Towards a Smart Circular Ecosystem in the Automotive Industry: The Role of Data and Digital Technologies

As the automotive industry transitions toward circularity, smart circular ecosystems become essential for coordinating strategies across the vehicle lifecycle. Using a design science research approach, this study identifies the key actors, data flows, and digital technologies that enable such ecosystems. The results reveal a complex ecosystem of 31 actors interconnected through material, financial, and data flows, with data exchanges being particularly intensive for slowing resource loops during the middle of life phase, which involves the greatest number of actors and transactions. The study highlights the critical role of digital technologies and interoperable digital infrastructures in facilitating data collection, storage, analysis, and application to support circular strategies across all product lifecycle phases. A conceptual model is proposed that integrates principal ecosystem components, emphasizing key actors, technologies and data flows. By providing theoretical insights and practical guidance for implementing circular strategies in the automotive sector using digital technologies, this study advances understanding of how circular ecosystems can be effectively orchestrated, emphasizes the critical role of data governance, and addresses the coordination challenges inherent in multi-actor, cross-organizational settings within the emerging smart circular economy field.