Co-creation of the Slovenian Center for the Transition to a Circular Economy

As part of the Comprehensive Strategic decarbonisation of Slovenia through the transition to a circular economy according to deep demonstration methodology, an interactive workshop was held on Wednesday 16 March 2022 in the Ljubljana Technology Park. The workshop was organized by EIT Climate KIC in collaboration with the Circular Change team.

The Slovenia Deep Demonstration by Climate KIC is taking the lead on creating the National Circular Economy Centre for Smart and Circular Transition, which will be Slovenia’s leading platform to accelerate the transition to a circular economy.

The Centre will be responsible for anchoring and hosting the entire deep demonstration, especially the policy- and learning related programmes such as the Transition Policy Lab, Circular Performance, Circular Procurement or Circular Learning & Resources, coordinate the delivery of the different programmes, collaborate with experts and programme managers while also serving as a go-to location for participants and stakeholders and the knowledge source for relevant policy makers.

The aim of the interactive workshop was to harmonize the vision, mission, organizational structure and activities of the emerging Center for the Transition to the Circular Economy, which will be the basis for an action plan for its establishment. In addition, participants in small working groups explored funding opportunities and the legal form of the center.

In the introduction to the event, Jasmina Karba, Directorate for the Environment, Ministry of the Environment and Spatial Planning of the Republic of Slovenia, presented the starting points for further discussion in her presentation Slovenian Center for Transition to the Circular Economy - From Idea to Realization.

The vision of co-creation and collaboration in the Deep demonstration project across the helix of stakeholders was introduced by Bart Stegeman, Slovenian Orchestrator, Circular Economy and Value Chains Transformation, Climate-KIC.

The participants got acquainted with examples of good practices and centres in Slovenia, such as the Digital Center of Slovenia and the Center for Creativity.

The moderator of the event, Ladeja Godina Košir, founder and director of Circular Change, co-chair of the European Circular Economy Platform ECESP in Brussels, presented various examples of circular economy centers from abroad: Finland (SITRA), the Netherlands (Holland Circular Hotspot), Austria (Circular Economy Forum Austria), Serbia (Circular Economy Serbia), Italy (ICESP), Romania (ROCESP).

The workshop was attended by more than 40 representatives of ministries (MGRT, MOP, MFA), SVRK, DIHS, SRIP, GZS, CER, SPIRIT, clusters, technology parks, institutes and NGOs.

The knowledge, experience and ideas of participants in the field of circular economy represent a valuable starting point for designing the process of circular transformation of Slovenia and in the next steps will help achieve the objectives of activities presented in individual phases of the Comprehensive Strategic Project of decarbonisation of Slovenia.