Update: Under the guiding eye of Bertold Brecht: Our second annual conference

Today the European Remanufacturing Council is hosting the annual meeting for members and invited guests. This year, we have chosen the Design Centre in Berlin, based in the same office as the VDI Centre for Resource Efficiency in Bertolt Brecht Platz. VDI was commissioned by the Federal Government to investigate the potential for remanufacturing and published an evidence based study that has proven to be influential. VDI will be guest speakers at our meeting. Bertold Brecht Platz office is where the Industrie 4.0 concept originated from - we consider the application of these digital technologies to be of central importance for the development of remanufacturing in Europe. Reflecting this, we will be announcing at the meeting our sponsorship of a symposium in Germany in March 2019 concerning robotics for disassembly.

We will be setting out proposals for a new work programme for 2019 as well as updating members on our work in China and India. 

Last year, member company IBM invited us to their research offices in Paris for our first annual meeting where we learned of their plans to use Watson in the circular economy. Last week at P4G in Copenhagen, it was a pleasure to see IBM Europe President Erich Clementi provide an update on the IBM plans for digital platforms that will promote remanufacturing and reuse. 

Our member organisations get an early view of these important developments. Our aim is to offer similar insights at the 2018 meeting. If your organisation has not yet joined the European Remanufacturing Council, please do get in touch. 

If you would like a copy of the public briefing note, please contact Rachel.waugh@remancouncil.eu