This model reinforces Wallonia's objective of renewing its industry and will ensure that the region is better able to cope with future crises.
The strategy will achieve this by fully integrating the alterations and adaptations required by climate change, and by making Wallonia more independent in terms of resources and global supply chains.
Wallonia’s vision is based on the following guidelines:
Moving towards a carbon-neutral economy;
Moving towards a resilient and inclusive economy;
Stimulating innovation as a catalyst with emphasis on the digital transition and nature-based solutions.
Particular attention is paid to the six value chains: Construction, Plastics, Food, Water, Textiles and Metallurgy.
The Loop Company has discovered the opportunities offered by the circular economy and launched three initiatives - Book in Loop, BabyLoop and UniLoop - that bring circularity to everyday life.
Knjižnica alata is an initiative in Beli Manastir, Croatia, which was started seven years ago by Duško Kostić. This project is the only one of its kind in the country, and consists of a tool library where people can borrow the tools they need.
Green Tech Valleyis a technology hotspot for climate protection and the circular economy. It has over 2300 scientists working on green solutions. It is home to over 600 green technologies and services for renewable energy and the circular economy, with an emphasis on recycling.
The Green Tech Valley Cluster drives the development of green innovation in the Green Tech Valley through match-making and knowledge transfer. It links up businesses with contacts in the green tech sector.
The platform has a directory of projects, which can be used to identify potential partners. The projects are categorised by theme, including Circular. It also has a section on courses for green skills.
The Grand-Duchy of Luxembourg is a frontrunner in many economic sectors, including finance, construction, data-driven innovation and space resources.
In recent years, the country has sought to position itself as a hotspot for the circular economy (CE) and many ongoing public and private initiatives support this claim.
Based on these fruitful experiences and the recognition of the CE as a high priority by the Luxembourg government, which has made it a major feature of the 2018-2023 Government agreement, the current strategy aims to take the CE in Luxembourg to the next level. It identifies proven regulatory, financial and information management methods and tools for boosting circular initiatives, and proposes a methodology for using them in a number of key economic sectors.
MarketPlace Circular Labs is an Interreg project in the north-west of the Iberian Peninsula (North and Central Portugal and Castilla y León and Galicia in Spain). It aims to give visibility to good practices and circular economy success stories developed by businesses and entrepreneurs in the region.
There is a private area where users can share products and services, along with ideas for projects and synergies. There is also a learning centre, and events and publications are listed in the News space.
The project is funded by the ERDF via the Cooperación Transfronteriza INTERREG V-A España Portugal programme. It aims to incorporate the circular economy into the business culture and to build new ideas into every stage of the value chain.
Sitra works with partners from different sectors to research, trial and implement bold new ideas that shape the future. It aims to make Finland a pioneer in sustainable well-being.
It is a future-oriented fund which creates preconditions for reform, spurring everyone towards making a change and providing opportunities for co-operation.
Sitra’s work focuses on supporting a fair transition to a circular economy and investigating how business can be based on sharing instead of ownership. Sitra is also working to advance circular trade policies, to increase the understanding of environmental effects of digitisation and to explore the potential of the circular economy to safeguard biodiversity.
The New European Bauhaus is a creative and interdisciplinary initiative, a space of encounter to design future ways of living, at the crossroads between art, culture, social inclusion, science and technology, in the name of simplicity, functionality and circularity. Its team is planning a series of information sessions to present the opportunities to contribute to the initiative.
