In Economy, Innovation

You want your SME to evolve toward the circular economy? You consider yourself already as circular but would like to further improve? Entreprise Europe Brussels c/o hub.brussels now offers « Circle Assessment » of your business under a pilot test.

What is the circular economy?

The circular economy is not just about recycling ! As explained by the Ellen Mac Arthur Foundation with a short video, “designing products that can be ‘made to be made again’” and as much as possible “powering the system with renewable energy” and processes mimicking nature. Coming back to the circular natural biological cycle involves rethinking ownership, progress and as the economy works as a system.

It has indeed many advantages:

  • many environmental benefits from reducing waste and reducing the environmental foodprint;
  • contributing to the fight against climate change;
  • resource efficiency resulting in cost efficiency;
  • fostering innovation and new types of collaborations;
  • boosting new types of business like the sharing economy, “good as a service” etc…

You want to be part of the transition to a more circular economy? We are here to help you with the “circle assessment”.

The Circle Assessment – a first step

The Circle Assessment was designed by Circle Economy, a Dutch social enterprise, organised as a cooperative. It was already used in a project funded by the European Commission, “Scaling circular business in Europe”.

It is an online tool to help businesses understand how to implement the circular economy in very concrete and practical terms for your business. The idea is not only to assess how much circular you are now, but also to inspire you with example, benchmarking and opportunities. The tool is a first step for internal and external discussion to develop your circular economy strategy.

The tool is notably aimed at SMEs currently having a linear model but would like to turn to it. It can also help SMEs already involved in the circular economy to further improve their model.

A new service building on others

Enterprise Europe Brussels is getting access to this tool as part of the vision of the Enterprise Europe Network to help SMEs innovate toward the circular economy.

The service is free of charge and offered on “first comes first serves” basis as part of a pilot test. The assessment will be guided by an adviser from hub.brussels.

It can be a first encounter to discover the EEN services to support innovation an internationalization. Also have a look at our other pilot about the sharing economy.

Furthermore, the European Resource Efficiency Knowledge Centre (EREK for short) is here to help European companies, especially SMEs, save energy, material and water costs. It provides tools, information and business opportunities.

In addition, at a regional level, hub.brussels hosts circlemade.brussels, the Brussels cluster for the circular economy for established circular SMEs, and the greenlab programme for start-ups. Many initiatives, including funding schemes, are being carried out in Brussels as part of the Regional Plan for the Circular Economy.

 

Contact : Camille Lépinay clepinay@hub.brussels

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