Seven Takeaways from AMCS Inspire event, SASE Germany

Authors: Lara van Rijswijk and Conor Dowd

We really enjoyed the first AMCS Inspire Live event at the SASE Forum in Iserlohn on the 7th of September.

There was a real buzz amount the event and it was great at last to meet and greet both old and new friends.

The theme of our event was the “Potential of Digitalization for the Resources and Recycling sector” - Aus der Praxis für die Praxis.

We invited a range of keynote speakers from across the Municipal, Private and consultancy services sectors to share their insights and best practices on how to adopt circular principles and digitalization. 

These insights were practical and, in some cases, future oriented as speakers spoke about the transformational potential of exponential technologies such as Artificial Intelligence, IoT, Big Data and Analytics. 

I would like again to thank all our speakers for their participation.

1. Resource companies can play a pivotal role as Resource Managers in the emerging Circular Silicon Economy

Volker Fennemann  (Fraunhofer-Institut fur Materialfluss and Logsitik) provided insights into the emerging mega-trends that are driving the circular economy and identified opportunities for resource and recycling companies where they act as resource managers. He emphasized the important of leveraging the latest digital technologies and adopting new business models to create a new ‘Silicon Economy’.

2. Digital Transformation involves understanding your staff so you can bring them on the journey

Christine Schmidt of Stadt Reinigung Hamburg gave an insightful talk on the digital transformation journey from the perspective of a progressive municipality. She emphasized the importance of understanding their various motivations and attitudes towards technology in order to bring them on the journey.

3. The Circular Economy will attract new players and disrupters. Traditional resource and recycling companies need to become pro-active and adopt digitalization to become major players in the circular economy.

Dr. Jochen Hoffmeister(Prognos) provided valuable insights into the status and future direction of the Circular Economy in Germany today. He highlighted the need for traditional resource and recycling companies to adopt a circular and digital mindset to become central resource players in the new circular economy.

4. Digitalization is not a Project but a continuous process and strategic mindset.

Dr. Nico Schulte ( INFA) provided insights into the methodology that that INFA uses with its clients to view digital transformation as a mindset which is focused on leveraging new technologies on a continuous basis. He also identified some very important critical success factors to support any transformation.

5. Digitalization is a holistic mindset that looks to create engaging experiences not only for customers but also for your staff.

Christoph Buss (Damm Entsorgung) providing insights on the digitalization strategy (“Wir werden Digital”) at the Buhck Gruppe. He set out a range of initiatives designed to engage and delight both customers and staff alike. This holistic approach is paying dividends for one our most progressive AMCS clients.

6. Innovation without impact is merely invention. 

Johannes Schön provided valuable insights into how Remondis Digital Services GmBH fosters a culture of continuous innovation. He provided a fascinating case study about a Remondis Digital subsidiary called Cortex who have leveraged AI to create a Clean City Index for municipalities.  

7. The Circular Economy will be digital.

Our colleague Markus Ludwig presented the case for why the circular economy will be digital or dead. He cited the need for digitalization to play a key role in managing resource flows and information loops across the circular value chain. In particular, he described two recent AMCS client digital transformation projects that leveraged Artificial Intelligence and Data driven optimization algorithms to deliver positive financial and environmental results.