SDG 9 Industry, Innovation, and Infrastructure

Build resilient infrastructure, promote sustainable industrialisation, and foster innovation – these are the demands of the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goal number 9. Future-oriented industrial development combines economic viability, innovation, and environmental responsibility.

Why Digitalisation Can Make All the Difference

Digitalisation can be a central lever for sustainable industrial development. It can make materials, processes, costs, and environmental impacts transparent – thus facilitating well-informed decisions along the entire product life cycle and supporting the transition towards circular economy.

Digital product passports (DPPs) are an important building block in this context. According to the EU Commission’s plan, these are to be gradually introduced for currently 18 energy-intensive product groups such as electronics, textiles, furniture, construction materials, and batteries by 2030, and they affect all companies involved in the value chain. The DPPs bundle information on origin, production, supply chain, energy consumption, and recycling potential and can thus form the basis for the data-based assessment and optimisation of products.

ECO-TCO: Sustainable Life Cycle Decisions

In the research project ECO-TCO, the research team of Tassilo Pellegrini explores how digital product passports can be combined with life cycle cost analyses (Life Cycle Costing / Total Cost of Ownership, TCO). The objective is to design products in such a way that ecological sustainability and economic efficiency go hand in hand.

Connecting environmental and cost data makes potentials for optimisation visible – for example, which materials are not only cheaper, but more environmentally friendly as well.

Holistic Thinking – Sustainable Action

The decisive change of perspectives: Products are no longer evaluated merely in terms of their purchase price, but rather along their entire life cycle costs and ecological implications.

This creates a sound basis for informed decisions that reconcile economic efficiency and sustainability – and turn innovation into the engine for a climate-friendly industry.

About the SDG Topic Series

Within the framework of our SDG topic series, we dedicate ourselves to one of the 17 goals for sustainable development every week. The selected contributions serve as examples to illustrate how USTP – University of Applied Sciences St. Pölten contributes to a sustainable future. In doing so, we highlight diverse issues – from poverty in old age and ‘AI for Green’ to strategic partnerships and networks.

Read more about the sustainability topic at USTP here.