Knowledge hub to leverage existing initiatives and projects to foster the adoption of Circular economy in Cities and Regions In Europe

Project Information

CCRI Knowledge Hub

Grant agreement ID: 101135174

DOI

10.3030/101135174

EC signature date 9 November 2023

Start date 1 January 2024

End date 31 December 2026

Funded under

• Food, Bioeconomy Natural Resources, Agriculture and Environment

Total cost

No data

EU contribution

€ 2 612 932,04

Coordinated by

SENIOR EUROPA SOCIEDAD LIMITADA
Spain

Periodic Reporting for period 1 - CCRI Knowledge Hub (Knowledge hub to leverage existing initiatives and projects to foster the adoption of Circular economy in Cities and Regions In Europe)

Reporting period: 2024-01-01 to 2025-06-30

Summary of the context and overall objectives of the project

Despite the efforts of the European Union to promote circular practices in the past decade, most economies continue to operate largely under a linear model . Governments play a key role in enabling circularity and international collaboration is essential in current globalised world . Aware of this, the European Commission launched the Circular Cities and Regions Initiative (CCRI) to support cities and regions in improving circularity in their economic sectors, value chains and services. CCRI Knowledge Hub strengthens the impact of the existing CCRI by enlarging the network of stakeholders, with a particular focus on supporting cities and regions at the early stages of their circular transition, while consolidating and sharing knowledge on Circular Economy. The specific objectives of the CCRI Knowledge Hub are:
SO1. To bring together relevant knowledge and initiatives fostering Circular Economy among cities and regions.
SO2. To build, make accessible and user-friendly material to facilitate learning and exchange of knowledge and best practices.
SO3. To bring together a pool of experts and implement a specific programme to provide mentoring and tailored support to cities and regions.
SO4. To provide capacity building activities.
SO5. To develop guidelines and policy recommendations for local and regional authorities (under the second reporting period).

Work performed from the beginning of the project to the end of the period covered by the report and main results achieved so far

Within the first reporting period, CCRI Knowledge Hub has systematised new and existing knowledge around Circular Economy and provided support to newcomers’ cities and regions. In concrete:
- 126 Circular Economy projects have been analysed in-depth and are ready to feed the CCRI website with a selection of 40 good practices with their corresponding report;
- 143 resources have been described to also feed the CCRI website (papers and reports, webinars, synergetic policy plans…);
- A catalogue of enabling technologies for circularity;
- A Key Product Value Chain marketplace use case guide for the plastic sector;
- 9 cities and regions are receiving the CCRI Knowledge Hub Mentoring Programme with tailored workshops and one-to-one mentorships; and
- 9 workshops on Circular Economy have been organised (2 of them in-person) and 1 joint workshop with the CCRI Coordination and Support Office.

Progress beyond the state of the art and expected potential impact (including the socio-economic impact and the wider societal implications of the project so far)

CCRI Knowledge Hub progress beyond the state of the art is focused on two main domains: knowledge and support to cities and regions.
(i) CCRI Knowledge Hub provides systematised knowledge on Circular Economy accurate by project partners and ready to be uploaded in the CCRI website through a REST API.
(ii) Partners have co-developed and validated with 9 cities and regions a new method to support circular transitions grounded in the CCRI framework and inspired by systemic transition approaches such as the Multi-Level Perspective (MLP). The support provided combines capacity building activities with one-to-one mentorship sessions.