Center of Excellence for Circular Economy in Life Science

The Centre of Excellence for Circular Economy in Life Science develops and implements circular solutions across the entire value chain, from concept to implementation.

A strategic collaboration between three players, the centre of excellence combines complementary strengths of the following organisations:

• Go Circular in Life Science: neutrality, access to industry, orchestration of the approach and collaborations
• FHNW School of Life Sciences: scientific expertise, methods and pilot/laboratory infrastructure
• BaselCircular: basic funding, access to the regional circular economy ecosystem, partnerships

Since August 2025, the Go Circular in Life Science office is located at the Institute for Ecopreneurship, FHNW School of Life Sciences.

The life sciences industry is highly interconnected: research and development, production, supply chains, clinics/applications, and waste disposal and recycling systems are all intertwined. Circular economy can only function in a systemic and cross-sectoral manner. Individual isolated solutions fizzle out if interfaces such as quality, regulation, logistics, data, and take-back processes are not taken into account.

A holistic approach creates transparency across material and substance flows, identifies common levers such as scalability, standardisation and procurement, and enables cooperative models between the pharma, biotech, and medtech industries, suppliers, service providers, waste disposal companies and authorities.

It is precisely this orchestration and bundling that is at the heart of the centre of excellence: bringing relevant players together, clarifying solution spaces, addressing hurdles early on and implementing technical solutions in a targeted manner.

The ecosystem analysis Towards a Circular Life Sciences in Basel by Go Circular in Life Science forms the basis of our work. This analysis considers the entire life sciences value chain, identifies needs and levers, prioritises fields of action, and derives project ideas for collaborative pilot projects. On this basis, the following fields of action and activities were prioritised together with various interest groups.

Areas of action

• Ecosystem and knowledge building, promotion of innovation
• Supporting industrial symbiosis in the Basel area
• Reuse and repair in medtech and hospitals
• Sustainable lab consumables and circular procurement policies
• Scalable plastic recycling solutions and take-back programmes for recycling

Planned activities

• Launch thematic working groups to identify, initiate and support pilot projects together with industry partners and other stakeholders
• Strengthen knowledge exchange and ecosystem building through events and a digital information hub
• Provide scientifically sound decision-making bases (e.g. feasibility studies and life cycle assessments) as a basis for evidence-based project development