What are the essential elements and trends within the general umbrella of sustainability that you see in the industry, especially in Sweden?
The United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) have led to countries pledging carbon emissions to the product life cycle and circularity goals. Sweden, long seen as a leader and innovator in various aspects of sustainability, has the potential to spearhead this wave. At a corporate level, the Swedish industry is committing to science-based targets to optimize greenhouse gas emissions, renewable energy usage, and circular material utilization. Science-based targets and ESG (Enterprise, Social, Governance) reporting, which many companies have pledged to, are demanding sustainability standards where companies need rigorous systems. On the other hand, customers, investors, and shareholders press companies to embrace circularity and offer more medicinal products than extractive products and services.
How can Knightec help achieve these goals using software-driven solutions?
Commercial systems can’t exist in isolation. Industry 4.0 systems, regardless of size or scope, interact and exchange information with their surroundings as part of an ecosystem. Software and data analytics systems optimize machinery operations. They are central to standardized, accurate, unbiased data reporting, ensuring SDG compliance and ESG reporting. Modern IoT devices and sensors can detect anomalies and alert users, and adjust equipment operations to minimize fatigue and avoid downtime.
For example, Knightec is helping mining industry customers predict maintenance requirements for their heavy machinery using 3D scanning, intelligent algorithms, and new innovative sensor solutions. In addition to minimizing downtime and costs, predicting maintenance is crucial for reducing material waste in machine lining and optimizing throughput with less energy. For Knightec’s industrial and medical device clients, digital twins and control interfaces have reduced product development and validation times. They have also driven circularity by eliminating physical prototype development that produces waste material.
Another example of how data analytics drives sustainability is the Digital Product Passport. This structured data set describes a product (such as a shirt) and its constituent components throughout its life cycle. This newly proposed EU legislation will come into force in 2024 and has broad implications. Knightec is ready to partner with clients and has completed internal case studies.
Do you have any examples of how software systems drive sustainability at the individual level?
As the saying goes – “Be the change you want to see in the world.” Sustainable practices start with the individual, whether using public transportation, installing energy-efficient appliances, or properly recycling household waste. Such behavioral change leads to sustainable living practices that have a significant impact at home and beyond. Bintix, a startup within the waste management space, has relied on software-driven nudges to provide feedback and reinforcement to households by giving eco statistics related to how much waste is generated by the household, how much CO2 was averted, and how much plastic was averted from landfills/water bodies.
Using visual feedback and gamification promotes waste segregation practices and affects behavioral change at the individual level. Software is a tool, and it is up to us to utilize its potential to drive sustainability. Today, when organizations experience internal/customer-driven and external/regulatory drivers to create and execute a sustainable product strategy, Knightec can help craft and be a trusted partner in its execution.
Let us help you on your sustainability journey.
Knightec specializes in overall strategic sustainability work, sustainable products and services, and other attributes necessary to sustain a complete solution. These attributes include circular design, digital enablers, and other components. In that way, Knightec covers the entire sustainability spectrum. Our experts specialize in helping companies navigate the complex landscape of laws, regulations, and standards on both organizational and product levels. We map out your sustainability challenges and strategically, tactically, and operationally support you. Contact our Sustainability and Circular Design advisors, Madelene Wiil and Teo Enlund, or head to our Sustainability page.