Periodic Reporting for period 1 - Circular TwAIn (AI Platform for Integrated Sustainable and Circular Manufacturing)
Reporting period: 2022-07-01 to 2023-12-31
The last years saw a surge of interest in cases for AI-based manufacturing such as predictive maintenance, quality and waste management and generative product design. Nevertheless, these cases are deployed independently from each other, do not make use of trusted AI and do not leverage data from circular value chains, in some cases barely digitized. This limits AI potential to enable a transition to holistic, end-to-end approach to sustainable manufacturing, to exploit the full potential of circular economy, while being acceptable and trusted by all stakeholders of the value chain.
Circular TwAIn is aimed to lower the barriers for all the stakeholders in manufacturing and process industry circular value chains to adopt and fully leverage trusted AI technologies, in ways that will enable end-to-end sustainability, i.e. from eco-friendly product and production processes design (i.e. ‘circularity by design’), to the maximum exploitation of production waste across the circular chain. To this end, the project is working to deliver a novel AI platform for circular manufacturing value chains, which will support the development of interoperable circular twins for end-to-end sustainability, fostering the transition to Industry 5.0.
To maximise the impact of the Circular TwAIn project, collaboration and complementarity with other projects and initiatives have been started already, to share the effort (and the multiplying effect) of a joint endeavour. The Digital and Green transitions in our project are entangled and continuously interconnected with the work done by Made In Europe (with the strong support of EFFRA and the action undertaken with the AI4Manufacturing Project Cluster), ADRA and CE-related communities (where more recent projects - such as DaCapo, AUTO-TWIN, and CIRC-UITS - have been funded and working on Data Spaces for Circularity). Circular TwAIn has also initiated a strong collaboration with the Digital Factory Alliance - DFA (ENG is a founding member), since it represents the main vehicle to scale-up Circular TwAIn outcomes well beyond the consortium’s borders and the project timeframe: Circular TwAIn is pushing a new lighthouse initiative from the DFA to support the adoption of digital and data-driven solution for decarbonization and sustainability of the industrial sector.
Circular TwAIn is aimed to lower the barriers for all the stakeholders in manufacturing and process industry circular value chains to adopt and fully leverage trusted AI technologies, in ways that will enable end-to-end sustainability, i.e. from eco-friendly product and production processes design (i.e. ‘circularity by design’), to the maximum exploitation of production waste across the circular chain. To this end, the project is working to deliver a novel AI platform for circular manufacturing value chains, which will support the development of interoperable circular twins for end-to-end sustainability, fostering the transition to Industry 5.0.
To maximise the impact of the Circular TwAIn project, collaboration and complementarity with other projects and initiatives have been started already, to share the effort (and the multiplying effect) of a joint endeavour. The Digital and Green transitions in our project are entangled and continuously interconnected with the work done by Made In Europe (with the strong support of EFFRA and the action undertaken with the AI4Manufacturing Project Cluster), ADRA and CE-related communities (where more recent projects - such as DaCapo, AUTO-TWIN, and CIRC-UITS - have been funded and working on Data Spaces for Circularity). Circular TwAIn has also initiated a strong collaboration with the Digital Factory Alliance - DFA (ENG is a founding member), since it represents the main vehicle to scale-up Circular TwAIn outcomes well beyond the consortium’s borders and the project timeframe: Circular TwAIn is pushing a new lighthouse initiative from the DFA to support the adoption of digital and data-driven solution for decarbonization and sustainability of the industrial sector.
Through the adoption and integration of advanced AI solutions with advanced circular manufacturing and re-manufacturing systems, the Project will enhance efficiency, productivity, and innovation while promoting sustainable practices and reducing environmental impact. By leveraging these AI capabilities, industry stakeholders can adapt more effectively to external and internal influences, such as market fluctuations, and regulatory changes, thereby increasing their capacity to thrive in dynamic and uncertain environments.
