On 24th March we organised an online workshop to raise awareness about Up2Circ project among stakeholders from circular economy area.
Several suggestions for business organizations to support SMEs in their transition towards a circular economy were provided. These included organizing more webinars and events with stakeholders, sharing key messaging among the group, and creating digital databases to connect SMEs and experts. Other suggestions included focusing on success stories to generate external visibility.
One suggestion pointed at suitable funding opportunities to be created in a timely manner. The discussion conclusion emphasized the importance of putting circularity at the heart of the transition from the beginning of SMEs support provision and collaborating with incubators and accelerators to make the circular economy more attractive to SMEs.
The workshop main conclusions:
1. A platform really building on the existing contents and making them accessible for SMEs would be highly appreciated to improve support to SMEs in their journey to circularity.
2. It is considered highly important to better use synergies be not to overwhelm SMEs with too many competing and more or less identical support offers.
3. A crucial point in designing a successful Circular Economy client journey implies taking a really pragmatic approach in addressing client’s needs and operating a proper signposting to locate best support possible.
4. It is vital to join forces for a broad dissemination of results, so others again can build on them and further SMEs can get inspired.