DiTex at the Institute for Ecological Economy Research in Berlin (1/3)

It has been a month since I started my internship as a research assistant at the Institute for Ecological Economy Research in Berlin. The institute was founded in 1985 in Berlin, since then researchers with various backgrounds contribute to the field of sustainable economy. The research is done in two locations: at the main office in Berlin and in Heidelberg. The initial motivation to create the independent institute was a lack of an ecological focus in economics. Nowadays there are four research sections: “Corporate Management and Consumption”, “Ecological Economics and Environmental Policy”, “Sustainable Energy and Climate Protection” and “Ecological Product Policy”. I am a part of the last section “Ecological Product Policy” and its DiTex-Project. The project deals with digital technologies as an enabler of a resource efficient circular economy. Within two years the project creates recyclable textiles, analyses its ecological effects and examines new circular business models within that context. 

I will contribute to the project by focusing on the laundry textile service as part of the textile loop. I plan to examine the status quo and the requirements for a digital infrastructure in these facilities in order to enable a product circularity. I started with a literature analysis as well as I tried to understand the structure of the project and the institute. Due to its interdisciplinary and transdisciplinary character it was quite challenging to locate my field research within the project. Therefore, it was very important to join every meeting with the partner organisations and companies especially with the collaborating tech-start-up and to clarify their interested in the sustainability and digitalisation topic. 

Although my research group is kind of familiar with online formats due the distribution over two locations (Heidelberg and Berlin) it is still an unusual situation for me. I never worked with people and for a company that I have never seen before. During the first week the institute and the team seemed very far away and not graspable for me. By reading more and more about the project and doing online lunch breaks with my colleges I was able to build up a connection. The future weeks will show whether I will be able to conduct interviews with several laundries or if I must rely on the existing interview material. I expect many changes and rectification of my initial plans due to this special situation and I am excited about to upcoming weeks.