SUPSI Takes Summer School Students to Visit SARA for CIR4FUN Lecture 

On 9 September, CIR4FUN project partner SUPSI organised a site visit to SARA’s facilities as part of a joint summer school module with the Haute école de gestion Arc (HEG Arc). 

The visit gave final-year Bachelor students enrolled in the Sustainable Products and Processes minor a firsthand look at how circular design concepts are applied in a real manufacturing environment. 

Connecting Classroom Theory with Industrial Practice 

During the visit, researchers from SUPSI delivered a dedicated lecture introducing the core principles behind the CIR4FUN project. The presentation outlined SUPSI’s research contributions and presented SARA’s specific use case, demonstrating how data-driven ecodesign can help make furniture manufacturing more sustainable. 

Alongside the lecture and factory visit at SARA, the students spent time experimenting at SUPSI’s mini-factory in Lugano, exploring practical solutions to real-world sustainability challenges across the week. 

Inspiring Future Industry Professionals 

Initiatives like this offer a great opportunity to share project insights beyond the immediate consortium. By bringing students out of the classroom and onto factory floors, SUPSI and SARA helped demonstrate how academic research and industrial practice come together to advance circularity in European manufacturing. 

A big thank you to the team at SARA for welcoming the students and opening up their facilities, and to SUPSI and HEG Arc for bringing CIR4FUN into the curriculum!