Versnellingshuis Nederland Circulair!(Netherlands Circular Accelerator) is a business support network created by VNO-NCW / MKB Nederland, their regional affiliates and the Ministry of Infrastructure and Water. Despite much interest in the circular transition, creating a successful enterprise that effectively keeps resources and products in use longer is not that straightforward due to a lack of knowledge and too little collaboration with stakeholders.
The Versnellinshuis helps overcome these challenges by:
improving the preconditions for circular entrepreneurship through dissemination of financing opportunities, promotion of market incentives and discussion on regulatory barriers at regional, national and European levels
matchmaking entrepreneurs across regions and value chains to stimulate sustainable solutions.
In addition to hosting a website for circular innovators to connect directly, the Versnellingshuis launches 5 groundbreaking projects and fosters 3 regional collaborations yearly and contributes to a circular transition with the following programmes as well:
The Network Economia Circolare (Circular Economy Network) is a multi-stakeholder platform hosted by the Fondazione per lo sviluppo sostenibile (Sustainable Develpoment Foundation) to promote the Italian circular economy.
A mix of professional and technical associations, innovative companies and civil society organisations promote the network, which is open to all companies that intend to share these goals by taking concrete actions and commitments. As of 2019, the network counts 13 promoters and a couple dozen members.
The Network Economia Circulare focuses on three core activities:
yearly conference on the circular economy
annual report outlining the state of the circular economy
Sustainable Development Prize for journalists and creatives
Neue Effizienz is an institution for knowledge transfer and research in the area of energy and resource efficiency based in Wuppertal, Germany. As a regional association, it is funded by the municipalities, public utilities and regional economic development institutions of Wuppertal, Solingen and Remscheid.
Neue Effizienz promotes innovation as well as science and technology transfer in the fields of energy, circular economy, new mobility and smart cities.bergisch.metall, a competence network for the metal industry, fouses on the circular economy; the bergisch.circular project assists the municipalities with the establishment of intermunicipal structures and initiatives supporting the circular transformation.
Nir-vana is an open innovation platform where innovators can find the right opportunity and develop their innovation ecosystem. It offers everything one needs to grow one's innovation ecosystem.
Circular economy (CE) projects are obviously part of the content of the Nir-vana platform, since CE is a key to sustainability. Many of the projects are uploaded to the platform by users and others are embedded from other sources such as the Enterprise Europe Network. Nir-vana is also open to connect with other sources of CE proposals.
Participants to the platform can share their valuable ideas with agents outside their company and seek collaboration with others to carry out innovative projects - whether they are part of a company or a freelance professional, an entity or researcher.
The NoAW project is dealing with innovative approaches to turn agricultural waste into ecological and economic assets. The NoAW Knowledge Exchange Stakeholder Platform aims to:
provide a forum for knowledge, information exchange and discussion with agro-food businesses, farmers, biogas processors, food companies, scientific community, authorities relating to agro-waste management and valorisation issues in the light of their needs and expectations.
foster an understanding of what is new in agriculture waste management from technical, environmental and business concepts / cross-chain valorisation aspects, including development opportunities and potential applications of innovative bio-processes and bio-products.
provide guidance to NoAW based on the key activities of the members of the KESP, their needs and problems to ensure that the project activities and outcomes are focused on priority areas and the proposed processes and technologies will meet the expectations of the stakeholders.
The NoAW project is coordinated by INRA (France) and the consortium involves 32 partners from universities, public research organizations and other institutions from a dozen countries.
CIRCit was a 3½-year research project, spanning the five Nordic countries: Denmark, Norway, Finland, Iceland and Sweden. The objective was to help their industry to discover and implement the opportunities of the circular economy.
The Nordic Circular Hotspot aims to be the leading resource and collaborative learning hub on circular economy in the Nordics.
This Hotspot works to connect stakeholders in the Nordic region, such as local and regional governments, business, communities, knowledge institutions and academia, to (co-)develop and initiate practical circular solutions, business models, projects and initiatives. The aim is to be the go-to place in the region for everything circular in the region to faster accelerate the transition to a circular economy.
The Nordic Working Group for Circular Economy (NCE) is a working group under the auspices of the Nordic Council of Ministers. The NCE mandate includes contributing to activities and exchanges of information that will promote the transition to a circular economy in the Nordic Region.
The NCE also wishes to influence the EU and global actors, for example by helping to identify solutions that will reduce consumption of raw materials, waste, emissions and energy by recycling products, including for new purposes.
The NCE also carries out projects on different topics related to the circular economy.
The OCCE is a Brussels-based federation that provides support for European investors, territories and innovators in the field of circular economy.
For investors, the OCCE can provide a link between investors/investment companies and the EU/EIB with a view to accessing funding. For territories, the OCCE supports regions, communities and local actors in becoming promoters of innovation, which can then be transformed into CE investments, jobs and industrial success stories. For SMEs, start-ups and project leaders, it can provide support and knowledge, primarily with regard to the EU's financial support mechanisms. And for its members, by sharing its international networks, the OCCE allows them to integrate an international dimension into their projects.
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!