The EU-funded DigiCirc project aimed to digitalise the circular economy by building on the innovation potential of SMEs in three strategic areas: Circular Cities, Blue Economy, Bioeconomy.
Open calls for each domain were launched to select 45 consortia of SMEs. The consortia took part in one of the three acceleration programmes to transform concepts into robust business models, a process which was completed in 2022. DigiCirc Open Courses disseminate the contents developed for the three acceleration programmes.
The CirQuality OWL plus project is funded by the EU (ERDF) and the Federal State North-Rhine Westfalia with the aim of fostering the circular economy in the area of Eastern Westfalen-Lippe (OWL).
Several regional partners from different fields (from energy to technologies to food to universities and associations) have teamed up to use the circular economy to get the region off the ground in an innovative, crisis-proof, resilient and sustainable way. Together, they organise events and strive to meet the following goals:
Qualification of future specialists and managers for the circular economy
Circular Supply Chain Management Solutions (SSCM)
Turnaround to circular thinking and economics in the building sector
Waste and circular economy of the future in the OWL region.
The Data Centre Industry (DCI) generates a huge amount of WEEE. The current infrastructure for dealing with this is underdeveloped and must be addressed now.
CEDaCI will build a Circular Economy for the Data Centre Industry by bringing together stakeholders from all equipment lifecycle stages.The end goal is to turn this WEEE into a useful resource and support the ongoing rapid growth of the DCI.
The CEDaCI Network brings together actors and experts from all life cycle stages and sub-sectors directly and indirectly associated with the DCI.
Members are helped to make the best choices to develop and grow their business sustainability, through access to case studies, business models and a Decision Making Tool. They can also connect to CEDaCI project partners and members
The Circulars Accelerator is a six-month programme connecting up innovators and entrepreneurs with cross-industry leaders and circular experts.
It provides expert mentorship and targeted business advice, supporting innovators as they rethink their approaches and scale up their circular solutions. It enrolls a cohort of early to growth stage innovators in need of specialised, tailored support to accelerate their journey.
Its position is that building the circular economy requires disruptive innovative solutions that transform industries and value chains. Individual companies with innovative solutions cannot deliver the change needed, so delivering on the circular economy requires collaboration across the ecosystem.
Innovators selected to participate receive expert guidance.
The Israeli Circular Economy IL Platform serves as the Israeli Circular Economy Stakeholder Platform. It acts at national, regional and international levels to integrate new resource strategies and circular business models with Israeli innovation capabilities.
The platform aims to connect up Israeli initiatives, start-ups, companies, municipalities, academics, researchers and policy makers and European circular economy stakeholders. The goal is to collaborate and find common ground, making reference to European policies, to accelerate the circular transition and exchange know-how, knowledge and information.
These goals are already underway, with several cooperation projects with many European experts.
The Prosperkolleg project started in the German city of Bottrop on 1 June 2019, aiming to explore how to transfer the idea of the circular economy to industry.
Hochschule Ruhr West, WiN Emscher-Lippe GmbH, the city of Bottrop, the Effizienzagentur NRW and the Prosperkolleg association all joined forces to carry out research and demonstrate innovative developments in circular products and business models.
The project is funded by the Ministry of the Economy, Innovation, Digitalisation and Energy of North Rhine-Westphalia.
INCIENis an NGO set up in 2015 to promote the circular economy in Czechia.
It has its own research team: a Think Tank which monitors Czech and EU legislation and prepares reports.
INCIEN has established the Czech Circular Hotspot, the biggest Czech community working on the circular economy. With nearly 70 members, the hotspot pools knowledge and experience.
INCIEN also provides consultancy services, helping companies reduce their carbon footprint and adopt circular approaches. It also assists with training, organising sessions to teach employees about the circular economy from the perspective of ESG, energy and waste.
The Prague Circular Hub is a joint initiative by the Institut Cirkulární Ekonomiky, the Alliance for Renewable Energy and the Brno Centre for Entrepreneurship and Innovation. Its vision is to build a cultural and innovation centre which seeks to familiarise the general and professional public with the circular economy.
With discussions, seminars, conferences and pilot projects testing new research methods in the field of the circular economy, the Hub promotes the shift to a circular system.
The Hub has completed a Prague Circular Scan with the support of Circle Economy, and now it continues to organise regular ‘buzz talks’ and conduct research to promote the adoption of circular business models in the Czech capital.
Vlaanderen Circulairis the hub and inspiration for the Flemish circular economy. It is a partnership of policy makers, companies, civil society and the knowledge community taking action together. Its six core activities are:
Bringing together partners to tackle circular economy challenges
Creating knowledge to streamline policy-related research into policy measures for the circular economy in Flanders
Speeding up innovation and entrepreneurship
Assisting pioneers
Connecting local, Flemish, federal and European policy making
Embedding circular principles across Flemish civil society.
Cradlenet aims to accelerate Sweden's transition to a circular economy and is Sweden's platform for circular knowledge and networking.
It supports companies and organisations as they go circular by offering members advisory services, market intelligence, studies, visibility, education, seminars and networking opportunities locally and nationally, as well as at Nordic level.
It participates in national projects aiming to increase knowledge and develop tools or networking opportunities on the circular economy. It has produced a report and toolbox helping companies transition to a Product-as-a-Service (PaaS) business model and works with political institutions to speed up the transition to circular economy.
