From barriers to solutions: Analyzing patent responses to industrial symbiosis implementation challenges

As climate change challenges intensify, circular economy strategies like industrial symbiosis (IS)-where waste outputs become valuable inputs for other processes-offer critical pathways toward sustainable industrial development. Despite conceptual appeal, widespread IS implementation remains limited due to persistent barriers spanning technical, economic, regulatory, social, and informational dimensions. This study examines how technological innovations have responded through systematic patent activity analysis. Drawing on 6422 IS-related patents (1993-2025), mixed-methods combining SciBERT-based semantic analysis and clustering techniques map technological responses against established IS implementation barriers. Findings reveal overwhelming concentration on technical barriers (88.9 %), with minimal attention to informational (7.5 %), economic (2.4 %), social/organizational (0.9 %), and regulatory challenges (0.4 %)-indicating significant misalignment between patented innovation priorities and implementation needs. Temporal analysis shows accelerating patent activity (20.6 % CAGR), while jurisdictional analysis highlights China-US bipolar leadership. Technology classification reveals chemical/materials dominance (49.7 %) with biological/pharmaceutical applications representing only 3.5 %. Notably, patents addressing non-technical barriers exhibit higher citation rates (2-3 x higher) and broader family coverage, suggesting greater influence despite limited presence. While acknowledging patent analysis captures only technological dimensions and inherently favors technical solutions, this study reveals important patterns in formal R&D responses and identifies critical gaps contributing to persistent implementation challenges.

Journal

JOURNAL OF CLEANER PRODUCTION

Year

2026

Volume

540

ISSN

0959-6526

eISSN

1879-1786

DOI

10.1016/j.jclepro.2026.147497

WoS UID

WOS:001666532400001