Lieze is head of the international policy unit at OVAM, the Public Waste Agency of Flanders, which ensures that Flanders deals with waste, materials and soil in a well-thought and environmentally sound manner. Since 1981 OVAM developed a balanced mix of economic and regulatory instruments on waste, materials and soil that made the Region of Flanders one of the frontrunners in Europe in this field.

We join forces with our partners in business, civil society, research and government, to develop a circular economy in a multi-stakeholder participatory approach. Circular Flanders serves as hub, inspiration and matchmaker for the transition to a circular economy in Flanders. We take actions that go further than sorting and recycling waste, to make a systemic shift from take-make-waste to a new economic model that keeps account of the scarcity of raw materials and ecological limits of our planet.

Oana Neagu is Director of the General Affairs team at Copa Cogeca. The team covers topics related to circular and bio-economy, environment and climate change, research and innovation, food waste etc. Oana is an agricultural engineer and holds a Master’s degree in business administration. She previously worked at the European Commission’s Directorate General for Agriculture as a policy officer, in charge of managing market measures. Prior to joining the Commission in 2006, she was the counsellor for European integration at the Ministry of Agriculture in Romania, and was involved in preparing Romania’s accession to the European Union.

She is a member of the Management Committee of the Multi-stakeholder platform on the implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals in the EU and actively involved in various experts’ group on bioeconomy, forestry and rural development.

Copa and Cogeca are the united voice of farmers and agri-cooperatives in the EU. Together, they ensure that EU agriculture is sustainable, innovative and competitive guaranteeing food security to half a billion people throughout Europe. Copa represents over 23 million farmers and their families whilst Cogeca represents the interests of 22,000 agricultural cooperatives. They have 66 member organisations from the EU member states https://copa-cogeca.eu/Menu.aspx Copa and Cogeca is one of the founding members of the European Bioeconomy Alliance - http://www.bioeconomyalliance.eu/

RREUSE is an international network representing social enterprises active in the field of re-use, repair and recycling. Drawing on first-hand experiences of its members, RREUSE's mission is to ensure that policies, innovative partnerships and the sharing of best practices promote and develop the role of social enterprises in the circular economy. At the heart of RREUSE's vision for Europe is circular activities that foster social value, create locally inclusive jobs whilst supporting vulnerable individuals. RREUSE federates 27 members across 25 European countries and the USA.

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 obtained a Doctorate in Engineering and Management in 2011 after defending her thesis on Corporate Social Responsibility.

Simina has been part of the Department 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, national, regional and EU, the transition towards circularity from the bottom up with concerted actions, developing practical and scalable solutions, organized local-regional-EU campaigns, communicating and involving others in the dissemination of the circular economy information and sustainable development message. Simina is Romanian and is fluent in English and Italian.