Circular economy in the heart of Hamburg! Re-opening of the pop-up Circular Hub 2.0 at Jupiter

OpenLab Microfactory – produce locally, on site in small series.

After a three-week pilot phase in autumn 2023, the Pop-Up Circular Hub on the Jupiter campus is entering its second round. From 30 April to 31 December 2024, everything at Jupiter will revolve around the topic of “Circular Economy” and we will be live on site with the OpenLab Microfactory, accompanied by many free building workshops, exhibitions & co-working stations on all aspects of digital manufacturing technologies.

The event was ceremoniously opened with words of welcome from Corinna Nienstedt from the Hamburg Senate Chancellery and Lutz Birke from the Ministry of Economics and Innovation (Wieder-Eröffnung des Pop-Up Circular Hubs im Jupiter – hamburg.de). Together with experts, we discussed how the circular economy can be implemented in Hamburg and what role urban planning, for example, can play in promoting the circular economy.

Some of the many challenges that we will address and discuss at the Pop-Up Circular Hub:

We live in a throwaway society and waste too many resources! How can we improve this economically and individually?
Long transport routes have a high CO2 footprint and harbour increasingly higher risks for the economy and the environment. How and what can we produce locally?
Products are (usually) designed in such a way that they end up as waste! Can we avoid this through circular design?
Companies are major contributors to environmental problems. How can circular economy strategies help them to operate more sustainably?

What is a OpenLab Microfactory?

» A small-scale factory with various digital production machines such as a small laser cutter, a CNC milling machine and a 3D printer from the OpenLab Starter Kit, a set of open-source machine tools: In the Pop-Up Circular Hub, the New Production Institute of Helmut Schmidt University presents a small-scale factory in the middle of the city on more than 50 square metres. In addition to the machine setup, the OpenLab Microfactory focuses on sustainability and resource monitoring with a developed open-source energy monitoring system. The Microfactory thus demonstrates how open source principles can help to promote local and circular production. More at: OpenLab Microfactory – Open Lab Hamburg

„We are delighted to once again be part of the Pop-Up Circular Hub with the New Production Institute and to be able to demonstrate new concepts for local and sustainable production with the OpenLab Microfactory,” explains Dr. Tobias Redlich, Head of the New Production Institute at HSU/UniBw H.

In addition to the Microfactory, visitors to the exhibition can learn about the concept of the circular economy and get to know projects that are advancing Hamburg’s circularity with different focal points. The Co-Working Station demonstrates an application example of the circular economy on site: the transformation of an office from the 1990s into a modern, circular working environment.

Funding

The OpenLab Microfactory is funded as part of the dtec.bw research project Fab City at the Helmut Schmidt University (HSU/UniBw H) – dtec.bw is funded by the European Union – NextGenerationEU.

Program

Pop-Up Circular Hub (Re-Opening) – Fab City Hamburg

Location

Address

JUPITER (former Karstadt-Sport Building), Mönckebergstr. 2-4, 20095 Hamburg, 2nd floor

Opening hours

Mo + Tu, 10-21 h
We-Sa, 10-24 h
Su, 10-18 h

Public holidays are treated like the respective weekday.

Project Partner

The “Pop-Up Circular Hub” is being realised as an exhibition and series of events by Fab City Hamburg e.V., the Hamburg Institute for Innovation, Climate Protection and Circular Economy GmbH, the New Production Institute, the Senate Chancellery and Hafen-City University.

Hamburg Institute for Innovation, Climate Protection and Circular Economy GmbH

The HiiCCE Institute is a research institute affiliated with the Hamburg University of Technology and is also a subsidiary of Stadtreinigung Hamburg. The institute develops holistic solutions for the global challenges of climate protection and the circular and resource economy and conducts research into various areas of the circular economy.

Fab City Hamburg e. V.

In June 2019, the Free and Hanseatic City of Hamburg became the first German city to join the global Fab Cities Alliance. In doing so, it has taken on the challenge of transforming the urban economy into a comprehensive, digitally supported circular economy: Hamburg will then be able to produce (almost) everything that is consumed in the city itself. Fab City Hamburg e.V. was founded in 2020 to institutionalise the Fab City in Hamburg. It is funded by the Ministry of Economics and Innovation. The association publicises the idea of the Fab City, supports its development and documents its progress. More at: fabcity.hamburg!

New Production Institute

The New Production Institute emerged from the interdisciplinary value creation systems research group of the Laboratory of Production Engineering at Helmut Schmidt University Hamburg. As a think tank for the future of value creation and production, the experts at the New Production Institute are involved in various projects dealing with the transformation of value creation systems against the backdrop of new possibilities for networking and production in times of digital transformation. The focus is particularly on the operationalisation of openness in new modes of value creation (open innovation, open design, open production and open source).

Senatskanzlei, Referat Europapolitik

The Senate Chancellery’s European Policy Unit deals with European law issues and EU funding programmes. The unit’s team coordinates EU projects focussing on the circular economy, mobility and climate adaptation. In the DECISO project, ten partners from five countries are researching funding opportunities for circular economy ideas. The KARMA project is focussing on sustainable construction. Seven partners from five countries are exchanging ideas on circular policy instruments in the construction sector. www.hamburg.de/europa

HafenCity University Hamburg | University of Architecture and Metropolitan Development (HCU) is a university focussing on the built environment. The HCU unites all aspects of construction in design and drafting, engineering and natural sciences as well as humanities and social sciences under one roof. The HCU’s overarching research priorities are climate/sustainability and digitalisation. Among other things, the HCU is involved in the development process of the national circular economy strategy.