Science Talk with
How can a car be developed in such a way that it never really becomes waste? How can vehicles be designed from the outset so that materials, components and entire systems remain in circulation permanently? And why is the circular economy not a fantasy, but a tangible industrial and innovation programme?
Kristin von Szadkowski, Sustainability Manager at the Volkswagen Group, deals with these questions. Here, she develops strategic concepts for the transition to a circular economy in mobility. In Science Talk, she focuses on these questions and shows how the logic of the automotive industry is fundamentally changing.
Vehicles are no longer thought of as linear products, but as raw material stores. Materials should be repairable, dismantlable, reusable and recyclable multiple times. The Circular Car Concept clearly illustrates how vehicle development, materials science, industrial processes and legislation need to be rethought. From single-type plastics and easy-to-disassemble designs to molecular recycling, which can recover high-quality raw materials from mixed plastics that are difficult to recycle.
Design for circularity means planning designs to be recyclable from the outset: screw connections instead of gluing, monomaterials instead of complex material mixtures, clear take-back processes and sensor technology for better sorting. Every detail determines whether cycles work technically and economically.
At the same time, circular design is becoming a strategic necessity in view of rising demand for secondary raw materials, tighter EU regulations and geopolitical dependencies. The talk makes it clear that it is not just about recycling. It is about a new system logic of mobility in which value creation is organised in closed cycles.
The science talk is a collaboration with the Volkswagen Group and will be offered in a hybrid format, both in person and as a YouTube livestream, in order to make it accessible to a wider audience outside the region.
Thursday, 5 March 2026
at 6:30 p.m., doors open at 6:15 p.m.
at the phaeno Science Theatre
Kristin von Szadkowski is Sustainability Manager at the Volkswagen Group. After completing a technical degree, she initially worked in robotic system development before turning her attention to strategic sustainability issues. At Volkswagen Group Innovation, she was responsible for the Sustainable Product Innovation field of action and the flagship Circular Car Concept project. Today, she works in the Group Sustainability Strategy department on the regenerate+ strategy with the aim of making mobility nature-positive, conserving resources, promoting biodiversity and significantly reducing emissions.
