Circular economy requires system changes around and within the economic system. In the past, innovations often took place in 'silos' and were optimized for a specific aspect of the product or material. While these innovations brought improvements in one area, they often weakened value creation in other, usually downstream stages of the value chain. For this reason, there is a need for systemic innovations that create value for both the actor(s) and the system as a whole.
The fundamental transformation of the economic system to a circular economy can only succeed through systemic and holistic research and development. This requires developing radically new solutions and successfully establishing them on the market. The future circular use of resources will consist of interconnected subsystems, which requires the interaction of a multitude of technologies, innovations and actors.
These challenges must be met with a mission-oriented innovation policy. In this context, it is essential to provide adequate RTI instruments that enable specific issues to be addressed, cover all innovation phases and can be combined well with each other.
Along common RTI objectives, measures are implemented that are anchored in various national funding initiatives and are largely handled by the Austrian Research Promotion Agency (FFG).
