GENIUS
GENIUS is a facilitation platform that promotes industrial and urban symbiosis in the Gävleborg region by bringing together companies, the public sector and research to develop more efficient and environmentally friendly solutions through networking, training and facilitation.
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Platform
Industrial and urban symbiosis (IUS) is a strategic approach to increasing resource productivity through collaboration. It is based on long-term collaborations between actors and sectors that add value to underutilized resources and promote eco-innovation. IUS improves business competitiveness, reduces emissions and use of primary and fossil resources while strengthening regional development and access to resources.
The University of Gävle is developing a platform to facilitate the creation of long-term collaborations between local and regional actors to enable more efficient use of materials, energy and other available resources in both industrial and urban contexts.
Such collaborations can help improve environmental performance, increase profits, stimulate technological innovation and help regional development and overall sustainability.
We aim to develop a network where businesses, public institutions, industry organizations and other key stakeholders can interact, identify barriers and opportunities to collaborate and find innovative ways to add value to underutilized materials, energy and resources.
GENIUS aims to better understand existing industrial and urban symbiosis networks and to contribute to the development of new networks and innovative industrial and urban symbiosis initiatives and business models towards a more circular economy.
Our research also aims to share information on other industrial and urban symbiosis networks and raise awareness and opportunities for synergies. Through industrial symbiosis, local and regional actors can cooperate and jointly create economic and environmental benefits.
To disseminate information about IUS and share the experience with a wider audience, we organize workshops, seminars and distribute a monthly newsletter.
For some of our research and activities, we collaborate with SNIUS
External link. (Swedish Platform for Industrial and Urban Symbiosis), Chalmers Industriteknik External link., Linköping University External link. and Re:Source External link.
Overview of the region
Gävleborg County is located on the eastern shore of the Baltic Sea and has approximately 300 000 inhabitants. The region has historically been an industrial area, known for its steel and metal industry and engineering industry. Currently, this region is home to companies belonging to the steel metal industry, engineering industry, business services, paper and pulp industry, wood products industry and many other relevant sectors such as healthcare and logistics.
For a more detailed analysis of the regional industrial structure, read more in the document Industrial structure, dynamics and competitiveness
Pdf, 2 MB.
Despite the industrial presence in the region, there are unfortunately very few examples of networks involving different symbiotically connected private and public actors (One of these examples is in Gävle and is shown in the diagram below). The lack of synergies shows the enormous potential that lies in the region and that we aim to reach through our work.
An industrial symbiosis network in Gävle - data form Linköping University
Resources
We are interested in the development of all types of industrial and urban symbiosis initiatives and collaborations can take place by using:
- Residual products from one company as raw materials for another
- Infrastructure for delivery and service
- Knowledge to stimulate innovation
We are currently focusing on the following topics:
Food companies represent Sweden's third largest industry and are the most geographically dispersed industry. Despite the increase in the Swedish population, food production over the last thirty years has not increased enough to meet the needs of the same proportion of Swedish residents. At the same time, the amount of food waste produced in households alone has increased to about 100 kg/person and to 30 kg/person in the rest of food-related activities. Read more about "Food waste in Sweden" on the Swedish EPA website.
To improve food production, processing and the reduction and reuse of food waste, it can be beneficial to develop industrial collaborations that help diversify production while improving production efficiency and resource use.
For example, the development of local processors can help reduce the environmental impact of long-distance transportation. At the same time, the development of new production enterprises can be both more sustainable and profitable, and reduce the share of imported goods to the region.
Symbiosis can help reduce food waste from the production, manufacturing and distribution industries and contribute to better management of food waste consumption. Better management of food waste can lead to the production of secondary foods that can be consumed by humans or animals, valuable chemicals and nutrients but also biofuels and fertilizers. All this helps to reduce the depletion of natural resources and increase the overall sustainability of the food sector.
Currently, there are very few regional initiatives for a better use of food waste with a huge economic and environmental loss. This void offers a huge opportunity for industrial development, establishment of companies and innovative solutions and represents a huge potential to build new business models that we can reach through collaborations and symbiosis.
GENIUS activities focus on creating a regional network of industries and stakeholders involved in the food sector as well as mapping the current regional flow of food and food waste.
