Towards a service-oriented architecture for information systems in the circular economy

Information gaps are one of the significant barriers to a flourishing circular economy (CE). Information systems (IS) are implemented to overcome these gaps as part of digitalization efforts. In the CE context, IS can provide insights into the sustainability and circularity of a product and its value chain. In fact, many products come into existence through supply chains encompassing plentiful suppliers and complex in-use and after-use streams. Implementing CE IS, like obligatory product passports, will significantly scale up information technologies (IT) use. Environmental impacts through IT use, and diverse product lifecycles call for an architecture that allows such a degree of complexity while minimizing burdens. This conference paper summarizes our preliminary results on designing an architecture for CE IS. First, we reviewed the literature on product passports. We created an architecture based on the design science methodology, including a meta-model providing an overview of all concepts. We also show how the architecture can facilitate the CE IS implementation by an example case of remanufacturing. Our results advocate rethinking the concept of product-centered systems towards IS that are more based on CE and digital services.