Hubs for Circularity: Reference Architecture of Digital Collaboration Platforms

Abstract Industrial Symbiosis (IS) supports the circular economy by enabling resource sharing and waste minimisation. However, its implementation is often hindered by conflicting stakeholder objectives, reluctance to share data, and limited digital support. A Digital Collaboration Platform (DCP) offers a promising solution to address these challenges by creating a secure digital space for stakeholders, enabling information exchange, and fostering symbiotic networks. Industry, academia, and government share a common vision for advancing the digitalisation of IS through DCPs. Despite this shared vision, implementation remains limited, as coherent design blueprints for such platforms are still missing. This study employs the design science methodology to develop and evaluate a reference architecture model for a DCP to be adopted by Hubs for Ciruclarity, referred to as DigitalH4C. The designed model is prototyped and evaluated by stakeholders with diverse backgrounds through an evaluation workshop. Evaluation results indicate that the proposed model (1) provides a clear foundation for understanding the concept of DCPs in the IS context, (2) maps DCP functionalities to IS challenges by applying digital technologies that support the full cycle of IS, and (3) extends the conventional objectives of previous DCPs toward a more holistic IS system.