The transition towards a sustainable circular society requires far‑reaching changes in how technologies, materials, and processes are designed, governed and integrated. While circularity is gaining momentum, the systemic transformation needed across industrial sectors, supply chains, and value networks remains incomplete. 

Significant knowledge gaps persist around scaling cleaner technologies, managing critical and strategic materials, and aligning industrial and ecological processes in ways that are both regenerative and just. Current industrial systems continue to rely on resource‑intensive processes and on raw materials vulnerable to geopolitical, environmental, and economic disruptions. There is an urgent need to better understand strategies for substitution, stewardship, and circular recovery that can reduce dependency while maintaining performance and resilience. 

By addressing these gaps, this track aims to foster interdisciplinary dialogue and generate actionable insights that support the design, integration, and scaling of circular and sustainable solutions across sectors.

We welcome contributions to the following exemplary questions:

• How can cleaner technologies and process innovations accelerate the transition towards a sustainable circular society by reducing emissions, waste, and resource dependency across sectors?
• What strategies for substitution, stewardship, and recycling of critical and strategic raw materials can strengthen societal resilience and competitiveness and support the development of a sustainable circular economy?
• In what ways can industrial symbiosis models and enabling frameworks foster the required systemic collaboration, and what limitations or unintended consequences may hinder their implementation and long-term effectiveness?
• How can emerging technologies for bio circularity and bio-based systems contribute to building a society that relies on renewable biological resources?
• How can global supply chains be reshaped to enhance circular resource flows, transparency, and resilience in pursuit of a sustainable circular society?

The role of designers and their practice is recognized as a catalyst and driving force in the transition from the traditional take-make-dispose model to achieve a more restorative, regenerative and circular economy. Therefore, this track focuses on promoting the debate and sharing of experiences regarding the design practice for the development of innovative products, services and systems, aligned with international policies, goals and objectives, aiming to the transition to a more sustainable and circular society. 

Submissions should address innovative methods, tools and trends in the design and development practice, as well as future perspectives, like bio and regenerative design, AI in design, product and systems design, social design, service design, new business models design, the influence of design in user behaviours and consumer practices, etc. 

Finally, we challenge submitters to “think outside the box,” presenting innovative research that new paradigms for the future of design in the context of sustainability.

We welcome contributions to the following exemplary questions:

• How can design promote and shape the transition to a sustainable and circular society?
• Which innovative tools and methods can designers apply to support an effective design practice for a successful transition to circular economy in the real world?
• Which are the design trends and paths for the future?
• How can the design practice and the role of design professionals be promoted in the circular economy context?
• How can designers overcome the barriers in the adoption of design practices that result in more sustainable products and services aligned with the future needs of the society?

Overall, this track aims to deepen our understanding of how innovations, entrepreneurship, finance, and education may advance sustainability transitions of organisations. Particular attention is given to innovative sustainable business practices towards a regenerative society. The track also examines sustainable entrepreneurship and its role for a sustainability transition from the perspective of systemic innovation and social change. 

Contributions may, for example, address how sustainable entrepreneurs and impact investors mobilize capital and reshape markets. It questions further the financing of the transition toward sustainable (and regenerative) economic systems across sectors. The role of institutions, policy frameworks, and financial instruments in enabling these transitions is central. Equally important is the development of education and skills for sustainable entrepreneurship across formal and informal learning contexts. 

The track welcomes interdisciplinary perspectives from sustainability, management, economics, and education science. We encourage to submit empirical, conceptual, and methodological contributions as well as literature reviews.

We welcome contributions to the following exemplary questions:

• What sustainable business practices most effectively contribute to the transition toward a sustainability transition/regenerative society?
• How do sustainable entrepreneurs act as change agents within broader sustainability transitions?
• Which educational approaches and skill sets are critical for enabling future-proof sustainable entrepreneurs?
• How can financing mechanisms be designed to better support sustainable entrepreneurship and long-term sustainable outcomes for society?
• How do policy, finance, and education systems interact to accelerate or hinder sustainability transitions?

As global systems face increasing environmental, economic, and social pressures, the transition toward circularity offers a pathway to decentralised, inclusive, and regenerative urban and regional futures. 

The track will focus on the transformative role of social and grassroots innovations in driving systemic change from the bottom up. It will examine how regional innovation hubs can serve as catalysts for experimentation, collaboration, and scaling of circular solutions across sectors. Particular attention will be given to regional value creation, highlighting how shorter value chains and localized production systems can enhance economic robustness, reduce dependencies, and foster community well-being. Also, the engagement needed for a circular regional transition and new types of cooperations should be considered. 

Central to the discussions will be citizens’ participation and local/regional governance, recognizing that resilient circular transitions require democratic engagement, co-creation, and multi-level governance frameworks. The conference will also address the importance of decentralisation in strengthening adaptive capacity, enabling distributed infrastructures, and supporting place-based strategies tailored to regional contexts.

