“Good evening from China, good morning to South America, and a pleasant midday to Europe!” – rarely does a greeting fit a project as perfectly as it does for the Circularity Optimizer. Our tool truly spans the globe: from Austria to China, from innovative cities to dynamic regions, and from visions to implementation.

Our most recent webinar hosted 27 participants from several continents—a final major gathering with our Chinese partners before the project enters the dissemination and further development phase in China. The exchange was intensive, technically profound, and above all: unifying.

Innovation Across Continents

Europe and China are working closely together on the project “URBAN MENUS Circularity China – Resilient Circularity Optimizer for Urban Systems.” The idea is to share innovations, learn from one another, and jointly develop tools that make cities more resilient, resource-efficient, and future-proof.

The webinar featured a real deep dive into the various tool components presented by the partners. It was particularly rewarding to see how the speakers built upon each other’s content. It became clear how the project’s building blocks are now—as we approach the end of the project—merging into a cohesive whole.

Our Motivation: Rethinking Cities

We aim to:

• challenge one-sided decisions,
• reshape cooperation in productive cities,
• and drastically reduce resource loss.

Resilient cities and a green economy do not result from isolated measures, but from a holistic perspective, networked systems, and the active involvement of society. The technology catalog developed during the project demonstrates how many innovative solutions are ready for deployment.

Our Approach: Holistic, Digital, and Participatory

At the core is the further development of URBAN MENUS, a web-based 3D tool that visualizes future urban visions—including economic, social, and ecological impacts. It has already been supported by Austrian funding agencies and utilized in pilot projects in countries such as Bulgaria and India.

Through this project, something even greater has emerged—a prototype that:

• offers 3D previews of symbiotic green technologies,
• uses local data to calculate real-world impacts,
• facilitates collaborative decision-making for stakeholders,
• and enables a new level of quality in scenario development.

This makes decisions faster, more transparent, and more traceable—even when conflicting interests are involved. This is precisely where the tool shows its strength: it makes trade-offs visible and helps achieve viable compromises that everyone can live with.

akaryon’s Contribution: ESG-Cockpit as a Backend You Can Count On

To present indicators intuitively, the background requires the collection of numerous individual data points and a systematic approach to impact assessment. A data catalog and algorithms were developed by akaryon as part of the project and validated with data from the two case studies in Austria and China. Data collection and calculation take place in the ESG-Cockpit. The data is then retrieved and visualized by URBAN MENUS via an API.

Insights from the Webinar: Opportunities and Challenges

The Mentimeter survey during the webinar provided fascinating results:

Everyone agreed—the Circularity Optimizer costs money. However, the stakeholder group with the necessary financial resources (private entities & investors) was perceived by participants as the least motivated to initiate the process. At the same time, it is most expected that public authorities—often with tight budgets—will take the first step.

This is exactly where our tool can help: by providing clear data, transparent scenarios, and a robust basis for decision-making that is accepted by all stakeholders.

Strategic Outlook: Where is the Journey Heading?

In the concluding discussion on business models and strategic development, three central points were highlighted:

• Local data, local needs, local strategies
• Step-by-step implementation in different regions, accompanied by training and capacity building
• Partnerships that strengthen international cooperation and knowledge transfer

What Now? Our “Homework”—and Your Opportunity!

To turn ideas into impact, we need allies. Our team is actively looking for:

• Partners who want to further develop our ideas with us
• Pilot projects where the Circularity Optimizer can be deployed
• Institutions interested in capacity building
• People and organizations who know someone who knows someone…

If this speaks to you: Please get in touch!