The ability to repurpose objects and processes is an important kind of human intelligence for dealing with mundane everyday problems through to large-scale crisis management. Despite its ubiquity, it is largely unstudied in academia. To address this, this project will develop a general theory, and tools based on artificial intelligence, for repurposing. To ground the research, the project will use substantial case studies, and undertake systematic evaluations. The emphasis will be on how repurposing can be emulated rather than on investigating its philosophy or psychology.