The Circular Economy Lab was set up in 2018 by Cariplo Factory and Intesa Sanpaolo Innovation Center. It is a hub of circular economy competences that aims to help spread the principles and methods of the circular economy and support companies as they go circular.

The Lab is involved in various projects, such as the Iren Startup Award Call4Circular | Circular products and materials. It promotes the circular economy by holding workshops on key topics and by creating networking opportunities for innovative ecosystem players, such as startups, innovative SMEs, universities, research centres and technology transfer centres.

The collaborative platform Economiecirculaire.org aims to organise knowledge about the circular economy and to mobilise actors at regional, national and international levels. It is intended for all professionals able to implement, encourage or support projects on this theme (local authorities, companies, developers, consultants, experts, associations, etc.).

There are:

• 9 regional platforms
• 1 international hub
• 18 000 members registered on the network
• 1 200 circular economy initiatives
• referenced 300 000 users per year.

Regions in France: Normandy, Grand Est, Occitanie, Auvergne Rhône-Alpes, New Aquitaine, Metropolis of Greater Paris, the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur Region and Brittany.

International regions: Quebec, the Canton of Geneva and the southern Mediterranean.

Eclaira is the regional collaborative platform dedicated to the circular economy in the French region Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes. It aims to:

• Identify and highlight initiatives carried out in the region
• Encourage collaborative projects in the circular economy
• Promote the implementation of the circular economy in the region

Key figures:

• 300 instances of industrial feedback
• 60 regional activities and events per year
• 600 organisations
• 400 members
• 9000 users per month

In Auvergne-Rhône Alpes, the circular transition of companies and regions is both necessary and a real opportunity to face challenges such as employment and resources, economic development, regional planning and sustainable development.

The Knowledge Hub is Circle Economy's collaborative library of circular economy case studies, gathering today more than 4800 ready-to-implement solutions from more than 100 countries with a monthly audience of 9000+ readers.

The model is open access and everyone can contribute. The Knowledge Hub is directly linked to digital products as it serves as the source for recommended solutions. It is based on the following three principles:

• Everyone contributes: the knowledge base grows quicker if everybody adds case studies.
• Everyone edits: It's not meddling, it's co-authoring! Version history ensures nothing is lost.
• Everyone curates: See any irrelevant, duplicate or promotional content? Report it to the Knowledge Hub admins!

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.

Why do we need a Circular Valley? Emissions resulting from “linear economy” pose a major threat to the environment and to us. We need a place to cooperate on solutions to reduce emissions and “closed cycles”.

Why is the Rhine-Ruhr region ideal? The Rhine-Ruhr region in Germany combines industries in need of solutions with already existing solution providers and a broad scientific landscape. It is also a cosmopolitan region with a rich industrial tradition.

How to start? The development of the region towards a “Circular Valley” has started with an Accelerator for Circular Economy topics to attract talent to work with companies from the region and beyond.

Application phase for Batch #2 starts in September 2021. It is for start-ups supporting the EU Green Deal and CEAP.