Insights of Digital Transformation Processes in Industrial Symbiosis from the Viable Systems Approach (<i><span style="font-variant: small-caps">vSa</span></i>)

• Main Authors: Sergio Barile, Clara Bassano, Raffaele D’Amore, Paolo Piciocchi, Marialuisa Saviano, Pietro Vito
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: MDPI AG 2021-08-01
• Series: Sustainability
• Subjects: industrial symbiosis; viable systems approach; web-based platforms; digital transformation
• Online Access: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/13/17/9696

The main purpose of this contribution is twofold: from a scientific point of view, to interpret the symbiotic logic through the framework of the Viable Systems approach (<i><span style="font-variant: small-caps;">vSa</span></i>), and from a managerial viewpoint, to provide the actors of industrial symbiosis initiatives, at any stage of their life cycle, with a guide to the most promising web-based solutions in terms of defining the best configuration for the symbiotic network. The article, therefore, aims to provide an in-depth study of the existing literature, which is still not exhaustive, and to consider synoptically and comparatively the modern platforms capable of supporting industrial symbiosis initiatives. The objective was pursued by examining 10 existing and functioning Web-based platforms, of which only a few were previously explored in the previous literature, while the recognition of the latter was carried out on a bibliometric basis to articulate in more detail the existing gap based on a panel of contributions as large as possible. The joint consideration of the literature review and the examination of the existing and functioning platforms shows an articulated framework of approaches, proposed models, and classification schemes of their functions, which allows us to conclude that given the sectoral, territorial, and specific characteristics of the materials addressed by each platform and considering the different cycles existing in eco-industrial parks (water, energy, by-products, etc.), the most promising way for their implementation is to consider multiple platforms to fully exploit the contribution of each of them. As for the management implications, the suggestion is to integrate the results obtained from the different platforms and to evaluate the configurational alternatives with multi-criteria procedures.