We welcome contributions to the following exemplary questions:

• How can social and grassroots innovations accelerate circular transitions in cities and regions?
• What role do regional innovation hubs play in fostering circular ecosystems and scaling place-based solutions?
• How could regional circular systems be embedded within local authorities and communities?
• How can new types and formats of co-operations evolve, what might be the role of start-ups?
• How can short loops and regional value chains strengthen economic resilience and local value creation?
• In what ways does decentralisation enhance urban and regional resilience and adaptive systems through circular resource systems?
• How can behavioural change and shifts in urban lifestyles support sustainable consumption patterns and circular city transitions?

Achieving climate neutrality requires systemic transformations in resource use, production, and consumption patterns. The circular economy has gained increasing relevance as a framework capable of contributing to climate change mitigation by reducing material use, extending product lifecycles, and enabling resource recirculation. By decreasing raw materials and carbon-intensive processes, circular strategies may play a critical role towards climate neutrality. 

This track invites contributions, from theoretical, empirical to methodological perspectives, that examine the role of circular economy strategies for narrowing, slowing and closing material loops in climate mitigation. We are particularly interested in contributions across micro, meso, and macro levels, assessing their effectiveness, scalability or systemic implications.

We welcome contributions to the following exemplary questions:

• How do circular economy strategies for narrowing, slowing, and closing material loops (such as circular design, industrial symbiosis, material recovery and recirculation, etc.) contribute to climate neutrality?
• Which are the main developments in policy and economic frameworks that enable the integration of circular economy into climate How can tools such as life cycle assessment (LCA), material flow analysis (MFA), carbon accounting, and circularity indicators evaluate the climate implications of circular economy strategies?
• Which are the limitations and trade-offs of circular economy, including rebound effects, material constraints, and other environmental, economic and social externalities linked with broader decarbonization pathways?
• How can circular economy principles, applied to renewable energy technologies and energy infrastructure, support the energy transition while minimizing material demand, emissions, and resource criticality in pathways toward climate neutrality?
• How can sector-specific circular economy strategies (e.g. energy-intensive industries, construction, and mobility) contribute to reducing energy demand and greenhouse gas emissions on pathways toward climate neutrality?

Nature-based Solutions (NbS) are often defined as addressing societal challenges via the support and power of nature. As multiple challenges emerge simultaneously, a main issue in NbS implementation is not just achieving multifunctionality but balancing diverse functions, values, and trade-offs within complex socio-ecological systems. This highlights a range of critical questions about how NbS are viewed and implemented in practice. This track explores this complexity by examining NbS through a conceptualization as green, social, and critical infrastructures for cities, regions and societies.

From a green infrastructure perspective, NbS can be strategically planned networks that enhance ecological performance, connectivity, circularity and system-level functionality. A social infrastructure lens draws attention to the importance of accessible public spaces in fostering civic life, inclusion, safety, care, belonging, and justice but also the social networks which support NbS. Meanwhile, a critical infrastructure perspective highlights NbS as key components of resilience and circularity, supporting robustness, adaptability, and integration across systems and domains. This track invites contributions, from theoretical, empirical to methodological perspectives, that examine how can nature-based solutions serve as green, social, and critical infrastructures?

We welcome contributions to the following exemplary questions:

• How can cities, regions and societies advance a reframing of NbS as dynamic socio-ecological infrastructures providing key benefits rather than peripheral or niche interventions?
• How can cities, regions and societies work with NbS as living and circular systems that are continuously planned, governed, maintained, inhabited, and tested over time?
• How can cities, regions and societies capture the potential of NbS to operate across multiple domains simultaneously, contributing to ecological integrity, social wellbeing, systemic resilience and circular systems?
• How can cities, regions and societies work with NbS as green, social and critical infrastructure while continuously foregrounding questions of inclusive governance, equity, and stewardship?

This track welcomes contributions regarding the important role consumption plays for a circular society. Emphasis is on the structural conditions in which consumption decisions take place and how they can be shaped. 

Thus, one strand we are interested in are latest insights how societal norms and values influence sustainable consumer behaviour. Also, we like to see contributions how to further foster sufficiency approaches. Which cultural and technical trends are useful in this regard? Which concepts and tools are needed to better measure and demonstrate sufficiency approaches complementing efficiency ones?  Also, the just transition and distributional impacts and challenges should be reflected. 

Sessions in this track welcome – but are not limited to – papers and presentations in the emerging fields of unintentional sustainability and the optimalisation and implementation of consumption corridors. The track welcomes interdisciplinary perspectives from political science, sociology, economics, and legal science. We encourage to submit empirical, conceptual and methodological contributions as well as literature reviews.

We welcome contributions to the following exemplary questions:

• In which way can social norms and values foster a transition in consumer behaviour?
• How to overcome sufficiency delays to increase adaptation and resilience?
• Which concepts, tools and measurements contribute to a broader uptake of sufficiency?
• Which cultural and technical trends foster sufficiency?
• How can we make so far undervalued sufficiency lifestyles more visible?
• How to better reflect on fairness ensure a just transformation and meet distributional challenges?
• How to operationalise and implement a good life within consumption corridors?

