Digitaalisten teknologioiden rooli kiertotalouteen perustuvien yritysten kehityksessä ja kasvussa

This thesis explores how digital technologies support the development and growth of circular economy enterprises. The study topic has multiple motivations, out of which the most notable are strive to sustainability improvements, driving the circular economy and innovative business models, and understanding the role of digital technologies, such as artificial intelligence, data analytics and Internet of Things, in this change. Although existing research addresses the subject, it often focuses on only one of the two phenomena: either the increasing role of digital technologies in business or circular business models more broadly. This gap further justifies the present study. The research is based on a thematic analysis of insights gathered from semi-struc-tured interviews with eight Finnish circularity grounded companies. The results re-veal five key themes: digital technologies are an important enabler of circular busi-ness models; digitalization is heavily influenced by customer needs and resource limitations; digital technologies enable mainly incremental innovation; persistent barriers to digital implementation exist; and circular companies constantly strive for more extensive digitalization.