On May 10, CentraleSupélec and IRT SystemX announced the creation of the “CircularIT Alliance” to ” put the power of digital technology at the service of the environment and sustainable development. This collaboration, which is expected to last five years, aims to build and deploy sustainable tools with high added value for citizens, industrialists and territorial actors. Alliance CircularIT aims to bring together industrial companies and local authorities to enable them to share upstream, industrial and experimental research. The creation of a hub for educational projects is also planned.

CentraleSupélec, born of the merger of Ecole Centrale and Supélec in 2015, is a public institution covering all of the Engineering and Systems Sciences, placed under the joint supervision of the Ministry of Higher Education, Research and Innovation and the Ministry of the Economy, Industry and Digital Affairs. This engineering school has 4,300 students and 17 laboratories and research teams, including the AI Hub and its 80 teacher-researchers in artificial intelligence.

This benchmark cluster, ranked among the world’s top institutions, is a founding member of the Université Paris-Saclay and chairs the Ecoles Centrales Group (Lyon, Lille, Nantes and Marseille), which operates international locations (Beijing, Hyderabad in India and Casablanca).

IRT SystemX

Created in 2012 as part of the Future Investment Program, and now integrated into France 2030, SystemX is the only technological research institute (IRT) dedicated to digital systems engineering. It accelerates the digital transformation of industry, services and regions through its expertise in analysis, modeling, simulation and decision support for complex systems. It coordinates partnership research projects that bring together academics and industry.

Based in Paris-Saclay and Lyon, the IRT has launched 53 research projects since its creation, involving more than 100 industrial partners and 55 academic laboratories, and currently employs 200 full-time equivalent (FTE) staff, 134 of whom have their own resources. The four priority sectors targeted by the partnerships it has set up are

• Mobility and Autonomous Transport,
• Industry of the future,
• Defense and Security,
• Environment and Sustainable Development.

The CircularIT alliance

It is precisely for this last sector that the CentraleSupélec-SystemX collaboration aims to create a methodology and implement a digital platform to contribute to the circular economy through the digital transformation of territories and industrial value chains.

The circular economy aims to produce goods and services in a sustainable manner through responsible consumption, limiting the waste of resources, and optimal recycling of waste.

The two partners aim “to develop a digital twin reference framework for the circular economy and the sustainability of territories and industrial companies and value chains, which is based on open data and open source principles, so as to drive replicability and allow the aggregation of indicators and dashboards in a system of systems approach.”

The methodology

After analyzing the major activities of an industrial company or a territory in which material and energy flows are involved, a digital platform for steering and improving circularity and sustainability will be implemented.

This methodology will be based on :
– a model of enriched and reliable circular data ;
– a model of indicators of circularity and environmental, economic and societal impacts;
– a dashboard for the improvement of the activities and the system studied;
– adapted graphic representations and tools for defining objectives, analyzing causes, seeking actions, simulating solutions, analyzing historical data, and optimizing and learning to advise industrial and territorial decision-makers.

CentraleSupélec and SystemX, complementary skills

The strategy of the CircularIT Alliance is based on the creation of two poles:

• An upstream research and training cluster led by CentraleSupélec for the development of generic territorial and industrial platforms for the management of the circular economy and sustainability, and for research-action operations in the field (thesis work, post-doctorate and engineering internships).

CentraleSupélec’s Industrial Engineering Laboratory has, among other things, recognized expertise in the field of the circular economy, on process control (study of material flows and their re-circularization, eco-design, life cycle analysis).

Bernard Yannou, Professor of Complex Systems Design and Deputy Director of Research at CentraleSupélec, Université Paris-Saclay, states:

“CentraleSupélec is using its know-how of industrial activities and flows and the circular economy to come up with a digital twin reference framework so as to be able to drive the circular economy and the sustainability of territories and industrial companies and value chains. “

• An industrial research cluster led by IRT SystemX, which will give rise to R&D projects operated by SystemX through partnerships with private and academic players. The objective of these projects is to adapt the Institute’s systemic approach to the specific use cases of the partners, by supporting them with the mobilization of skills and the provision of specific adapted platforms.

SystemX brings its scientific and technological skills in data science, usage and knowledge interaction, optimization, and digital infrastructures to develop innovative solutions.

Amira Ben Hamida, R&D Manager, Project Manager and referent of the Circular Economy and Ecological Transition theme within the IRT SystemX, emphasizes:

“As a technological research institute with expertise in modeling, simulation and decision support for complex systems, SystemX deploys all its scientific and technical expertise to support the ecological transition of territories and industries. “

The Paris-Saclay Agglomeration Community (CPS), for which the circular economy is a major strategic direction, announced that it was joining the CircularIT Alliance. ADEME, CSTB and INEC will sit on the Alliance’s Orientation and Evaluation Committee.

Translated from CentraleSupélec et SystemX lancent l’Alliance CircularIT pour mettre le numérique au service de l’économie circulaire