London, UK - 16 May 2019 -CEDaCI organised its launch event as part of the Circular Economy and Critical Metals Event in Lille on May 16, 2019.
At the start of the event, Dr. Deborah Andrews , the lead Academic of CEDaCI, welcomed the audience and presented CEDaCI and its objectives. Ricardo Mendez, WeLoop presented the State of the Art of CRM and Circular Economy in Data Centre Industry. "Data Centre Life Cycle includes numerous stakeholders and there is limited collaboration among stakeholders. The first thing is to know which type of equipment and materials could present more benefits by implementing a circular economy. Batteries, servers, storage equipment and network equipment have the lowest lifespan from 3 to 5 years", said Ricardo Mendez.
Access to critical raw materials is a growing challenge for Europe. Critical raw materials are important provide a strong industrial base for all industries across all supply chain stages. The third list of critical raw materials was published in 2017 including Antimony, Cobalt, Gallium, Germanium, HREEs, Magnesium, PGMs, Silicon Metal and Tantalum which are used in the DC equipment with the lowest lifespan. To this end, CEDaCI will bring together stakeholders from across the Data Centre sector (designers, manufacturers, operators, refurbishers, recyclers) in a knowledge-sharing network. These actors will engage in a Co-creation Platform and 3 integrated Pilots for 3 life cycle stages to improve the design, research and development in recycling and extend lifetime by reusing and refurbishing.
CEDaCI Network:
CEDaCI Network was launched during the event to identify and select the right companies, institutes and universities to include in CEDaCI Network. CEDaCI Network will be the core group of CEDaCI Co-Creation Activities. By joining this multi-professional network, DCI representatives will :
· receive innovative insights towards circularity solutions
· share ideas within a multi-professional network, e.g. designers, manufacturers, business actors related to second use, refurbishment and recycling, DCI operators & users, public authorities, scientists from several disciplines, policy and communication experts
· test, develop and use a circular business model
· enlarge their national and European business network
CEDaCI Co-Creation Workshops - Platform to identify and map the current practices
Co-creation is a set of methods that allow a group to identify and map the current practices, to pitch ideas on product-service innovations (circularity solutions) or even develop and test prototypes. CEDaCI Co-creation Workshops will consist of a non- homogeneous group of 15 representatives of several life cycle stages and experts embracing different fields of expertise.
Katrin Bienge, Wuppertal Institute, presented the concept and calendar of CEDaCI Working Groups and Co-Creation Workshops. CEDaCI Working Groupds will be organised quarterly to discuss the key topics and prepare the basis for National Co- Creation Workshops. The First round of national Co-creation workshop will be launched as of Novemebr 2019 in 4 CEDaCI Countries.
CEDaCI Associated Partners such as IBM Belgium and Network Representatives from iNET were present at the event and actively contributed to the Q&A Session.
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More About CEDaCI
The CEDaCI project builds a Circular Economy for the Data Centre Industry to increase reclamation and reuse of Critical Raw Materials in the sector, extend product life through equipment second use and refurbishment, reduce use of virgin materials, waste and environmental impact arising from the growth in redundant equipment and develop a secure and economically viable CRM supply chain for the sector.
If you would like to receive more information about CEDaCI, please contact CEDaCI Team at hello@cedaci.org.
