Oana Neagu is Director of the General Affairs team at Copa Cogeca. The team covers topics related to the circular and bio-economy, the environment and climate change, research and innovation, food waste, etc. Oana is an agricultural engineer and has 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 adviser on 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 expert groups on the 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 for 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. Copa and Cogeca are among the founding members of the European Bioeconomy Alliance.

Agnieszka Sznyk is chair of the Board at INNOWO, the Institute of Innovation and Responsible Development in Warsaw, Poland. She holds a PhD in Life Sciences and is an expert in the fields of sustainable production and consumption, circular economy and healthcare economics. Agnieszka has been connected with nongovernmental organisations for many years, notably as founder and manager of the Polish Circular Hotspot and the international educational campaign Circular Week.

Agnieszka serves as an economy expert at the CE Working Group under the National Smart Specializations (NSS) appointed by the Steering Committee, which consists of representatives of the Ministry of Investment and Economic Development, the Ministry of Science and Higher Education and the Ministry of Development Funds and Regional Policy in Poland.

She is author of numerous reports including:

• Environmental aspects of eco-design, August 2020
• Development of methodology and indicators for various business sectors with regards to circular economy from the regional perspective, December 2019
• Methodology for matching circular business models to priority sector implementation, December 2019
• Plastics in circular economy, May 2020

INNOWO (the Institute of Innovation and Responsible Development) is a foundation, non-governmental organisation and a THINK-to-DO TANK established to support the development of innovation and implementation of systemic changes for the purpose of sustainable socio-economic progress. The circular economy is the main field of interest and expertise of INNOWO. The organisation supports decision-makers and different stakeholder groups in identifying effective solutions and policy instruments to engage businesses and consumers in achieving a significant and lasting change towards sustainable production and consumption.

Arthur ten Wolde is the Executive Director of Ecopreneur.eu, the European Sustainable Business Federation. Ecopreneur represents about 3000 businesses in five Member States, mostly SMEs, which strive to deliver sustainable products and services. Arthur is internationally recognised as a circular economy expert, motivational speaker and (co-)author of several reports and many articles in magazines.

In addition, he is Trainer on Circular Design for CIRCO and Head and Owner of Circular Future. Arthur worked earlier for De Groene Zaak, IMSA and the Dutch Industry Confederation VNO-NCW. 

Freek van Eijk is CEO of Holland Circular Hotspot (HCH), a private-public platform that facilitates the transition to a circular economy at international level by bringing together government authorities, knowledge institutes and especially businesses. HCH supports knowledge exchange with the aim of stimulating entrepreneurship in the field of the circular economy.

Freek van Eijk is also vice-chair of Circular Biobased Delta, an alliance of Dutch provinces, businesses and knowledge centres pioneering a sustainable circular and biobased economy. He is one of the more senior Dutch experts in the field of waste management and the circular economy. He also serves as Managing Director of Acceleratio.

Previously, Freek van Eijk worked for over a decade as Director of strategy and PA at the multinational SUEZ and as a board member of the Dutch Waste Management Association and the Society and Enterprise Foundation and acted as a Sherpa for the EU Innovation Partnership on Raw Materials.

He has a MSc. Eng. (Delft University of Technology).