Technology and Innovation

TechInn - ISSN 2399-8571 - © ISTE Ltd

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Today, color is a cross-disciplinary field of research and activity, where scientific advances, design concepts and coloring techniques are opening up opportunities to rethink the coloring of our products and services, with a view to establishing a strong, high-quality local presence. Mainly chemical and mass-reproducible for the last two centuries, color has undergone a revival in recent decades, in the context of more responsible, more sustainable research and practices that seek to make the world habitable. This special issue of Technologie et Innovation analyzes the status of color and its innovations in design, in the light of new logics driven by the bioeconomy. After presenting the main seminal works defining color, this introductory article analyzes the new ways of thinking about creations in art and design, before discussing the challenges of a productivist chromatic approach for bio-based production chains. The final section summarizes the articles in this special issue, which use field studies and unifying concepts to detail the challenges of tomorrow’s design-color.

We rarely pay attention to the functions and uses of color. Yet color is part of our daily lives, and is as much a part of the history, culture, technology and health of individuals as it is of their environments. Design at the service of color, color at the service of design generates, that is to say, invents and designs projects and products geared to the right needs of men and women. As an introduction to responsible design and color; through a panorama of collaborative approaches, research carried out in workshop-laboratories and consultancies; and through an analysis of future societal trends, this text attempts to formulate the issues, conceptions, representations and postures of a biosourced design-color between the arts and sciences, territories and economic heritage, fashion and beauty, food and care, as design as methodological alternatives and future production methods to counter the imaginary commercialism promoted by current design models.

This paper deals with the biotechnological process developed by the company PILI©, the enzymatic synthesis from renewable carbon for the production of dye molecules. This innovative process allows the production of biologically based dyes and aims to reduce the environmental footprint of the dye industry. Based on biotechnology and hybrid processes combining industrial fermentation and green chemistry, the company now produces a range of high-performance dyes for the most polluting applications: textiles, inks, polymers, paints and coatings. The study is based on a literature review that made it possible to diagnose recent innovations in the French textile industry and the production of bio-based dyes, thus identifying the process developed by the company PILI© and determining the obstacles, levers and application prospects of the developed process.

The topic of bio-based colors is now at the heart of a number of theories particularly in relation to so-called "alternative" practices. Among these, natural dyeing offers many possibilities. This article focuses on the case of lichens, small symbiotic beings with astonishing coloring power. Their role is ambivalent – they are used for traditional purposes, but are also ideal for experimentation, opening up new creative possibilities. As well as being a coloring material, lichen is also a source of inspiration, particularly in the field of textile design. This study of an example of the dyeing process details the various stages from the garden to the kitchen, highlighting the importance of the procedure. Finally, a practical demonstration of combining two coloring materials (Evernia Prunastri lichen and yellow onions) illustrates some of the possibilities for exploration, underlining the diversity of parameters that can be used to develop the resultant color palettes.

The analysis begins with an exploration of the terrain on a site in Gironde affected by fires in the summer of 2022. The transformed materials emerged from the rugged terrain, a source for exploring and materials in the context of ceramic practice. How can ceramic practices reveal the chromatic singularities of these components by thinking of them as "bio-sourced" colors? From collection to technique to the valorization of local materials, the challenge is to attach a colorto a locality and a heritage, by manufacturing color from natural and/or recyclable resources.

Considering temporal data in reducing anthropogenic gas emissions into the atmosphere amplifies the un-predictable risks of climate change. Fossil fuel combustion emits various gases such as CO2, and SO2, which have con-trasting climate impacts and atmospheric lifespans- over a century for CO2 and less than two weeks for SO2. The defossi-lization of energy’s transition, away from fossil fuels, may accelerate global warming risks due to the loss of SO2’s cooling effect. A strategic focus on rapidly mitigating anthropogenic methane (CH₄) emissions aligns with a diversified decarboni-zation paradigm and offers a feasible pathway. Achieving this requires a nexus of technological, institutional, and societal innovations that depend on public engagement. The integration of technical democracy, via hybrid forums, and participa-tory action research combining field-based and controlled environments, could provide the institutional framework needed to navigate these complex transitions effectively.

The steel industry is one of the most polluting in the world. In France, ArcelorMittal Dunkerque is the major industrial unit in terms of CO2 emissions, and as such benefits from substantial public support. In 2022, the company has announced an important decarbonization program to manufacture green steel using various technologies (direct reduction unit, electric furnace, etc.). Between July 2023 and September 2024, we interviewed managers in charge of the decarbonization program and union representatives to find out their respective positions on this issue and analyze the role of trade unions and workers in these technological transformations. What emerged was a certain convergence of views between the two parties on this issue. However, the union organization considers that the place of workers is underestimated, that the investment decision is behind schedule and that the plant’s survival is at stake.

The global decline in resources and raw materials, challenges in waste management, and the rise in greenhouse gas concentrations are driving companies to seek more sustainable and symbiotic business models. Digital platforms, as hubs for information and data flows, play a key role in coordinating symbiotic production and service systems. Industrial symbiosis (IS) represents one such business model, where the exchange of waste, by-products, or other resources between firms and local organizations generates new forms of competitive advantage. Despite growing awareness of the role of information technologies and digital platforms in advancing sustainability, research on these digital sharing platforms as enablers of symbiotic networks remains in its early stages. This paper seeks to address this gap by examining the role of digital platforms in transitioning local ecosystems into symbiotic and “smart” communities. The study employs a systematic review of existing literature alongside a case study. The paper is structured into three major sections, followed by conclusions and implication

Decarbonisation and the circular economy are generally considered as solutions for reducing greenhouse gas emissions and climate change. In fact, it’s not quite that simple. Circular economy, doesn’t necessarily reduce waste production; instead, it can actually increase it, as these collected goods are treated as resources. That said, circular economy is essential (under certain conditions) for reducing greenhouse gas emissions, and particularly in the context of decarbonisation. Renewable energies like solar and wind require the extraction of mineral resources, and exploiting new mines generates greenhouse gas emissions. To break this vicious circle, we need to review our production and consumption model.

Long considered as “playing the Sorcerer’s Apprentice”, geoengineering, which refers to a wide range of large-scale technical interventions on the climate system, has gradually gained credibility over the past few years and is now being seriously considered in international climate debates. In this paper, we aim to analyze this process of normalizing geoengineering within international discussion arenas. This process stems from the integration of a compensation logic through the classical lens of decarbonization: climate agreements now distinguish between the optional reduction of emissions that can be ’mitigated,’ that is, captured through carbon capture techniques, and the mandatory reduction of emissions that cannot be mitigated. This compensation logic has the dual effect of normalizing CC(U)S and carbon geoengineering, while rendering some decarbonization measures optional. The question we will address in this paper is to what extent all of this points to a new horizon: the normalization of the prospect of overshooting the threshold set by the Paris Agreement, and also the normalization of solar geoengineering, understood as a means of thermally compensating for the failure or, at the very least, the postponement of decarbonization measures. The aim, in essence, will be to study the shift from an economy of promise to one of debt.