AI-based educational platforms as a vector for cooperation and technology transfer in science and engineering for the circular economy

Abstract

The transition to a circular economy, conceptualised as a regenerative system that minimises resource input and waste, emissions and energy leakage, requires new forms of collaboration between universities and industry, as well as graduates able to address complex sustainability and resource-efficiency challenges. AI-based educational platforms can function as shared digital infrastructures that connect scientific knowledge, real industrial data and project-based learning in science and engineering, in line with recent work on AI applications in higher education and STEM and on AI-enhanced tools for engineering education. Such platforms are particularly relevant as artificial intelligence and digitisation are increasingly recognised as key enablers of circular business models and innovation. This study examines how such platforms can act as drivers of cooperation and technology transfer for circular-economy-oriented engineering education, building on sustainable models of university–industry collaboration.