FACE: Facilitating the circular economy with distributed ledger technologies.

The aim of the proposed research is the systemic evaluation of distributed ledger technology and its emerging applications in the context of circular economic systems, the identification of opportunity areas for innovative

digital technologies and business models that could enable the transition to circularity, the co-design and development of such business models and technologies in engagement with relevant stakeholders, and the assessment of their impact on environment, economy, and society. Thereby, the following research questions will

be answered: 1. How can distributed consensus enable circularity in economic systems? 2. What are the opportunities for the application of DLTs in the circular economy, how significant are they, how can they be categorised and how can their impact be assessed? 3. How do DLTs need to be improved to become powerful tools in the transition to a circular economy and

what new digital infrastructures, technologies and business models are required to facilitate a circular economy at scale? 4. What are the impacts and practical implications of a digitally enabled circular economy on environment, economy and society?