Artificial Intelligence and sustainability: how can INESC TEC contribute to the future of the economy?

How can we transition to a more sustainable economy? How can new technologies support more efficient waste management? And what are the benefits of applying Artificial Intelligence (AI) to circularity and sustainability processes? These were some of the questions discussed at the event Digitalização e Inteligência Artificial ao Serviço da Economia Circular, held at INESC TEC on 6 November.

Organised in partnership with Smart Waste Portugal, the initiative brought together around 50 participants – including industry representatives, policymakers and researchers – to discuss how digital technologies can improve current circularity systems and support the design of strategies for a more energy-efficient ecosystem.

Américo Azevedo, INESC TEC researcher and one of those responsible for business development in industry-related areas, delivered the keynote presentation “Digitalização e Sustentabilidade: a oportunidade de uma Economia Circular Inteligente”. He stated that “to digitalise without circularity strategies is to accelerate waste”. By showing that new technologies, such as AI, can foster sustainability by using fewer resources while generating the same value, he made clear that digitalisation will be a central enabler in the energy transition era.

This was followed by two panel discussions featuring representatives from companies working in the field. The first debate – “Indústria 5.0 rumo à Economia Circular” – was moderated by António Almeida, coordinator of INESC TEC’s industrial engineering and management area, and included contributions from Pedro Alvarilhão (Volis), Miguel Moreira da Silva (Wiimer) and Tiago Mascarenhas (Amorim Cork Solutions). A second discussion, focused on “Inovação Digital na Gestão de Resíduos”, was moderated by Luísa Magalhães (ASWP) and featured Fernando Leite (LIPOR), Inês Baeta Neves (EGF) and Pedro Meira (ITGest).

Helena Sanches, Director-General for the Economy, closed the event by highlighting the importance of initiatives like this – which, through collaboration and the sharing of experiences, generate value for industry as a whole and for the waste-management sector.

This event is part of the Circularidade IN series promoted by Smart Waste, which aims to disseminate knowledge about the circular economy.

The researchers mentioned in this news piece are associated with the Faculty of Engineering of the University of Porto and INESC TEC.