Article: Collaborative innovation in product recycling and remanufacturing within the context of a circular supply chain Journal: International Journal of Materials and Product Technology (IJMPT) 2026 Vol.70 No.5 pp.96 - 119 Abstract: There is an inherent 'collaborative failure' in product recycling and remanufacturing in CSCs, which stems from the conflict between individual members pursuing personal interests maximisation and optimising overall system efficiency. To address this conflict, this paper proposes a blockchain driven collaborative innovation mechanism centred around cost-effective shared smart contracts. This paper constructs a Stackelberg game model to characterise non cooperative benchmarks and a cooperative game model to maximise system profits, and then uses a hybrid genetic simulated annealing algorithm to solve the optimal coordination strategy. The simulation results show that this mechanism increases the total profit of the supply chain from 6.37 million yuan to 7.98 million yuan, and the product recovery rate from 28.0% to 55.0%. Research has shown that this mechanism can balance individual rationality and system optimisation, solve the dilemma of 'collaborative failure', and provide executable decision support for value co creation in closed-loop supply chains. Inderscience Publishers - linking academia, business and industry through research

Title: Collaborative innovation in product recycling and remanufacturing within the context of a circular supply chain

Authors: Chao He

Addresses: Nanchong Vocational and Technical College, Nanchong 637000, Sichuan, China

Abstract: There is an inherent 'collaborative failure' in product recycling and remanufacturing in CSCs, which stems from the conflict between individual members pursuing personal interests maximisation and optimising overall system efficiency. To address this conflict, this paper proposes a blockchain driven collaborative innovation mechanism centred around cost-effective shared smart contracts. This paper constructs a Stackelberg game model to characterise non cooperative benchmarks and a cooperative game model to maximise system profits, and then uses a hybrid genetic simulated annealing algorithm to solve the optimal coordination strategy. The simulation results show that this mechanism increases the total profit of the supply chain from 6.37 million yuan to 7.98 million yuan, and the product recovery rate from 28.0% to 55.0%. Research has shown that this mechanism can balance individual rationality and system optimisation, solve the dilemma of 'collaborative failure', and provide executable decision support for value co creation in closed-loop supply chains.

Keywords: circular supply chain; CSC; recycling and remanufacturing; collaborative innovation; game theory; smart contracts.

DOI: 10.1504/IJMPT.2026.153462

International Journal of Materials and Product Technology, 2026 Vol.70 No.5, pp.96 - 119

Received: 10 Oct 2025
Accepted: 11 Mar 2026
Published online: 08 May 2026 *

Title: Collaborative innovation in product recycling and remanufacturing within the context of a circular supply chain

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