This track intends to focus on the policy level, especially participation in, formulation of and implementation of policy. The track wants to look for future balance of government and governance. 

Particular attention is given to support transitions paths to circularity; this might not be restricted to a single policy area but also look for the interplay among different policy areas and/or across different economic sectors. The perspective is not restricted to a specific level, it is encouraged to look for the global, national, regional and/or local level to support the transition. 

The recent debates on deregulation and a deliberative democracy might be picked up and reflected; we encourage to discuss innovative and smarter approaches, also regarding financially support the transition. The role of citizens and society in policy making might be another topic, it should be reflected how to involve and empower them? Which participation formats might support them? In recent years, the role of science in policymaking has been doubted. We invite for reflecting this “wind of change” and look forward to bringing insights how science should answer. The track welcomes interdisciplinary perspectives from political science, sociology, economics, and legal science. We encourage to submit empirical, conceptual and methodological contributions as well as literature reviews.

We welcome contributions to the following exemplary questions:

• How could policy foster the transition to circularity and sustainability, also by mobilising policy synergies?
• How could a multi-level-policy framework support the transition?
• Is there a need for other types of regulation? How could become regulation smarter and institutionally more innovative?
• How could public money support the transition?
• How could policy involve and activate society and citizens in policy formulation and implementation? How to involve and empower people?
• How can citizens’ participation and new governance models enable inclusive and decentralised circular transitions?
• What is the role of inter- and transdisciplinary science in policymaking? How to handle with fact-based and emotional-based public discussions?

In the monitoring, assessment, and reporting of circularity and sustainability, one of the main aims is to support decision-making, organizational learning, and policy processes, thereby improving the management of natural and human systems and enabling transitions towards sustainable outcomes. In addition, circularity and sustainability evaluation, reporting, and governance initiatives should integrate and reflect the uncertainties of non-linear, complex systems, where boundaries and limits are often unknown.

Despite the diversity of methods and tools to assess and report circularity and sustainability, indicators are one of the most widely used approaches, playing a central role in supporting management systems and communicating circularity and sustainability performance to stakeholders. Indicators and related approaches have long been used in this field; therefore, it is useful to compare, evaluate, and further develop different indicator approaches and practices. Researchers face several challenges, including how to design indicator models that account for complexity and long-term dynamics, how to improve indicator communication, and how useful indicators are for society and stakeholder decision-making. Additional challenges include assessing their effectiveness in advancing circularity and sustainability, evaluating their real-world impact, tailoring indicators for policy influence, and understanding their strengths, limitations, and future potential.

We welcome both theoretical and empirical contributions addressing new approaches, concepts, methods, frameworks, and case-studies, focusing on the following exemplary questions:

• Sustainability and circularity assessment and reporting approaches: How can advanced tools and integrated frameworks support the evaluation of transitions, how can indicators express distance-to-targets, and how are reporting standards (e.g., GRI, ESRS) evolving to integrate circularity and sustainability disclosures while addressing lack of coherence between both approaches?
• Engagement of social actors: How can participatory approaches and stakeholders contribute to co-creating and validating assessment and reporting approaches?
• Societal implications: How does measurement influence equity, governance, and behaviour in sustainability and circular transitions?
• Scale effects on assessments: How can the complexities of measuring circularity and sustainability from micro to macro levels be addressed?
• AI and Big Data: How can AI and Big Data be effectively used in circularity and sustainability assessment and reporting approaches?

This track explores how digitalisation, AI and big data can enable – yet also constrain – a sustainable circular society. We invite contributions that examine the “twin transition” of digital and green/circular transformation, including trade-offs, rebound effects and questions of social justice. 

Submissions may address digital tools shaping sustainable consumption (e.g., feedback systems, nudges, sharing/repair platforms), approaches to sustainable digital transformation (energy- and data-efficient systems, life cycle-aware design), and ethical AI frameworks for sustainability-oriented decision-making processes (transparency, accountability, explainability, fairness). We also welcome research on data governance and circular ecosystems for sustainability transitions, including standards, interoperability, and trusted data-sharing models. Another focus lies on Digital Product Passports and related information infrastructures for traceability, circular ecosystems. 

Finally, we encourage work assessing the impacts of AI on social and ecological systems and reflecting on emerging technologies and future horizons – ranging from high-tech pathways to sufficiency, low-tech and degrowth perspectives.

We welcome contributions to the following exemplary questions:

• How can digitalisation, AI and big data enable – or constrain – a sustainable circular society?
• How can the twin transition (digital + green/circular) be governed while addressing trade-offs, rebound effects and social justice?
• Which digital tools can effectively shape a sustainable circular society?
• How can sustainable/circular digital transformation and ethical AI for sustainability-oriented decision-making be designed (energy/data efficiency, lifecycle-aware design, transparency, fairness)?
• How can data governance and information infrastructures support traceability and the scaling of circular ecosystems, and which future pathways (high-tech to sufficiency/low-tech/degrowth) appear most promising?