The 4th Lightweighting Summit is dedicated to the topic of "Lightweighting 2.0 in the Circular Economy". What topics will the conference focus on?
The Lightweighting Summit is the flagship event of the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Climate Protection (BMWK) when it comes to lightweight construction. This year's conference topic - lightweight construction in the circular economy - is highly topical. Up to now, innovations in lightweight construction have primarily focused on optimizing the weight of cars or aircraft, for example, and on saving materials in product manufacturing. However, we need to focus more on developing durable lightweight materials and products that we can keep in circulation for as long as possible. This is the only way we can fully realize the potential of lightweight construction for climate protection and resource conservation. With this in mind, the 4th Lightweighting Summit will feature top-class experts from the worlds of business, science and politics.

The recyclability of lightweight products remains a challenge. What opportunities do you see here?
We have to differentiate here: Some lightweight construction materials, such as metals, have excellent recycling properties. Others, in particular composite materials, can only be recycled or reused to a limited extent. However, composites play an important role in the energy transition, among other things: High-performance rotor blades for wind turbines, for example, are made from fiber-reinforced plastics. In order to make progress here, we need to ensure recyclability as early as possible in the product development process by designing for circularity and recycling. This requires holistic approaches that also take into account aspects such as reusability or reparability and improve the possibilities for using secondary materials in new products and applications. Our goal must be to largely close the material cycles relevant to lightweight construction and to ensure the highest possible quality of recycling.

What role can life cycle assessments play in achieving climate protection targets?
Life cycle assessments make it possible, for example, to take a holistic view of the climate compatibility of lightweight construction solutions. In this way, manufacturers can select the materials or design approaches that have the lowest net_CO2 and material footprint as early as the product development stage. We are therefore promoting analysis methods and approaches for collecting and providing valid data so that standardized life cycle analyses can be used as widely as possible. In doing so, we must pay particular attention to the needs of small and medium-sized enterprises, which require practical, lean instruments.

The EU wants to achieve a functioning circular economy by 2050 at the latest. What framework conditions are needed to ensure that lightweight construction is ready for the circular economy by then?
We also need to move as quickly as possible towards a circular system in lightweight construction, in which raw materials are reused and recycled for as long as possible. The necessary rethink has long since begun among lightweight construction stakeholders in Germany. I am very pleased about that. In order to achieve the goal we have set ourselves, we must become even better at rapidly transferring circular, economically viable innovations from science to industrial practice. SMEs in particular must be able to benefit more quickly from innovative research results. For me, an important approach is real-world laboratories such as the National Lightweight Construction Validation Centre in Dresden, which was made possible thanks to start-up funding from the BMWK. Here, small and medium-sized companies can demonstrate the performance of circular lightweight construction technologies on an industrial scale and thus mitigate the risks involved in scaling up and industrial implementation. The BMWK also supports cross-industry networking as part of the Lightweight Construction Initiative.

And, of course, the German government's lightweight construction strategy, which we intend to develop and publish this year, will help to make lightweight construction fit for the circular economy. A total of six federal government ministries are involved in this, which shows what a cross-cutting issue lightweight construction is. Climate protection, resource conservation, the circular economy and a secure supply of raw materials will be central here.

Lightweight construction is one of the key technologies as it aims to reduce the weight of components and improve resource efficiency at the same time. The BMWK supports R&D projects through the lightweight construction technology transfer program. Can you say a little more about this?
With 167 projects currently being funded with a funding volume of around 260 million euros, the lightweight construction program is already a success story, not least due to the encouragingly high level of participation by innovative SMEs: industrial companies make up around 70% of the project participants, of which around 70% are small and medium-sized enterprises. This success is reflected in considerable additional funding from the Climate and Transformation Fund from 2023: in addition to the existing 69 million euros per year, another 40 million euros will be added this year. This underlines the potential we see in the topic. For us, this is also a great incentive to make the funding program even better and more attractive. We will therefore publish a new funding guideline this year which, in addition to a stronger focus on material efficiency, will also specifically strengthen the circular economy and recycling in lightweight construction.

4th Lightweighting Summit

The 4th Lightweighting Summit of the Federal Ministry of Economics and Climate Protection (BMWK) will take place on April 18, 2023 from 14:00 to 17:00 as part of the Hannover Messe. Keynotes and panels will focus on the opportunities and challenges for the lightweighting transformation technology in the context of the circular economy. Registration is already possible at: bit.ly/3mSms20