MC1 - Introduction to Digital Circular Economy

MC1 is the foundational course of the MBA in Digital Deep Tech Driven Circular Economy. It equips future leaders with the strategic, technological, and governance capabilities required to drive circular transformation in complex organisational environments.

Students develop the capability to lead the transition from linear production systems to digitally enabled circular ecosystems. The course integrates business strategy, digital technologies (IoT, AI, Big Data, Digital Product Passports), public policy, and sustainability governance.

Through industrial cases, multi-level frameworks (nano–meta), and systems thinking approaches, participants develop the capacity to design, evaluate, and lead data-driven circular initiatives across sectors — while addressing ethical, ecological, and regulatory challenges.

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Systems & Circular Economy Thinking

Digital Foundations for Circular Innovation

Strategic & Ethical Decision-Making

Your 13-Week Journey

Principles, history, business models, and frameworks positioning circular economy as a driver of sustainable development.

How circular practices operate from products and firms to regions, ecosystems, and meta-level systems.

Power, governance, inequality, and justice dimensions shaping circular economy transitions.

Using connected technologies to enable tracking, efficiency, and data-driven circular business models.

Systems thinking approaches to waste prevention, mitigation, and resource-nexus optimisation.

Industrial case studies and societal readiness levels across regions and sectors.

Monitoring and assessment frameworks for measuring circular performance at micro, meso, and macro levels.

Applying Big Data, IoT, and AI to operational decision-making and sustainability challenges.

Enterprise and supply-chain data management, including Digital Product Passports.

Using digital tools to evaluate industrial readiness and support circular transformation.

Privacy principles, compliance obligations, and risk management in digital circular systems.

Exploring emerging roles and work practices through speculative design scenarios.

Rethinking circular economy beyond anthropocentrism through ecological and relational perspectives.

Week 1 — Systems in Transition

See the world in systems.

Learn to rethink linear vs circular economies and explore planetary boundaries.

Week 2 — The Digital–Circular Nexus

Discover how tech enables sustainability.

Explore how AI, IoT, and data power circular innovation.

Week 3 — Policy as Infrastructure

Understand Europe’s circular blueprint.

Dive into the EU Green Deal, CEAP, and Digital Europe frameworks.

Week 4 — Designing for Re-entry

Design for durability, reuse, and remanufacturing.

Learn how digital twins and simulation tools extend product lifecycles.

Week 5 — Tracking Resources Through Data

Follow materials in motion.

Understand how IoT and data infrastructures create transparency in supply chains.

Week 6 — Blockchain for Accountability

Trust through transparency.

Explore blockchain’s potential for tracking, verification, and ethical assurance.

Week 7 — Learning Loops with AI

Let data drive regeneration.

See how AI and machine learning enable adaptive circular decision-making.

Week 8 — Cognitive Factories

Meet the new industrial symbiosis.

Examine how robotics and smart manufacturing create circular production systems.

Week 9 — Reverse Intelligence

Close the loop through recovery.

Explore reverse logistics, digital disassembly, and resource recovery networks.

Week 10 — Measuring Circularity

Turn data into progress.

Use metrics, KPIs, and dashboards to track circular performance.

Week 11 — Financing the Regenerative Future

Empower innovation.

Discover how deep-tech, investment, and valuation models support circular ventures.

Week 12 — Ethics and Mindsets

Lead with responsibility.

Reflect on ethics, human–machine collaboration, and the competences for circular leadership.

Week 13 — 2040 and Beyond

Imagine the future you want to build.

Learn to rethink linear vs circular economies and explore planetary boundaries.