Funding for DICE Network+ projects announced
A University of Exeter-led ‘network of networks’ has awarded funding of over £430,000 to a group of projects that seek to harness digital innovation to drive the transition to a circular economy.
Digital Innovation & Circular Economy (DICE) Network+ is a three-year UKRI EPSRC-funded programme, led by the University of Exeter in collaboration with experts from eight other UK universities, that can allocate flexible funding to projects that accelerate wider research into specific challenge areas at the interface of digital technologies and circular economy.
Projects that have received the funding explore topics such as using buildings as ‘materials banks’ for future reuse, how digital twinning and AI could be used to distribute surplus food in London, digital product passports, and how digital platform exchanges can be enhanced by using machine learning to predict how desirable items may be.
The projects span the network’s dual challenge areas of ‘embed’ and ‘enable’, broadly focused on either realising the potential of digital innovation to enable a circular economy across sectors or embedding sustainability and circularity within the design and development of digital technologies themselves.
Professor Fiona Charnley, Co-Director of the Exeter Centre for Circular Economy at the University of Exeter Business School said: “The challenges of creating a more sustainable and circular economy require new approaches and cross-disciplinary thinking.
“By supporting ambitious, early-stage research and fostering new collaborations, DICE Network+ is helping researchers and industry partners explore innovative solutions at the intersection of digital technologies and circular economy principles. These projects will help develop the evidence, tools and partnerships needed to unlock transformative solutions with real-world impact.”
A first round of projects comprising three feasibility studies started in January 2026, with a second round of three feasibility studies and two demonstrator projects beginning this month, while 10 knowledge exchange placements are either complete or in progress.
See the DICE Network+ website for more details along with project updates.
