Interplay of digital technologies and sustainable product development –what can product life cycle data tell us?

Today's linear economic paradigm leads to a situation where products are not designed and used to maximize their sustainability and circularity performance. The circular economy concept proposes a modern framing of value retention strategies by increasing the awareness of their ability to prolong the use of resources and minimize waste. The utilization of product life cycle data, partly facilitated by digital technologies, is not only an enabler for such value retention strategies but also an essential input for sustainable product development processes aimed at minimizing a products' environmental and social impact. However, what strategies are being pursued in practice, what sustainability-related data are available, and how digital technologies can facilitate these processes requires further investigation. In this regard, the contributions of this study are twofold. First, it provides a collection of key aspects for sustainable product development based on a literature review. Second, it reveals the degree of implementation of sustainable product development and value retention strategies and the availability of related data. The latter contribution is derived from a survey with 59 sustainability executives from Austrian companies. The results show that the degree of implementation varies considerably between the different strategies. So far, a focus is set on avoiding toxic substances and closing internal material loops. Digital systems to support a circular economy business model, product, or service are available in less than half of the cases. The implementation of digital technologies is rather a single-case phenomenon than an established business strategy.