Odense, Denmark

Circular Economy for Business and Engineers with SDG Focus

Organizations must rethink and optimize their existing strategies to meet their sustainable business goals due to the constant depletion of vital resources and societal issues’ greater demands. The increasing population not only has an impact on natural resources; it also results in more significant pollution and contributes to greater levels of poverty. With these considerations, on September 25, 2015, some countries adopted a new set of sustainable development goals (SDGs) to end poverty and to improve prosperity worldwide. Seventeen sustainable goals have been targeted to achieve by 2030 under the new sustainable development agenda (UN.org, 2015). Further, these sustainable goals encompass a range of perspectives and various levels of applications, including supply chain management. In recent years, academicians, researchers, and practitioners have addressed supply chain management issues because of their significant impacts on organizational developments regardless of the field of applications. Researchers around the globe are exhibiting increased interest in how the circular economy (CE) may contribute to the SDG’s. The level of widespread acceptance being generated clearly shows the potential necessity of implementing CE. Nations are feeling pressure from an alarming decrease in resources, pollution, political insecurity, and safety breaches. Contrary to the conventional or linear economy approach, which utilizes the take-use-dispose model, the CE model focuses on value creation by closing the loop. The CE model works as a natural system by using the values of the material, energy, and other resources within a particular ecosystem as a single loop. Hence, in recent years, the CE model has gained popularity among businesses and communities. This course will provide you with skills to the current practices of circular economy (CE) and SDG’s for business and engineers and identify and critically discuss the connection between linear/circular economies and environmental sustainability generally and between circular economies and SDG’s specifically. We will apply the Design and systems approach to solve business and engineering tasks. The course sessions use traditional teaching, case-based real-life problems solving tasks, and industrial visits.

Course leader

Devika Kannan, Kannan Govindan, Madan Shankar Kalidoss, Melissa Demartini

Target group

Mandatory prerequisites
Enrolled in an engineering, social science or business bachelor’s degree program or the equivalent.

Two years of studies at university level (equivalent to 120 ECTS) within a relevant field of study, before the summer school starts.

Fee info

EUR 0: For more info see our website.

Exchange students from a partner university pay no tuition. Guest students pay tuition fees.

NON-EU student: 8635 DKK per course (1160 Euro)

EU Students: 4250 DKK per course (570 Euro)