UK can use digital revolution to adopt a circular economy, say experts
Experts from industry, academia, and government met at the Science Museum in London this week for the launch of the Digital Innovation and Circular Economy Network Plus (DICE Network+) – a major new UKRI-funded initiative that will explore how digital technologies, including artificial intelligence (AI), can accelerate the shift to a circular economy.
Led by the University of Exeter in collaboration with eight UK universities and industry partners including the Ellen MacArthur Foundation, Arup and SAP, the network aims to address two key challenge areas of embedding circular design principles into digital innovation and harnessing digital tools to enable circular business model adoption at scale.
“We know most companies are now invested in both digital transformation and circular economy goals, with half of organisations implementing AI in their infrastructure and 55% of large businesses committed to circularity,” said Professor Fiona Charnley, DICE Network+ Lead and Co-Director of the Exeter Centre for Circular Economy.
“For the UK to meet its ambitions in AI and clean energy, we must embed circular economy principles at the design stage. By connecting partners across sectors, DICE Network+ will help build this capacity across the UK and beyond – creating digital innovations that are sustainable and using those innovations to supercharge the adoption of circular models.”
Despite growing investment in sustainability, the world is moving backwards on circularity: the share of recyclable materials in the global economy has dropped from 9% to 6.9% in recent years. Meanwhile, the transition to clean energy and digital solutions is creating new pressure on critical resources that are currently not recycled at scale.
“We need circularity now because we’re hitting planetary boundaries,” said Darren West, Global Head of Circular Economy Solutions at SAP, during his keynote on agentic AI. “The good news is that circularity drives both sustainability and profit.
“We’re already seeing how AI can save hours on ESG reporting, or how digital product passports can help track and recover high-value materials. With new regulations like ESPR on the horizon, manufacturers must start designing modular, repairable, and traceable products. That’s where this network can help.”
More than 80 delegates attended the launch event – including representatives from the CE Taskforce, the Government Digital Sustainability Alliance (GDSA), VISA, Jaguar-Land Rover, and ReLondon – with panel discussions and roundtables focused on sharing knowledge, capabilities and challenges to align digital systems with circular principles.
Over the next three years, the DICE Network+ will also employ flexible funds to engage industry placements and feasibility studies to address these two key challenge areas.
The first funding call for Knowledge Exchange Placements and Feasibility Studies was launched at the event, with the Demonstrator call scheduled for early 2026.
To learn more about the DICE+ Network and funding available, visit: dice-networkplus.org/
