A Heuristic Approach to Cultivate Symbiosis in Industrial Clusters Led by Process Industry

This paper introduces a heuristic approach for industrial symbiosis (IS) facilitators to investigate and instigate better energy and resource management via synergies across process industries. The proposed method studies the industrial system at three levels; regional, cluster and company. At the company level, in-depth information is collected using a pentagonal LESTS (Legal, Economic, Spatial, Technical, Social) survey, which is formulated after weighing the regional effects on the whole system. At the cluster level, an inventory of technological and organisational opportunities is produced, offering leverage for IS activities. A gap analysis between the IS potential of the cluster and the IS appreciation on the industrial sites is visualised via LESTS pentagons. The coupled investigation at company and cluster level results in a list of realisable IS activities, which is then translated into business strategies for each participating company using a SWOT analysis.