CE-RISE Project Annual Event: How Can Research Accelerate Effective Digital Product Passport Deployment (and vice versa)

The technological development of Digital Product Passports (DPPs) is moving fast but can research and policy keep up? On 1 June 2026, CE-RISE Project Partners will gather in Brussels for a morning of honest conversation about where DPPs actually stand: what's working, what isn't, and what needs to happen next.

We'll kick things off with a practical crash course on benefiting from DPPs to calculate circularity indicators and life cycle assessments. Then we open up the floor for a cross-project debate featuring partners from CE-RISE, DACE, BatCat, DigInTraCE and DigiPass, sharing how research applies DPPS to real sustainability challenges, testing assumptions and not shying away from the hard questions.

The morning will wrap up with a panel focused on the bigger picture: avoiding fragmentation across DPP projects, protecting IP while enabling policy learning, and discussing whether the next funding opportunities should focus on standardisation, testbeds, data quality, registries, or socioeconomic impact evidence. 

DISCLAIMER: This is a side event of the DPP4EU Conference. Registration for this event is separate from the main conference. Visit digipassforum.eu for more details.

AGENDA

8:45-9:00  Coffee and Registration

09:00-09:05  Welcome & Introduction 
Cristina Guerreiro, NILU

CRASH COURSE: DPPs for Sustainable Value Chains in CE-RISE 

09:05-09:10  Introduction to Circularity Principles
Elena Fernandez, UNITAR and Miguel Las Heras Hernandez, NILU

09:10-09:20  Introduction to R-Indicators
Setenay Saglam, Empa

09:20-09:30  Introduction to DPP-Enabled Life Cycle Assessments
Berend Mintjes, Leiden University

09:30-10:00  Sandboxed Life Cycle Assessment Calculation
Francesco Barilli, Empa

10:00-10:10  Discussion & Reflection With the Audience (Moderated by NILU)

10:10-10:30  Coffee Break  

PODIUM DISCUSSION: How Research Applies DPPs to Real Sustainability Challenges
With the participation of: CE-RISE (Setenay Saglam, Empa  and Berend Mintjes, Leiden University), D4CE-DPIS (Helen Brüggmann, Wuppertal Institute), BatCat and DigiPass (Maria Bashir, Norwegian University of Life Sciences), DigInTraCE (Lucyna Lekawska-Andrinopoulou, I-SENSEGroup/ICCS)
Moderated by Miguel Las Heras Hernandez, NILU

10:30-10:45  Projects Elevator Pitch: What Problem Are You Trying to Solve with DPP Data? 

10:45-11:20  Podium Debate Focusing On:

• Data stories
• Data use and actors
• Success/failure stories
• Testing feasibility, highlighting systemic risks

PANEL DISCUSSION: Research Priorities for Effective EU-Wide DPP Deployment 
Speakers: Adrian VON MÜHLENEN, BASF,  Carolynn Bernier, CEA, Elliana Jensen-Abieva, CSCP
Moderated by: Cristina Guerreiro, NILU

11:20-11:25  Thought Starter:  Three Takeaways From the Crash Course & Podium

11:25-11:55  Discussion Including Audience Participation:  

•  What research is still needed to make DPP-based methods trustworthy and comparable across companies and sectors?
• Under what conditions can DPP data be used for research without creating excessive IP, privacy, or operational burdens?
• As DPP frameworks mature, which challenges should transition into standards and reference implementations, and which should remain as open research topics?

11:55-12:00  Closing Remarks

12:00-13:00  Lunch (TBC)