From November 12 to 15 November 2018, the Innovation Camp as part of the CIRC4Life project - A circular economy approach for lifecycles of products & services was held in Cracow, Poland.
The participants of the workshop were about 80 experts and specialists from various fields: decision makers, entrepreneurs, scientists and representatives of the public from 17 European countries, Asia and Africa as well as members of the CIRC4Life project’s consortium. During the camp, using their knowledge and experience, they shared ideas and insights, jointly developed innovative solutions that, when applied in practice by specific enterprises, will contribute to the introduction of modern business models of the circular economy. These models assume not only minimal consumption of renewable natural resources, but also changes in the existing patterns of production and provision of services, thanks to which it will be possible to reuse materials and create new value from them.
In the long-term, the use of a closed-loop approach increases the competitiveness of companies, gives new business and innovation opportunities, encourages companies to use more efficient ways of production and consumption.
The workshop was conducted by a team of specialists from Laurea University of Applied Sciences from Finland.
The workshop was conducted in multidisciplinary and multicultural thematic groups corresponding to the following issues:
- design, production, selling, recycling and reuse of domestic and industry LED lighting
- reuse and recycling of tablets,
- production of organic vegetables,
- supply chain of pork.
Participants demonstrated great commitment and creativity. The solutions developed during the workshop result from the existing problems and requirements of various actors along value chains. They make a valuable contribution to the CIRC4Life project. This event was an opportunity to establish contacts between its participants, initiate discussions and exchange experience and knowledge.
In the further part of the realisation of the project, proposed solutions will be implemented as a part of demonstration activities and subject to analysis and assessment, in particular in terms of sustainability.
More information on the CIRC4Life project: www.circ4life.eu
