Circular projects
OUR ACTIONS
Circular Hotspot - public-private platform that brings together entities, potentially competitors in their daily operations, but which, through cooperation and access to shared resources, can increase the efficiency of their activities by implementing the idea of a circular economy. The mission of Polish Circular Hotspot is to support businesses, cities, governments, and society in the transition towards a circular economy through practical and scalable solutions. These solutions aim to address the most significant challenge facing humanity today - ensuring sustainable production and consumption that is neutral to the resources of our planet.
Polish Circular Hotspot is not the only platform of its kind in Europe. Similar initiatives have been successful in the Netherlands, Slovenia, Scotland, and Norway for several years. Together with international partners, Polish Circular Hotspot is part of a pan-European community that believes effective actions can simultaneously curb climate change, excessive resource use, environmental degradation, and ensure high socio-economic development.
The platform invites collaboration from all entities, including businesses, non-governmental organizations, administrations, local governments, and scientists. If you are interested in joining this effort, you can visit their website:
Circular Week is an international series of events and initiatives devoted to the circular economy and sustainable development that take place throughout Europe. The aim of Circular Week is to promote the idea of a circular economy and support sustainable business models
and establishing cooperation between stakeholders: business, representatives of non-governmental and international organizations and representatives of science.
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The first Circular Week took place in 2018, and subsequent editions continue to be extremely popular. Every year we invite you to numerous workshops, expert meetings, webinars, lectures and debates. The ceremonial ending of Circular Week is the international conference Mazovia Circular Congress. This event is addressed to representatives of public administration, local government, enterprises, managers dealing with sustainable development and ESG, start-ups and media.
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More about Circular Week 2023
Peter Drucker's oft-repeated maxim by economists states that "if you can't measure it, you can't improve it." The Circularity Gap Report project has precisely this goal. Together with our partners (Natural State and Circle Economy), we conduct research to analyze the level of circularity of the Polish economy and set specific directions of action to make the Polish economy more circular, sustainable and competitive.
“Circularity Gap Report Polska” project (https://cgrpoland.pl/) is a project that aims to examine the current state of circular transformation, helps to isolate key issues as well as challenges along with potential areas of cooperation between the Polish and Norwegian economies. This cooperation aims to use the experience of a country that has already analyzed its circularity. We hope that this project will also initiate long-term bilateral relationships between research and development units, enterprises, trade organizations and emerging small and medium-sized enterprises from both countries.
The research methodology is open and integrative, and its implementation involves stakeholders from various industries who contribute their knowledge and recommendations to the project. Calculating the degree of circularity of the Polish economy provides a reference point for further actions, this process will help identify existing obstacles and the most promising development paths. Importantly, it also enables comparison with existing global circularity indicators.
The project is financed under the EEA Bilateral Financial Mechanism Fund and the Norwegian Financial Mechanism 2014-2021.
SUPPORTING CIRCULARITY
IN INDIVIDUAL INDUSTRIES
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It is no secret that the circular transformation potential of individual economic sectors is not the same. They differ in terms of their predisposition to implement circular business models, their impact on the natural environment and society, as well as their contribution to the pressing problems of our planet. Therefore, Innowo tries to support selected industries in transitioning to a circular economy model through a number of initiatives. The identified industries with the greatest circular potential include construction, plastics, agri-food and energy. Innowo is involved in projects that really change the face of these industries. We organize webinars, series of debates, create reports, conduct activities to increase social awareness and support enterprises in implementing circular projects.
CIRCULAR CITIES AND REGIONS
Progressing urbanization and climate change pose new challenges to us in the form of unfavorable environmental and social effects
and economic. In order to improve the quality of life of society, it is crucial to support the circular transformation of cities, which cover approximately 3% of the earth's surface and are responsible for consuming approximately 70% of the planet's resources. Therefore, Innowo is involved in activities aimed at closing urban loops and introducing sustainable development strategies
in urban agglomerations. We create circular strategies for cities along with proposals for practical implementations. To this end, we first prepare analyzes of the current flow of materials in the city and conduct a number of analyzes and consultations with local communities. In addition, we conduct stakeholder assessments and spatial analysis to identify practical solutions that can support the transformation of cities towards a circular economy. We also propose to conduct similar analyzes on a regional basis, where it is possible to make fuller use of the opportunities for synergy between stakeholders and build appropriate economic ecosystems. We believe that this type of activities will not only reduce the negative impact of human activity on the environment, but will also allow us to achieve financial profits, generate new business opportunities and new perspectives for the development of cities and regions.
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PROJECT 2019 - 2020: Circular Cities Program
​CIRCULAR WORKSHOPS FOR ENTERPRISES
One of the basic aspects of Innowo's support for circular transformation is the promotion of circular solutions in enterprises. Unfortunately, businesses often identify this concept with ecology and not with an opportunity for company development. We are trying to change this approach, among others: by conducting workshops for enterprises, developing guides supporting the implementation of circular concepts, business matchmaking from Poland and other countries of the world. In addition, we connect the world of business with industry practitioners, a group of scientists and experts, as well as with regulators. We hope that joint discussions will, firstly, contribute to finding new opportunities for sustainable development, and secondly, they will contribute to making businesses aware of the benefits of implementing circular concepts. One of Innowo's activities is also the analysis of the circularity potential in Poland for the needs of foreign enterprises. We believe that by implementing sustainable solutions from other markets and scaling them, a faster circular transformation in our country is possible.
ACTIVITY
WITHIN THE CIRCULAR ECONOMY STAKEHOLDER PLATFORM
Innowo is in the distinguished group of 24 organizations belonging to the coordination group of the European Union's circular economy stakeholder platform at the European Economic and Social Committee (Coordination Group of the Circular Economy Stakeholder Platform)!
Within the group, we jointly focus on implementing the circular economy and promoting its solutions by exchanging experiences and good practices, as well as strengthening cooperation between entities operating in the area of the circular economy from various countries of the European Union and beyond. For this purpose, we organize webinars and develop joint publications on a circular approach to various thematic areas and industries. We provide education in the area of circularity at the European and global level (e.g. as part of Dubai Expo 2020).
You can read more about the coordination grouphere.
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AND SUPPORTING SOCIAL AWARENESS OF CIRCULARITY
One of Innowo's activities is to expand society's knowledge about the circular economy. To this end, we organize free, open workshops to increase public awareness. In addition, we create recommendations for consumers regarding sustainable consumption, conduct webinars and open debates.
However, supporting social awareness in the area of circularity is not possible without knowing its current level. That is why we engage in market analyzes and surveys that demonstrate society's knowledge of circular topics. In this way, we can identify the areas where our educational activities are most needed.
Project PLANET A NEW - materials for teachers and management staff
Nymphe is a four years project, funded under the Horizon Europe Program and dedicated to the bioremediation of polluted environments. The project targets to develop new effective „real situation-tailored” and „nature-inspired” bioremediation/revitalization strategies in different polluted environments using matrices taken from four contaminated European sites. Nymphe has the ambition of removing at least 90% of the main pollutants (e.g. plastics and pesticides in the agricultural soil, and chlorinated solvents/total petroleum hydrocarbon in groundwater and sediments of the industrial site) from each of the matrices of the four sites. After the process, the contaminated sites shall reach the highest environmental quality standards and their ecological status, with improved biodiversity, shall be closer to Natura 2000 specifications, with the intention to extend the Natura 2000 network.
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Circular Construction Practices for Climate Action
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The mission of the project is to contribute to climate change mitigation and security of supply in the construction sector by strengthening circular construction in the Czech Republic, Poland, and Slovenia, using best practices from Germany.
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