Simina LAKATOS is founding President of the Institute for Circular Economy and Environment "Ernest Lupan" (IRCEM) since 2012. Simina has economical and technical knowledge, abilities and experience: she holds a B.A. in Economics and a B.A. Honours  in Materials and Environment Engineering. She obtianed a Doctorate in Engineering and Management in 2011 after defending her thesis on Corporate Social Responsibility. Simina has been part of the Dept. of Management and Economical Engineering of UTC since 2011, where she teaches and researches the following areas: Sustainable Development with focus in circular economy, Strategic Management with focus in social economy, Enterprise Assessment and Marketing and International Management, all of which helps her to develop the IRCEM. Her focus is to accelerate the transition towards circularity from the bottom up with concerted actions, developing practical and scalable solutions, national campaigns, communicating and involving ohters in the dissemination of the circular economy and sustainable development message. Simina is Romanian and is fluent in English and Italian.

Stahel has been founder-director of the Product-Life Institute (Switzerland), the oldest established consultancy in Europe devoted to developing sustainable strategies and policies, since 1983. From 1986 to 2014, he was also director of risk management research of the Geneva Association.

current activity:

Promoting the understanding of the structure of an economy in loops and its drivers and obstacles (circular industrial economy); spreading the knowledge about the competitiveness of a performance economy selling goods and molecules as a service; and identifying the levers to speed up the shift from a linear industrial economy managing flows to a circular economy managing stocks; through workshops, lectures and policy groups; member of the Coordination Group of the European Circular Economy Stakeholder Platform of EESC and the European Commission.

The CSCP is a think and do tank that not only contributes to advancing sustainable consumption and production (SCP) agenda through its think tank activities, but also implements innovative SCP projects and activities on the field as a do tank.  

Michael Kuhndt is the Founder and Executive Director of the CSCP with more than 20 years of experience in the fields of international co-operation, development and sustainability.

Michael Kuhndt has managed programs for numerous multinational companies, ministries, European and UN organisations in the fields of: strategy development for sustainable supply chains & circular economy, development / set up for an approach for sustainable consumption, upscaling of sustainable business models, triple bottom line innovation, sustainable finance and policy strategies based on multi-stakeholder.

Founded in 2015, the Circular Economy Coalition for Europe is a platform of scientists and universities in the fields of resource management, waste management and anthropogenic metabolism. In their endeavour to support the transformation of the EU to an effective and efficient circular economy, the experts provide European Institutions, national decision makers, businesses, and the interested public by providing facts and data, based on scientific methods and evidence.

Kari Herlevi is a versatile multi-talent in the field of circular economy. He is currently leading the circular economy area at Sitra, the Finnish Innovation Fund. Previously responsible for the Resource efficient economy area in Tekes, the Finnish Funding Agency for Innovation, he managed the Green Growth – Towards a sustainable future -programme, which aimed to identify potential new growth areas for the sustainable economy business. Previously Kari led the Vigo accelerator programme at Tekes and supported Tekes management. Kari has also worked in the Tekes Silicon Valley office for a few years and his special interests are circular economy, fast growing cleantech firms and developing countries like BRIC.

Ladeja Godina Košir is recognised as the regional "engine of circular economy". She is the founder and executive director of the Circular Change platform, finalist of The Circular Leadership Award 2018 and Chair of the European Circular Economy Stakeholder Platform. Ladeja has more than 20 years’ experience in communications on economic and societal transformation across the Adriatic region, empowering a new narrative of circular culture.

Circular Change is a private non-profit organisation serving as the entry point for circular economy projects across Europe. Instrumental in the stakeholder-led drafting of the Roadmap towards the Circular Economy for Slovenia, adopted by Slovenia's government in May 2018, the platform also serves as Slovenian Circular Hotspot within the Circular Hotspot Network. Overall the platform advocates for a stronger link between design and circular economy as the key to creating products that are useful, efficient, repairable and beautiful.

The Ellen MacArthur Foundation is a UK charity with the aim of accelerating the transition to the circular economy. 

Since its creation the charity has emerged as a global thought leader, establishing the circular economy on the agenda of decision makers across business, government and academia. Maja has been with the Foundation’s the Gov. & Cities team since 2015, where her work revolves around supporting policymakers at international, national, regional and local level in driving circular economy initiatives.