Scaling Circular Ecosystems Through Product Design
A new open-access article features a novel framework for scaling circular ecosystems through product design, co-authored by SusTec member Jenni Kaipainen and her colleagues Lucrezia Sgambaro and Davide Chiaroni from Politecnico di Milano.
The study, titled “Scaling up circular ecosystems through product design practices: An integrative framework”, addresses a critical gap in circular economy research by linking circular product design with the scalability of circular ecosystems. While both areas have been studied independently, this work combines the perspectives to explore how product design can actively enable systemic change across business ecosystems.
The authors identify six key dimensions of circular product design—narrow, slow (split into product life extension and long-life products), close, regenerate, and inform—and analyze their potential to enable five dimensions of circular ecosystem scalability: functional, generation, geographic, heterogeneous, and load scalability.
Through a multiple-case study approach involving five large, company-centric circular ecosystems across sectors such as furniture, textiles, and automotive, the research maps 28 specific links between product design practices and scalability features. Notably, the study finds that design for modularity and standardization is the most powerful enabler for circular ecosystem scale-up, supporting all five scalability features. Meanwhile, functional scalability emerges as the most widespread scalability feature.
The framework offers actionable insights for both scholars and practitioners. For managers, it provides a roadmap to prioritize product design practices that foster ecosystem-wide circularity. For policymakers, it highlights the importance of supporting design practices that facilitate systemic circular transitions.
Read the full article published in Computers & Industrial Engineering: Download https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cie.2025.111073