SOLARSPOON develops pioneering Solar-to-Food technology by integrating photosynthetic and food-producing bacteria into self-contained devices that convert sunlight, air, and water directly into protein- and lipid-rich food materials. Cyanobacteria capture solar energy and provide electrons, which are boosted by organic dyes to power autotrophic microbes that produce nutritious biomolecules. The work focuses on improving electron transfer at the cell–electrode interface, creating microbial consortia capable of producing both proteins and lipids, and designing integrated devices that balance biological and electrochemical needs while enabling straightforward collection of food products. The ultimate aim is to demonstrate the first solar-powered system with 1% solar-to-food efficiency, opening new possibilities for sustainable food production in off-grid settings, future households, and even space missions.

The Circular Bootcamp – Sustainability in Action (CiBoo) is a pilot project funded by the Volkswagen Foundation, which takes place on the TUM Campus in Straubing. It offers students the opportunity to explore sustainable living and conduct practical research into circular thinking and behavior in the everyday life of a student shared flat. The students participating in the Bootcamp will document their experiences and challenges, identify practical obstacles, and develop solution strategies. They will share their journey with the wide public on Instagram and social media. 

Circular living has been a central topic of scientific research on sustainability for several years. It is considered a promising approach to transitioning to a resource-efficient, climate-neutral economy.

It is estimated that household consumption accounts for approximately 60% of global greenhouse gas emissions and 50-80% of resource consumption. A successful circular economy (CE), therefore, requires the active participation of society.

The Circular Bootcamp (CiBoo) – Sustainability in Action is implemented by the Technical University of Munich (TUM), the Chair of Circular Economy and Sustainability Assessment, and the Professorship of Economics. The program is funded by the Volkswagen Foundation and carried out in partnership with Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München (LMU), Mediaschool Bayern, Bayerischer Rundfunk (BR), and Studierendenwerk Niederbayern Oberpfalz (STWNO). 

ECOMO pioneers a revolutionary approach, harnessing renewable energy, greenhouse gases like CO2 and nitrates from wastewater, to create valuable building blocks for a range of materials. Through innovative electrobiocatalytic processes and cascade fermentation, ECOMO produces high-quality diamine monomers, essential for making various polymeric materials. It combines electrochemical and biocatalytical processes in an unique way. Additionally, this porjects promotes scalability and the potential to replace unsustainable synthesis methods driven by the global need of existing and growing markets. By utilizing readily available resources like CO2 and recycled nitrates, ECOMO offers a greener alternative to traditional petrochemical processes.

Traditional circular economy research has focussed, to a large extent, on new materials to underpin circularity, or methods to promote efficient material flows. Important, but often overlooked, is the aspect of behavioural change. Service based models, in which goods are never owned by consumers, have the potential to transform society for the good of everyone. In this context, distributed ledger technologies (DLTs) such as blockchain have received increasing attention as a potential catalyst for the transition to sustainability. DLTs can facilitate new business models and a new era of transparency, generating economies of trust, thereby potentially transforming prevailing economic and institutional systems. The project will focus on the role DLTs can play in facilitating this transformation, especially regarding the aspects of transparency in the value cycles and new circular business models around servitisation and the sharing economy.

New research tools will be developed to analyse and assess interventions, especially policy measures and digital technologies regarding their multi-dimensional performances from a full life cycle thinking perspective. A system dynamics (SD) model will be developed to help understand how servitisation and access systems, from the micro to macro level of intervention to consumer behaviours, react to the deployment of these technologies in the shift towards circularity, and further investigate the role of DLTs in the process. A multi-scale life cycle sustainability assessment framework to assess the impacts of DLTs, transparency and servitisation will be developed and coupled to the SD model, yielding a new consequential multi-scale life cycle sustainability assessment tool that can support policy development and be used to both guiding and evaluating interventions enabled by DLTs.