Sustainable ecosystems: Findings from the NaWerSys workshop series

Abstract

Ecosystems have the promising potential to respond to economic but also environmental and social challenges, such as by enabling circular thinking, establishing fair supply chains, responsible collaborations, and ensuring resilience. In this report, we summarize findings from multiple data sources in the context of the NaWerSys workshop series which was held together with the INFORMATIK conference. The results are informed by experiences collected from full-day paper sessions in 2021, 2022, and 2023, and a world café-based discussion with 15 participants from different backgrounds, including sustainability, engineering, platform governance, product service systems, and artificial intelligence. We structured the results along with four main fields of action concerning the core, the value, the design, and the management of sustainable ecosystems. By jointly elaborating on the status quo and possible research directions, the findings aim to advance our understanding and boost the concept of sustainable ecosystems.