Considering the program’s objective towards promoting employment and labor mobility, BeCircular aims at providing employment opportunities for young educated unemployed people and setting the base for trade growth within CBC area. It promotes also the cross-border mobility of people and ideas for better exploitation and elaboration of used materials. It emphasizes labor training and provides equal opportunities to all and especially to vulnerable groups. Activities will mainly focus on building capacities, exchanging experiences & skills, developing guidelines on how to advance the full potentials of CE, BE and entrepreneurship sectors ensuring their sustainability. Efficient awareness strategies & campaign and digital technology tools will be developed and tested to stimulate the supply and demand of reusable goods and to seize opportunities on the broader sector.
It will concentrate on the post start-up and scaling-up phases to render CE & BE centers effective & durable and at the same time to build-up capacities of young graduates to startup their own business in CE & BE sector i.e. to examine their business idea through the Living Labs of the project, mature them, prepare their analytical business plans in order to get ready to enter the business world.
Moreover, it will provide guidance to the managing authorities and other policy makers on how to assess CE, BE and entrepreneurship centers in their territory. It will strengthen their capacity to enact efficient policies in becoming self-sustaining, evaluating their management, investment and innovation readiness, measuring their impact. The elaboration of business principles and models will help actors along the CE & BE chain (regional/local governments, waste management authorities, NGOs, social enterprises, startups, students, professionals) to collaborate effectively and strengthen networks.
After the completion of the project the following main outputs are expected to be delivered:
- a Repair & Reuse (R&R) center for specific waste streams involving suppliers, end-users, repair lines & sponsors;
- a Research & Development (R&D) center involving symbiotic networks, biomaterials suppliers, end-users & technical personnel to evaluate & deliver business plans;
- an Entrepreneurship & Creative (E&C) center to prepare young scientists, artists, technicians & engineers to enter CE&BE.
The expected outputs focus on:
- Coaching campaigns in CBC area with at least 50% flow in CE expected (referring to 30% Arts students, 30% BE entrepreneurs & 40% technicians);
- Building capacities actions for at least 50 participants in the coaching sessions to work in centers &/or begin own business on CE&BE;
The relative activities to achieve its outputs are:
- Knowledge transfer seminars fostering CE & business startup for project consortium
- E-platforms transformation into CE & BE hubs:
a. WasteRReact platform
b. Symbiosis platform - E-learning platform as innovative tool for monitoring the mentoring program, offering online training for startup businesses & structural support to entrepreneurs in building their business idea;
- ‘Living Labs’ ecosystems in a) BE, b) Creative Industries & c) general entrepreneurship;
- Business model for the development & execution of a startup company on CE;
- Marketing plan to support the long-term operation of the centers & safeguard their sustainability.