Stimulate the eco-design of complex industrial systems by generating a portfolio of eco-innovative R&D projects.

Summary Eco-innovation methodologies and tools are increasingly applied in companies, but none of them is really adapted to the consideration of complex industrial systems. These systems are characterized by their large size and mass, and their particularly long and uncertain life cycle. We propose in this paper an adapted eco-innovation process, based on the Brezet eco-design strategy wheel. This process is built around a group of technical experts from the company. In a first phase, a large number of potential R&D projects are generated from LCA results, then analyzed and evaluated using an adapted multicriteria grid. Three filters are then used to select the most promising projects in order to build a balanced portfolio of R&D projects. The whole approach has been applied at Alstom Grid on AC/DC conversion stations used in the primary aluminium industry. With very limited time and resources, more than 100 ideas were generated to finally arrive at a portfolio of 9 eco-innovative projects with high value creation for the company.