Research - 09.05.2025 - 16:01
In 2025, a total of three projects received awards. “Smart Criminal Justice” by Prof. Dr Monika Simmler and Prof. Dr Kuno Schedler; “Tracing cobalt in fragmented supply chains” by Prof. Dr Florian Wettstein, Dr Isabel Ebert and Laura Neufeldt-Schoeller and the project “Circular Lab: Implementing the circular economy” by Dr Fabian Takacs, Anna Burch, Prof. Dr Karolin Frankenberger, Prof. Dr Andrei Ciortea and Prof. Dr Simon Mayer will be recognised this year with the prize.
The jury, consisting of practitioners and members of the University of St.Gallen community, evaluated applications from a wide range of HSG research disciplines. The prizes will be awarded during the Dies academicus this Friday, 9 May 2025.
With the “Smart Criminal Justice” research project, the University of St.Gallen (HSG) has made a significant contribution to the regulation of modern technologies in law enforcement. Under the direction of Prof. Dr Monika Simmler (Criminal Law) and Prof. Dr Kuno Schedler (Public Management), the project has been investigating the use of smart technologies in policing and criminal justice since 2019 – focusing on the balance between security and the protection of fundamental rights.
The project attracted particular attention in autumn 2024 when the Federal Supreme Court referred to publications from the project twelve times in a landmark ruling on automated vehicle searches, data analysis and facial recognition. It repealed several provisions of the Lucerne Police Act – due to insufficient legal foundations for AI operations - and reaffirmed the importance of informational self-determination.
Research shows: Even seemingly simple algorithmic systems encroach deeply on fundamental rights. “Smart Criminal Justice” makes these interventions visible, creates transparency in a previously opaque area and promotes social discourse. The findings are more relevant today than ever before – because new technologies such as deepfakes or AI-supported sentencing are constantly raising new legal questions.
The Circular Lab at the University of St.Gallen shows that the circular economy (CE) is far more than just a trend – it is an existential necessity. Initiated by Dr Fabian Takacs, Anna Burch and Prof Dr Karolin Frankenberger (IfB-HSG) as well as Prof Dr Simon Mayer and Prof Dr Andrei Ciortea (ICS-HSG), the interdisciplinary lab develops innovative, practical solutions for the transformation of our economy towards a sustainable circular system. Projects such as the “Circular Tarp”, have been launched together with the Zurich cult label FREITAG, which aims to breathe a real second life into bags made from used lorry tarpaulins with a new, fully recyclable mono-material tarpaulin. This makes a closed material cycle possible for the first time. The Circular Lab is providing technical, financial and conceptual support for this project – a prime example of CE innovations that work on an industrial scale.
With the Refashion Collection, the “Circle of Water” textile exhibition, a comprehensive circular KPI system, the practice-orientated book “Circular Economy Navigator” (Hanser, August 2025) and an empirical SME study, the Lab is also demonstrating how CE can be implemented in concrete terms.
With support from the EU and the federal government (funding volume: ca. CHF 4 million), the Lab is the largest CE project at HSG. It brings together six universities and over 30 companies from the DACH region to research and implement circular business models, ecosystems and technologies.
How can cobalt supply chains be organised responsibly? This was the initial question of the research project “Tracing cobalt in fragmented supply chains” by Prof. Dr Florian Wettstein, Dr Isabel Ebert and Laura Neufeldt-Schoeller.
In collaboration with the international provider of access solutions, dormakaba, the resulting study by the Institute for Business Ethics (IWE-HSG) uncovered systemic traceability challenges and ethical dilemmas associated with cobalt from the Democratic Republic of Congo. One of the key findings of the study was that avoiding cobalt from the DRC is neither realistic nor ethically justifiable – instead, meaningful measures are required on the ground.
As a result, dormakaba joined the important initiative “The Hub for Child Labour Prevention and Remediation” in 2024, which is led by Save the Children and The Center for Child Rights and Business. The initiative helps to free children from dangerous mining conditions and support families with education, healthcare and sustainable income alternatives.
“The biggest success of the project is that the company has really taken on board our recommendations and started to implement them. In addition, dormakaba has involved other companies and other stakeholders to increase the impact of its measures,” says Prof. Dr Florian Wettstein.
