The role of ICT in industrial ecology projects – The French perspective

Abstract

Many programs aiming at implementing industrial symbiosis have been developed all over the world. However, only few by-products exchanges became operational. Applications that aim at gathering and sharing material and energy flows are more often potential than effective (Gibbs and Deutz, 2007) and this is especially true in France where industrial ecology implementations are quite few. According to the question of the role of ICT in industrial ecology, this paper contains three parts. At first, we will propose an overview of industrial ecology in France from several points of view: when and how did the concept first appear? What about the research and the training centres? Who are the operational actors or experts? And finally what are the main projects? Secondly, we will present a French program called COMETHE and aiming at developing methodological and assessment tool integrated into a global decision-making system. And finally, we will conclude with a reflexion about the role of ICT in industrial ecology from the French point of view, introducing a future project that will take an interest in this question.