Abstract
The data centre industry (DCI) has grown from zero in the 1980s, to enabling 60% of the global population to be connected in 2021 via 7.2 million data centres. The DCI is based on a linear economy and there is an urgent need to transform to a Circular Economy to establish a secure supply chain and ensure an economically stable and uninterrupted service, which is particularly difficult in an industry that is comprised of ten insular subsectors. This paper describes the CEDaCI project which was established to address the challenge in this unique sector; this ground-breaking project employs a whole systems approach, Design Thinking and the Double Diamond methods, which rely on people/stakeholder engagement throughout. The paper reviews and assesses the impact of these methods and project to date, using quantitative and qualitative research, via an online sectoral survey and interviews with nine data centre and IT industry experts. The results show that the project is creating positive impact and initiating change across the sector and that the innovative output (designs, business models, and a digital tool) will ensure that sectoral transformation continues; the project methods and structure will also serve as an exemplar for other sectors.
Highlights
It is predicted that the data centre industry (DCI) will grow by around 500%, by 2030, as more people and objects are connected via the Internet of Things (IoT) [6]
COVID-19 adversely affected many businesses and individuals; there was a marked increase in data traffic and associated activity and workloads in the data centre industry as populations worked, studied, and communicated remotely, which limited time for DCI members to engage in non-essential activities like surveys and interviews
This paper began with a brief history of computing and the data centre industry, outlining established thought process and practice in the general engineering profession and data centre industry
Summary
Publisher’s Note: MDPI stays neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations. The results were very positive and showed that the project methods and process were appropriate, there were some shortcomings due to lack of representatives from two subsectors; the methods and process are raising awareness of the challenges and potential solutions in the DCI, and of circularity in general, as well as facilitating development of digital tools, business models, CE-fit designs and prototypes, and new recycling and CRM reclamation processes. These results endorse the project as an exemplar and the methodology could be adapted and applied in other industrial sectors facing similar challenges
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