Agent-based Modelling Simulation for the Development of an Industrial Symbiosis - Preliminary Results

Industrial sustainability at the regional level requires collaborative efforts from various participating agents toward common goals consisting of resource conservation, low carbon emissions, production efficiency, economic viability, and corporate social responsibility. Our existing socio-technical systems should transition or evolve towards achieving systems sustainability. This study aims to operationalize the notion of systems sustainability by developing an Agent-based Model (ABM) framework for two potential industrial ecosystems: The Picardie/Champagne-Ardenne oilseed crops agriculture (France). Such applications of agent-based modeling can show possible evolutionary trajectories of given scenarios under different conditions and geographical contexts. In this paper we view these economic activities along with their associated partners (suppliers, customers, government agencies etc) and the natural environment in which they operate to be complex adaptive systems. Therefore, industrial eco-parks organized around agricultural products and the pulp and paper industries are relevant areas of application for ABM. This task will help identify and provide a contextual analysis of the structural factors and main driving forces for the development of industrial symbiosis along the lines of prospective scenarios (ecological constraints; regulations, economic, cultural and behavioural contexts; carbon markets; technological routes, etc). The current model focuses on the cultural and behavioral aspects with the following research question: What are the behavioral factors that favor the development of an industrial symbiosis?.