Biorefine Cluster Europe (BCE) links up projects and people in the area of bio-based resource recovery, with a view to contributing to more sustainable and circular resource management.
It focuses on the biorefinery sector, i.e. chemicals, materials, energy and products from bio-based waste streams:
Bio-based (waste) streams as an input for the circular economy
Bioprocesses
Sustainable bio-energy production in its various shapes, and
Resource recovery: extracting minerals, chemicals, water and materials from biomass.
Its main objectives:
Strengthening interaction between projects
Fostering dissemination and stakeholder outreach
Enhancing research
Identifying gaps in knowledge.
BCE aims to build its community and promote knowledge exchange.
is a support hub for materials research and characterization;
offers coordinated access to more than 50 European analytical research facilities and provides comprehensive research services focusing on new circular materials;
provides scientists working on new recyclable materials with analytical tools enabling them to explore the properties and structure of their material up to atomic resolution.
Its service catalogue is complemented by an extensive training programme, enabling the user community to make the best possible use of its state-of-the-art facilities.
The project leverages the development of innovative, sustainable materials for key components across the economy.
Circular Hub Tirol is the point of contact for all issues dealing with the circular economy in Austria's Tirol region. Together with their partners, they offer services such as
project initiation
networking
circularity check for SMEs
information and further education on the circular economy, and
an annual exhibition of good practices in the area of circular design.
CircularPSP brings together seven procurers from seven countries to jointly accelerate the digital transition towards a circular economy. Its focus is pre-commercial procurement (PCP).
It has invested €5.64 million in R&D and provides training and holds conferences. The procurers represent a number of European countries, including capitals with a strong global outreach (Berlin, Helsinki, London and Istanbul).
Other cities, regions, government organisations, public procurers and projects will have the chance to liaise with consortium representatives and are urged to become part of the Follower Network. They will be informed about the timeline and next steps in solution development, as well as opportunities for cooperation.
The ASEAN Circular Economy Stakeholder Platform (ASEAN CE Platform) is a regional facility helping Association of Southeast Asian Nations Member States achieve sustainable consumption and production by accelerating the transition to a circular economy.
The EU-ASEAN Strategic Partnership covers the circular economy, and the Platform is part of the EU-ASEAN Partnership on Circular Economy, endorsed by ASEAN Senior Officials on the Environment in 2018. The ASEAN CE Platform is hosted by the ASEAN Centre for Sustainable Development Studies and Dialogue at the College of Management, Mahidol University in Bangkok, Thailand.
The establishment of the Platform was inspired by the success of the EU Circular Economy Stakeholder Platform in providing access to CE good practices and strategies.
The Taranto Circolare project aims to create an impact on the city of Taranto in the Apulia region (Italy) by triggering its ecological transformation. The project is driven by the Tondo association, which aims to develop and consolidate sustainable and circular projects in this urban area, particularly the Old Town.
The project focuses on creating a platform that will give companies, authorities and organisations the opportunity to be part of a network implementing circular projects, provide specific tools and help actors measure the circularity of services and products.
In addition, through data collection and analysis, material and energy flows in the city will be calculated in order to identify the areas that should be at the centre of circular projects.
The project „Prosperkolleg“ in Bottrop started on the 1st of June 2019 with the objective to explore how to transfer the idea of circular economy to the industry. The "Hochschule Ruhr West", the "WiN Emscher-Lippe GmbH", the city of Bottrop, the "Effizienzagentur NRW" and the "Prosperkolleg association" joined forces to research and demonstrate innovative circular product and business model developments. The project is funded by the ministry of economics, innovation, digitalization and energy of the land NRW.
The Luxembourg EcoInnovation Cluster, managed by Luxinnovation, the National Agency for Innovation and Research, is an active network that brings together and supports various players of the clean technologies sector with the ultimate goal of turning the concept of circular economy into a reality in Luxembourg. The cluster's objectives are the following:
diversify the activities of the Luxembourg companies thus allowing them to gain and to develop new capabilities in the clean technologies field;
contribute to the development of new environmental solutions in the field of eco-technologies and sustainable construction;
raise public awareness to the uptake of “green technologies”;
build public-private partnerships in order to develop new collaborative projects of common interest;