Having access to the right information at the right time provides the conditions for designers to design for circularity, for manufacturers to choose sustainable materials that support extended use (reuse and recycling), and for purchasers to assess and include new materials and suppliers. Today, it takes far too long to find the necessary information for each role.

A consortium, consisting of a selected part of the automotive value chain representing OEMs, SMEs, and suppliers, as well as academia, has been created to address these challenges

The project includes: 

• Development of a material data sandbox

• Development of AI-assisted tools 

• Evaluation of data from the perspectives of multiple personas based on real users to extract insights from that data

• Research on how this type of tools gains acceptance among users

• Evaluation of the end-to-end data flow, from supplier into the sandbox, utilizing a range of material suppliers, including fossil-free steel, recycled aluminium, sustainable polymers, and biomaterials 

The results will lay the groundwork for quickly accessing the right information, a prerequisite for reducing climate emissions, energy consumption, and phasing out hazardous substances. In turn, the project will accelerate the introduction of new sustainable materials into the value chain, thereby radically reducing the environmental impact of development and manufacturing processes.