Integration of Digital Economy and Circular Economy: Current Status and Future Directions

Zhen Liu, Jing Liu and Mohamed Osmani
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Zhen Liu: School of Design, South China University of Technology, Guangzhou 510006, China
Jing Liu: School of Design, South China University of Technology, Guangzhou 510006, China
Mohamed Osmani: School of Architecture, Building and Civil Engineering, Loughborough University, Loughborough LE11 3TU, UK

Sustainability, 2021, vol. 13, issue 13, 1-27

Abstract: Circular economy (CE) is a concept actively advocated by the European Union (EU), China, Japan, and the United Kingdom. At present, CE is considered to grant the most traction for companies to achieve sustainable development. However, CE is still rarely adopted by enterprises. As the backbone of the fourth industrial revolution, the digital economy (DE) is considered to have a disruptive effect. Studies have shown that digital technology has great potential in promoting the development of CE. Especially during the COVID-19 epidemic that has severely negatively affected the global economy, environment, and society, CE and DE are receiving high attention from policy makers, practitioners, and scholars around the world. However, the integration of CE and digital technology is a small and rapidly developing research field that is still in its infancy. Although there is a large amount of research in the fields of CE and DE, respectively, there are few studies that look into integrating these two fields. Therefore, the purpose of this paper is to explore the research progress and trends of the integration of CE and DE, and provide an overview for future research. This paper adopts a bibliometric research method, employs the Web of Science database as its literature source, and uses VOSviewer visual software to carry out keyword co-occurrence analysis, which focuses on publication trends, journal sources, keyword visualization, multidisciplinary areas, life cycle stages, and application fields.

Keywords: circular economy (CE); digital economy (DE); multidisciplinary; application field; life cycle stage; keyword co-occurrence; keyword visualization (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (11)

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