HSG Impact Awards 2025: Circular economy as the key to the future

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. The research project is one of the winners of the HSG Impact Awards 2025.

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. 

About the HSG Impact Awards
Every year, the University of St.Gallen (HSG) honours outstanding research with the HSG Impact Award. HSG researchers who make a particularly valuable contribution to society with their projects are honoured.