In the first Reporting Period the Project has delivered several scientific and technological achievements, most of them available in the Circular TwAIn Marketplace, a knowledge hub with insights into the methodologies, technologies, and innovations developed, and already connected with the Project website and the most relevant exploitation vehicle (i.e. the Digital Factory Alliance). Within the marketplace Project outcomes are grouped in the following categories: (i) AI solutions to support R-cycles (several algorithms, tools and a collaborative developing & testing environment will be delivered to support product and process industries in AI-based optimization and decision making towards R-cycles); (ii) Circular Economy Methods (new methods for creating new business opportunities pushed by different assessment tools tailored on Circular Economy, stakeholders profiling towards CE objectives and also the formulation of new business models); (iii) Data Space Enablers and Components (solutions for data sharing and governance models are provided, as well as tools to facilitate data models harmonization and interoperability for products, materials and processes.); (iv) Digital Twins for Circularity (several solutions for Product, Process and Human Digital Twins, specialized to deal with circularity and sustainability challenges that are considered to be an increasing market).
In the first Reporting Period the Project has delivered several scientific and technological achievements, most of them available in the Circular TwAIn Marketplace, a knowledge hub with insights into the methodologies, technologies, and innovations developed, and already connected with the Project website and the most relevant exploitation vehicle (i.e. the Digital Factory Alliance). Within the marketplace Project outcomes are grouped in the following categories: (i) AI solutions to support R-cycles (several algorithms, tools and a collaborative developing & testing environment will be delivered to support product and process industries in AI-based optimization and decision making towards R-cycles); (ii) Circular Economy Methods (new methods for creating new business opportunities pushed by different assessment tools tailored on Circular Economy, stakeholders profiling towards CE objectives and also the formulation of new business models); (iii) Data Space Enablers and Components (solutions for data sharing and governance models are provided, as well as tools to facilitate data models harmonization and interoperability for products, materials and processes.); (iv) Digital Twins for Circularity (several solutions for Product, Process and Human Digital Twins, specialized to deal with circularity and sustainability challenges that are considered to be an increasing market).
The ambition of Circular TwAIn is to apply a holistic approach of seamless modelling, enrichment and sharing of data across the entire circular value-chain. Technologies such as Artificial Intelligence and Digital Twins are already used in a variety of industrial use cases, but there is a limited integration in implementing circular manufacturing process chains and end-to-end waste optimization strategies at plant and value chain levels. This limitation should be overcome with the integration of the third technological pillar of the Project: the adoption of the emerging technologies to establish a Circular Material/Process/Product Data Space for AI-Based Sustainable Production. Circular TwAIn toolkit has been designed to unleash the sustainability potential of AI technologies in circular manufacturing chains through: (i) Introducing AI optimizations in stages where AI is still not used (e.g. AI-based product design, de-manufacturing); (ii) Using AI for multi-stage and multi-objective circular optimizations that could improve sustainability performance.
The potential societal/scientific/economic impact of such a convergence may contribute to broader the exploration of deploying advanced digital manufaturing solutions for the Circularity (in manufacturing) segment: no major initiatives have been found at European level, despite the strong push from the EC and the citizenship. Probably the reason is the difficulty to engage circular actors, and build new strong commercial relationships among cross-sectorial and cross-country stakeholders. This limitation must be overcome in the short term to meet the EU directives on Circular Economy. The Circular TwAIn Consortium is fully committed to uptake the outcomes and the results of the Project, by leveraging them into new success stories represented by further research and business opportunities.
The potential societal/scientific/economic impact of such a convergence may contribute to broader the exploration of deploying advanced digital manufaturing solutions for the Circularity (in manufacturing) segment: no major initiatives have been found at European level, despite the strong push from the EC and the citizenship. Probably the reason is the difficulty to engage circular actors, and build new strong commercial relationships among cross-sectorial and cross-country stakeholders. This limitation must be overcome in the short term to meet the EU directives on Circular Economy. The Circular TwAIn Consortium is fully committed to uptake the outcomes and the results of the Project, by leveraging them into new success stories represented by further research and business opportunities.