Center for Circular Economy & Human Technology Center at RWTH Aachen University
About Us
The Center for Circular Economy (CCE) at RWTH Aachen University brings together the expertise of all faculties and 35 institutes at RWTH Aachen University in the field of sustainable circular economy. It connects member institutes with relevant stakeholders from science, business, administration, politics, and society to jointly research and implement solutions for a circular economy. In this way, the CCE promotes awareness of the social significance of a circular economy and strengthens understanding of its processes and findings. Together with its network partners, the CCE formulates strategies and goals, develops suitable concepts, and puts them into practice. The three core areas of the CCE focus on the development of transdisciplinary and interdisciplinary methods for process optimization throughout the entire product life cycle: sustainable product design, business models, and material recovery.
The Human Technology Center (HumTec) at RWTH Aachen University is a CCE partner. HumTec integrates the natural sciences, engineering, and life sciences, as well as the humanities, social sciences, and spatial sciences in transdisciplinary and interdisciplinary ways. HumTec is opening a new chapter in convergent research, working to solve complex societal problems jointly. HumTec addresses the socio-technical challenges of today, embracing their complexity, and reflects on and accompanies the dynamics of modern transformation processes. Through these efforts, HumTec provides innovative impulses for transformative change.
Our Subproject
Together with HumTec at RWTH Aachen University, the CCE is responsible for the subproject on “Innovation transfer for the circular economy at local and global level.” As interface organizations between the university, the city of Aachen, and the Euregio Meuse-Rhine (border region at the tri-border area: Aachen / Netherlands / Belgium), CCE and HumTec are jointly investigating how innovations in the circular economy can be transferred into practice quickly and in a targeted manner.
On the one hand, this includes researching the transformation of the textile and clothing sector from a linear to a circular economy on a global level. On the other hand, cross-border cooperation on circular economy issues at the local level in the Euregio Meuse-Rhine is being scientifically monitored.
Based on this, model recommendations are being developed for the textile and clothing industry, as well as for European border regions and cross-border cooperation in the transformation process towards a circular economy.
Based on close links with the city of Aachen and the Euregio Meuse-Rhine – both important supporters of the circular economy concept – the scientific findings gained from the university context will ultimately be transferred to politics and concrete everyday practice in Euregional and cross-border cooperation.
Our Motivation
Participation in the RETRAKT project is not only an opportunity but a decisive step toward a sustainable future. Together with our partners of CCE, we are committed to innovative solutions that have the potential to revolutionize the circular economy in the textile and apparel industry. We are determined to drive this transformation and to demonstrate that sustainability and economic success can go hand in hand.
The RETRAKT project highlights how important it is not only to initiate change but also to understand it fundamentally and support it in an integrated way. Through innovation research on the circular economy in the textile industry, CCE and HumTec add a valuable contribution to understanding and sustainably accelerating circular transformations. The insights gained are relevant across sectors and provide important impulses for industry, policy, and intermediaries.
Contact
Dr.-Ing. Mohammad Chehadé
- Managing Director
- CCE - Center for Circular Economy at RWTH Aachen University
Marcel Völkoi
- Research Associate
- HumTec - Human Technology Center at RWTH Aachen University