Digital twin-enabled circular business models

Abstract

The transition to a Circular Economy within Industry 4.0 demands innovative approaches to integrate digital twin technology with business models. This PhD project investigates the value creation potential of digital twins in manufacturing and their implications for designing new circular business models. The first phase of the study focuses on analysing the interface between digital twins, business models, and Circular Economy to construct a theoretical framework and perform a cross-industry comparison of digital twins' value creation potentials in systems with varying complexity. The second phase of the research develops and validates digital twin-enabled circular business model patterns that can be applied across different industrial contexts. This study follows a Design Science Research approach including structured literature reviews, semi-structured expert interviews, case studies, and morphological analysis.