Table 3. Quotes and scaling activities... | Emerald Publishing

Table 3.

Quotes and scaling activities and their impact on CE

Scaling activities	Impacts on CE	Quotes
Acquisition activity	Acquisition activities ensure the incorporation of digital and technological capabilities through IoT and AI to track pollution and gas emissions, water waste and optimize production processes, avoiding waste of resources	“Our company has a completely digital approach to customer communication. This is done at a low internal cost. We are scaling up the business with a small team and, at the same time, providing valuable information to our (B2B) customers based on IoT technology for monitoring the energy consumption of solar plants” (Interviewee 5)
Financing activity	Facilitating credit and financing through the “financing activity” for cleantech firms allows the development of clean energy technologies, such as wind and solar, to be scaled up, reducing pollutant emissions and managing natural resources in a renewable and reusable way. Obtaining financing reduces the costs of these technologies and makes energy affordable and accessible to society	… “We are doing project finance, which is project financing on a retail scale. And to do this efficiently, it’s necessary to reduce transaction costs to the point where operations are viable. The system is financed 100% with immediate savings, because the installment is smaller than the savings. The client generates sustainable and social impact, and after paying off the financing, has free energy for over 20 years” (Interviewee 5)
Innovation activity	innovation activities allow us to identify technologies and ways of wasting finite resources, making production processes more efficient. Energy efficiency and water reuse and treatment are conditions that promote CE	“Our business focus is sanitation, providing solutions for water saving. We have a fluid system whose mission is to improve the efficiency of water distributors by fighting losses. We have a mobile fluid system that scans the city for potential leakage points.” (Interviewee 6)
Digitalization activity	The use of digital sensors, digital twins and AI anticipates information on market prices, pollution, climate predictability and energy consumption, reducing internal and external technology costs and expanding the adoption of new renewable energy sources in national electricity systems	… “Digital, on the One hand, provides the agility that people are looking for, right? Besides cost savings. I believe that One of the main reasons is not just speed, but lower costs in terms of attracting and serving customers. In addition, the process will be more democratic and will allow greater production, distribution, and trading of clean, renewable energy. The more digitalized the process, the more economical it will become” (Interviewee 2)

Scaling activities	Impacts on CE	Quotes
Acquisition activity	Acquisition activities ensure the incorporation of digital and technological capabilities through IoT and AI to track pollution and gas emissions, water waste and optimize production processes, avoiding waste of resources	“Our company has a completely digital approach to customer communication. This is done at a low internal cost. We are scaling up the business with a small team and, at the same time, providing valuable information to our (B2B) customers based on IoT technology for monitoring the energy consumption of solar plants” (Interviewee 5)
Financing activity	Facilitating credit and financing through the “financing activity” for cleantech firms allows the development of clean energy technologies, such as wind and solar, to be scaled up, reducing pollutant emissions and managing natural resources in a renewable and reusable way. Obtaining financing reduces the costs of these technologies and makes energy affordable and accessible to society	… “We are doing project finance, which is project financing on a retail scale. And to do this efficiently, it’s necessary to reduce transaction costs to the point where operations are viable. The system is financed 100% with immediate savings, because the installment is smaller than the savings. The client generates sustainable and social impact, and after paying off the financing, has free energy for over 20 years” (Interviewee 5)
Innovation activity	innovation activities allow us to identify technologies and ways of wasting finite resources, making production processes more efficient. Energy efficiency and water reuse and treatment are conditions that promote CE	“Our business focus is sanitation, providing solutions for water saving. We have a fluid system whose mission is to improve the efficiency of water distributors by fighting losses. We have a mobile fluid system that scans the city for potential leakage points.” (Interviewee 6)
Digitalization activity	The use of digital sensors, digital twins and AI anticipates information on market prices, pollution, climate predictability and energy consumption, reducing internal and external technology costs and expanding the adoption of new renewable energy sources in national electricity systems	… “Digital, on the One hand, provides the agility that people are looking for, right? Besides cost savings. I believe that One of the main reasons is not just speed, but lower costs in terms of attracting and serving customers. In addition, the process will be more democratic and will allow greater production, distribution, and trading of clean, renewable energy. The more digitalized the process, the more economical it will become” (Interviewee 2)