Educating for a Data-Driven Circular Economy: How DATA4CIRC plans to Reskill and Upskill Europe’s Workforce

Published January 2026 © DATA4CIRC

January 24th is the United Nations International Day of Education. This is an opportunity to reflect not only on access to learning, but also on what we learn (or teach) and why. As Europe accelerates its transition towards a circular economy, education and training will play a decisive role in ensuring that workers, businesses and value chains are equipped with the skills needed to adopt new models of production that incorporate the ‘R-strategies’.

The DATA4CIRC project is built on this premise: that the transition to a more circular economy can only succeed if people are at the centre of innovation. In addition to the platform which DATA4CIRC is designing to enable manufacturers to securely share data, enhance the traceability of materials across value chains, and boost innovation and circularity of material flows, the project places strong emphasis on education, training, and social innovation.

What is Social Innovation?

A defining feature of DATA4CIRC’s education programme is its strong focus on social innovation. Social innovation recognises that technological solutions alone are not enough; they must be designed in ways that reflect human needs, organisational cultures and real-world constraints.

DATA4CIRC’s goal is to help reskill and upskill the workforce so that DATA4CIRC’s digital tools and data platforms, and the circular processes they enable, are not only available, but effectively understood, adopted, and fully exploited in practice.

In practice, this means ensuring that:

• Training responds to actual skills gaps identified by the workforce
• Tools and methods are usable and accessible, not overly complex or disconnected from daily work
• Workers are involved as co-creators, not passive recipients of innovation
• Education supports behavioural change, trust and acceptance of new systems

By embedding social innovation principles, DATA4CIRC aims to reduce resistance to change and increase the long-term uptake of circular and digital solutions. This approach also helps to ensure that the benefits of the circular economy, such as job resilience, safer working conditions, and new career pathways, are shared more equitably across society.

Circular economy transitions require coordination between multiple actors: material suppliers, recyclers, manufacturers, technology developers, researchers, and public authorities. DATA4CIRC does not view education as a one-way transfer of knowledge, but as a collaborative learning process. This helps raise awareness of shared challenges, identify synergies and align expectations between different actors. In doing so, education becomes a tool not only for skills development, but also for building trust and fostering systemic change.

Education anchored in real industrial challenges

The DATA4CIRC education and training programme is initially focused on three pilot sectors:

1. Recycling of agricultural plastics
2. Refurbishment and reuse of waste electrical and electronic equipment (WEEE)
3. Recovery of platinum group metals (PGMs) from spent automotive catalytic converters

These sectors face common challenges: complex material flows, fragmented value chains, regulatory pressures and increasing demands for traceability, quality control, and sustainability reporting. At the same time, they each require specific technical, digital and organisational skills that are often in short supply.

By grounding its education programme in these pilot cases, DATA4CIRC ensures that training content is practical, sector-relevant and immediately applicable. Workers, technicians, managers and decision-makers will not be trained in abstract concepts, but in real use cases that reflect the operational realities of circular manufacturing.

Reskilling and upskilling across the value chain

The transition to a data-driven circular economy affects jobs at every level of the value chain. From plant operators and refurbishment technicians to data analysts, logistics managers, and sustainability officers, new competencies are required to work effectively with digital tools and circular processes.

DATA4CIRC’s education activities therefore aim to:

• Reskill workers whose roles are changing due to automation, digitalisation, or new circular business models
• Upskill existing staff to use data analytics, digital platforms, and decision-support tools for circular operations
• Support SMEs and industrial stakeholders who may lack in-house training capacity
• Build shared understanding across value chains, enabling collaboration between recyclers, manufacturers, technology providers, and policymakers

At the time of writing (Jan 2026), the courses are still in the planning stage, but training materials are expected to address both digital and non-digital topics such as Circular Value Chains, Data Sharing, Digital Twins, Digital Product Passports, and Circular Awareness & Knowledge. If there are topics that you think would be useful for your company or sector, you can fill in our survey (see below) and suggest them for inclusion!

Importantly, the materials will be designed to be modular and adaptable, allowing them to be transferred to other sectors beyond the initial pilots. They will be leverage the resources of project-partner EIT Manufacturing and its educational platforms.

Complete our survey to shape our training!

While the initial focus of DATA4CIRC’s education programme is on its three pilot sectors, the project is explicitly designed to evolve and expand. To achieve this, stakeholder input is essential.

DATA4CIRC has launched a survey to help us better understand how people working in the different manufacturing sectors interact with digital tools, perceive circularity, and experience challenges and needs in their daily work. If you work in manufacturing, in either a 𝘁𝗲𝗰𝗵𝗻𝗶𝗰𝗮𝗹/𝗼𝗽𝗲𝗿𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻𝗮𝗹 or 𝗺𝗮𝗻𝗮𝗴𝗲𝗿𝗶𝗮𝗹 role, your input can help us:

• Gain insights into your operational context and real-world demands
• Improve upcoming co-creation activities
• Design tailored training opportunities
• Ensure ethical and inclusive digital innovation

This is a concrete opportunity to ensure that education for the circular economy reflects real-world requirements and supports those who are driving change on the ground.

Final thoughts

Education is not an add-on to technological progress; it is what makes progress possible. Through collaboration, inclusivity and continuous learning, DATA4CIRC is working to ensure that circular manufacturing is not only smarter and more efficient, but also more human-centred and resilient.

We invite you to be part of this journey, by sharing your insights, participating in the survey and helping to build the skills foundation for a truly circular future. You can keep up to date on the latest developments from our project by following us on the DATA4CIRC social media channels: