TUM Brussels: Circular economy at the center of Europe’s sustainability strategy

The European Commission keeps emphasizing the importance of the circular economy for the realization of the European Green Deal. In order to show researchers how they can get involved in various activities and thus also build up an own EuroTech community for the field of the circular economy, the EuroTech Office Brussels with TUM Brussels Liaison Officer Valerie Schegk organized an information event for interested parties at TUM and from other EuroTech partners on March 17.

Circular economy concept: share, reuse, repair, renovate and recycle existing materials and products as much as possible. — Circular economy is at the centre of the European Green Deal efforts. Photo: iStock.com / Galeanu Mihai

The European Commission Circular Economy Action Plan paves the way for a cleaner and more competitive Europe. It is one of the main building blocks of the European Green Deal, Europe’s new agenda for sustainable growth. Under this framework the European Commission is launching new initiatives along the entire life cycle of products, targeting areas where action at the EU level brings real added value.

Since the European Green Deal will be the backbone of future EU funding opportunities, the EuroTech Universities Alliances Brussels Office organised on March 17 an info session on the European Commission’s Circular Economy priorities. In the 75-minute webinar, Estelle Elizagoien, Policy Officer at the Circular Economy Unit of the European Commission, gave some insights into some key actions. ‘Circular Economy is at the heart of the European growth strategy, for that we need to mainstream circularity within the next years’, said Elizagoien.

Building an active research community

Sustainable Society is one of the fast developing areas, in which EuroTech strives to deepen collaborations in research, education, and innovation. To strengthen this focus area, the alliance already set up a circular economy working group during 2020. Now the group is to grow further and the range of cooperations is to be expanded.

To this end, the info session introduced opportunities of collaboration within EuroTech and instruments to support this collaboration. More than 30 researchers from all six EuroTech partners participated to explore opportunities opened up by the European Commission and EuroTech. As a follow-up to this info session, there will be another webinar on the specific tender opening for EU funding and a matchmaking session in the second quarter of this year.

If you are interested in the field of circular economy and the different opportunities in Europe and within EuroTech, please contact TUM Brussels liaison officer Maria-Valerie Schegk.