuous outreach.

Call for organisations to join the Circular Economy Consortium

The Circular Economy Consortium is now welcoming expressions of interest from organisations that wish to contribute to and benefit from this collaborative initiative.

Membership offers the opportunity to engage directly with leading researchers from CHIA, the Department of Engineering and the IfM, and to help shape the development of the shared data ecosystem that will underpin future circular economy practices.

Consortium members will have the chance to:

• Participate in jointly designed research programmes focused on priority circular economy challenges
• Inform the development of data standards, frameworks and tools
• Gain early access to emerging insights that can support strategic and operational decision-making
• Collaborate with a cross-sector network committed to advancing sustainable, circular innovation

The consortium welcomes partners from industry, government, NGOs and academia who are committed to building more transparent, resilient and sustainable systems.

Find out more about the consortium: https://sil.chia.cam.ac.uk/projects/consortium/ 

Register your interest: https://cambridge.eu.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_3sIGGEK1LxHpJEG