Circular sustainable business models Synthesis of overall results from the SMARTCHAIN project

Summary This report summarises research findings from the SMARTCHAIN project for task T5.4 Innovative business models for blue bioeconomy supply chains. The objective is to synthesize the SMARTCHAIN project´s overall results which are aimed at providing tools and approaches to improve efficiency, sustainability, and circularity in the blue bioeconomy. The report compiles nine “Research findings Briefs” from the project giving an overview and highlighting the key outcomes. 1) “Smart solutions for advancing supply systems in blue bioeconomy value chains” presents an overview of the project´s research activities which were focused on case studies in fisheries and aquaculture. The research findings reflect upon the challenges of the fisheries and aquaculture food value chains and the various barriers to transforming to more sustainable circular business models. 2) “Barriers to higher resource utilization in demersal fish supply chains in Norway and Iceland” details mapping of resource use in Iceland and Norway and the critical points where food loss and waste (FLW) occur while the lack of data on rest raw material (RRM) is highlighted. 3) “Robotic manipulation of food objects” is an innovative approach aimed at providing a tool for sorting of raw material in preprocessing. 4) “Increased utilization and valorization of marine rest raw materials” is research on optimisation and upscaling of gelatin and collagen from fish skins. 5) "Optimizing the seafood supply chain: Maximizing efficiency, advancing sustainability, and promoting circularity" involves the development of production planning models to optimize the in- and outbound logistics flows of a specific company's production facilities, considering quality, environmental and economic aspects. 6) "Architecture of traceability system" includes functional and non-functional system specifications which were defined based on requirement analysis and includes a set of high-level requirements for a blockchain based system. 7) "Evaluation of circularity and sustainability in seafood value chains: A simulation-based analysis" is based on system dynamics simulation framework to assess scenarios aimed at enhancing sustainability performance by e.g. reducing energy consumption and CO2 emissions in the supply systems, while maintaining or improving the quality of the biomasses. 8) "Sustainable resource use: Indicators and stakeholders´ perception on barriers to enhancing circularity in seafood supply chains" were analysed based on in-depth interviews and review of policy implementation regarding circularity strategies and regulations. Furthermore, regulatory and voluntary sustainability reporting practices of companies was reviewed. 9) "Leverage points for improved circularity in blue bioeconomy systems - fisheries and aquaculture food value chains" covers insights to the final synthesis aimed at providing the basis to formulate evidence-based policy and practice recommendations. The overall findings from the SMARTCHAIN project on the sustainable use of resources in fisheries and aquaculture value chains highlight the need to develop further circular business models with a focus on innovative applications of rest raw materials. Considerations of circularity criteria (e.g. recycle, reuse, remanufacture, closing resource loops) require more attention by the industry, while regulatory and organizational hurdles are prevalent.