Industrial ecosystems as a social network

With solid theoretical support from industrial ecology, an increasing number of industrial ecosystems (including eco-industrial parks and industrial symbiosis) have been created all over the world. There is no doubt that the Kalundborg symbiosis, which has steadily operates for thirty years, is our successful exemplar, although some problems also occurred in its history. However, we must realize that the Kalundborg symbiosis is not directly replicable elsewhere due to its special location and social surrounding. Indeed, designed EIPs (especially in the US in the 1990s) have often resulted in failures, and most identifiable EIPs are still at a very early stage or transformation to an industrial ecosystem. The study of critical factors of EIPs is therefore important. One question is how to use typical IE tools, like MFA and LCA in EIPs. Recently, attention has been given to indentify and promote \u93uncovering\u94 industrial symbiosis from the social perspective. Since an industrial ecosystem is a regional community with waste or byproduct links, cooperation and coordination among firms plays an important role. Researchers investigate this issue from multi-disciplines knowledge, such as social network approach, complex systems science, and system engineering to simulate the development, to evaluate an industrial ecosystem, or to help transformation of a traditional industrial system toward an EIP. Along this line, we should always reflect on to what extent IES could achieve resource recovery and sustainability. Uncertainty factors and reasons of failed IES should be further examined. Metrics or standards of successful industrial systems should be further clarified. This presentation will sketch some of these newer developments