Digital Product Passport adoption in the Electrical and Electronic Equipment sector: a socio-technical transition perspective

Digital Product Passports (DPPs) can play an essential role in accelerating the circular economy. However, the process of DPP implementation and adoption in the Electrical and Electronic Equipment (EEE) sector remains slow and unclear, highlighting a critical gap in the existing research. This study aims to understand how transition dynamics impact DPP adoption in the EEE sector. Based on a multi-level perspective on socio-technical transitions, DPPs are positioned as a technological niche innovation that influences actors, transition dynamics, and the corresponding adoption of DPPs. Through a literature review, expert interviews, and case studies, two socio-technical transition pathways are proposed to explain the evolution of the EEE sector and their implications for DPP adoption. The designed pathways illustrate how multiple factors at the landscape, socio-technical regime, and niche innovation levels interact and shape the EEE sector's response to macro pressures and the mandatory implementation of DPPs by the European Union. A critical insight here is that DPPs should not be viewed solely as a technological concept. Rather, a broad set of interconnected factors plays a decisive role in the successful adoption of DPPs by the EEE sector.