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Welcome to Fairtronics

A tool for social risk analysis in electronics products

thechallenge

The Challenge

Human rights are violated at all stages of the electronics supply chain.

theapproach

The Approach

Fairtronics is a web-based social life cycle tool for electronics products.

thevision

The Vision

Electronics manufacturers can use the tool to examine improvement measures.

The Challenge

Human rights are violated at all stages of the electronics supply chain. Through their work with FairLötet e.V., the project team has found that smaller electronics manufacturers in particular are sensitised to these challenges, but lack concrete options for action. At the same time, there is usually no budget for classical methods of sustainability management such as lifecycle assessments. The project is intended to provide an introduction to sustainability analysis. In this way, manufacturers can identify the riskiest components of their products and develop targeted alternatives for action.

The Approach

On an internet portal, interested parties should be able to have the fairness of electronic products analysed. A parts list can be entered for analysis. A Social Lifecycle Assessment (S-LCA) uses open data to calculate social risks such as human rights or labour law violations. A graphical interface prepares the social analysis for laypersons in an understandable way and provides a classification of the calculated risks. In addition, components are highlighted which contribute particularly high risk. This should sensitise users to social risks and encourage them to think about design alternatives.

The Vision

Electronics manufacturers, especially smaller companies and start-ups, can use the tool to identify particularly risky components and examine possible measures (e.g. alternative sourcing, design alternatives). The tool can also be used for educational purposes within the framework of FairLötet's association work and beyond, e.g. in a university context or at events related to electronics or sustainability.

Want to learn more about the challenges for fair electronics products and the approach and vision of Fairtronics? We have given a talk at 36th Chaos Communication Congress.


About Fairtronics

Why Fairtronics?

The social impacts of electronics production are very difficult to measure. Conducting a social life cycle assessment of an electronics product is a complex and expensive effort and even than cannot cover every last detail of the supply chain.

While workers’ rights violations are endemic to the whole electronics supply chain, problems are especially severe in resource extraction. At the same time, this is the stage where analysis is most difficult to gather accurate data due to the inherent intransparency of global resource trade.

At the same time, manufacturers can take active steps to reduce social impacts in their supply chains. For example, they can use fairly traded raw materials, which has been pioneered by companies such as Fairphone and Syllucid.

Our goal is to create a tool with a sufficient level of detail to make visible the improvements achieved through such interventions.

What is Fairtronics?

Fairtronics is an open-source software and research project led by FairLötet.

While FairLötet is responsible for maintaining the project vision and provides a small amount of funding for the project, a large part of the work on Fairtronics is done by volunteers.

So far we have released two software products:

  • A visualization demo, which showcases our latest analysis model and allows you to explore an open-hardware product, navigating through its parts, materials, raw resources, countries of origin, and calculated social impacts.
  • The Prototype, which shows how a Fairtronics analysis might be integrated into a tool geared towards electronics manufacturers.

Our source code can be found on Gitlab.

Join Us!

Fairtronics is looking for volunteers and contributors.



Like Python or Javascript?

Join as a developer


We’ve always got more ideas than time. If coding on a unique project with a fun team sounds good to you, let us know – no matter your experience. We’re all learning!

Involved in Electronics?

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If you’d like to try out Fairtronics on your own product, or if you’d like to share your knowledge about electronics, get in touch!

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