This will help identify barriers and opportunities for IUS and stimulate solutions and business model to support the development of new initiatives for sustainable food production, processing, distribution, consumption and further use of by-products.
Areas under investigation include fermented beverages, meat and dairy production.
The research is conducted in collaboration with MatVärden External link.
Building cities, roads and other infrastructure requires huge amounts of resources in terms of energy and both heavy and light materials. In addition, construction and other industrial processes generate large amounts of waste.
A significant environmental benefit comes from making construction processes as resource-efficient as possible, also considering that many mineral wastes and residues are technically well suited for use in construction.
Two clear examples of this are ash from energy production and demolition concrete. While there is little doubt that these materials can be widely used technically in today's construction processes, this happens only to a limited extent and often at a relatively low rate of use.
Our research focuses on the production and demolition of waste, its flow and further use. It also aims to find solutions for other wastes in new facilities to gain a commercial advantage in addition to environmental benefits.
The study is open to both private and public stakeholders, both private. It will be developed in collaboration with Region Gävleborg External link., Novus Ecosystems, Peab External link., Cementa External link., Swerock External link. and RgsNordic External link..
The project will analyze existing and planned construction projects to identify:
- Material needs in new construction
- Surplus materials from new construction
- Materials produced by planned demolition
- Other waste to be used in new constructions
This will help to evaluate potential symbiosis from economic, social and environmental perspectives as well as best available technologies.
Greenhouses use many different resources to maximize their production. In the region, there are thoughts and ideas about combining future greenhouse facilities with flows from industries in order to streamline resource use. In this project, we focus on evaluating the environmental and economic consequences of several possible interactions between a digestion plant and a greenhouse. Examples of interactions are that the greenhouse can utilize the products from the anaerobic digestion plant, i.e. biogas, digestate and carbon dioxide, while the anaerobic digestion plant can use the organic waste from the greenhouse as raw material in its production.
For more information contact:
Daniel Danevad or Sandra Carlos-Pinedo
The BIOVÄX Gävleborg project wants to help increase regional biogas production and substrate utilization to manage the transition to a bio-based and circular economy.
The aim is to increase the knowledge of regional small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) of the biogas value chain, and how biogas can help to develop technical, environmental, economic and social solutions that promote their business activities. The project is primarily aimed at those SMEs that are in the process of, or have the potential to start, biogas production.
Plastics are widely used in today's society. Plastics have the ability to be manufactured with different properties for many different uses. If handled incorrectly at the end of its life, it has a negative impact on the environment and climate.
A large proportion of plastic today goes directly to incineration for energy recovery. As 98% of all plastics are made from oil, plastics contribute significant carbon dioxide emissions both during the production of plastic raw materials and during incineration. There are several ways to reduce the negative impact of plastic use. Examples of some of the measures that can be applied;
- Reducing use
- Increase the use of recycled and renewable plastics
- Substitute to other materials
The Hunt for the Site project
A key lesson that came out of the Hunt for the Plastics project is that major changes can be made by taking stock of your plastic flows and changing procurement criteria.
This report Pdf, 1.1 MB. summarizes the project with its activities and results. The purpose of the report is to disseminate the experiences and working methods that the project has worked with, and it is aimed at those who want to know more about how an organization can work to achieve sustainable plastic use.
The project and the material are funded by Klimatklivet. The project ran between October 2018 and May 2020. Participants in the project were the University of Gävle, Region Gävleborg, Gävle Municipality, Gästrike återvinnare, Sodexo and Jobmeal.
In addition to the report, there is also a training material Pdf, 3.6 MB. that has been developed with the aim of giving you basic knowledge about plastics, concrete tips and how you can work towards a more sustainable use of plastics.
For more information contact Anna Högberg
Are you an entrepreneur interested in finding out more about the circular economy, or industrial symbiosis?
We regularly organize meetings with local stakeholders including SMEs. Sign up to the project's newsletter and you will receive information from us when we will have the next meeting.
You can sign up to the project mailing list here External link.
Cooperation partners
- European Union
- Region Gävleborg
- Triple Steelix
- Gästrike Återvinnare
- RE:SOURCE
- Novus Ecosystems
- Food values
This page was last updated 2024-12-12