Content Partner at the Bled Strategic Forum 2019

The 2019 Bled Strategic Forum was all about (re)sources and global sustainability. The Founder and Director of Circular Change and Chair of the CG of the European Circular Economy Stakeholder Platform, Ladeja Godina Košir, hosted two panels at the Forum. Three eminent thought leaders Professor Jeffrey Sachs, Dr Andrea Illy and Dr Janez Potočnik, contributed to the panel dedicated to sustainability. The second panel, Climate Change - Saving the Planet by Going Circular, called upon nine panellists to introduce ongoing projects on the circular economy.

This is the year of Circular Innovation

Today's understanding of innovation is mindful of resource use and eco design. The circular economy is becoming part of major international innovation competitions and Circular Change is supporting these initiatives by serving on several international juries. Ladeja Godina Košir is a member of the jury for the 2019 European Social Innovation Competition, focusing on "challenging plastic waste". A lot of innovative, creative and ambitious solutions have entered the competition and from 30 semi-finalists, including three Slovenian projects, 10 finalists have been chosen. The winner will be announced at the awards ceremony in Brussels on 24 October. Mrs Godina Košir is also the President of the Jury for the EFQM Innovation Challenge - Sharing/Circular Economy. The jury seeks projects that really made a difference by creating new opportunities for sustainable development, reducing waste, driving greater resource productivity and delivering a more competitive economy. The winners will be announced at the EFQM Forum, on 23 October, in Helsinki.

Circular Change connecting circular dots in the Western Balkans

Circular Change has nourished relations with key circular change makers in the Western Balkans and has advocated for the development of circular economy initiatives, focusing on the strong creative potential of the region. After authoring the Roadmap Towards the Circular Economy in Slovenia, the platform has become a knowledge hub in collaborative roadmap design. With representatives of the Serbian government, Circular Change is drafting their circular economy strategy. As part of the project, organised by the United Nations Development Program in Serbia, Circular Change hosted a two day workshop covering all the stages for developing a national roadmap and empowering the members of the inter-sectoral working group to "break the silos mentality" and begin collaborating for a concrete plan on how to proceed. The following week a Serbian delegation with representatives from the government and regional waste treatment sites, visited Ljubljana and Maribor to learn how Slovenia managed to achieve a high rate of separately collected municipal waste and to visit the cutting-edge waste treatment facility RCERO Ljubljana and Snaga's new sorting plant in Maribor. In October, Circular Change will host another workshop in Belgrade on systems thinking for the circular economy, part of the Academy Circular Economy 2.0 for SMEs. Mrs Godina Košir will also speak at the Economic Conference Montenegro 2019, on 24 October, at the panel Green Economy and Sustainable Development. 

And there's more to come this fall for the CC platform

- Attending the annual meeting of the European Circular Economy Stakeholder Platform - setting the agenda for cooperation with the new Commission, Brussels
- Joining the study tour in the USA through the project Post-Carbon Cities of Tomorrow by the Ecologic Institute - empowering local bottom-up initiatives though the exchange of knowledge and experience, USA
- Lecturing at the Circular Economy Summer School in Brindisi, Apulia region
- Speaking at the COP25 meeting side-event in Santiago de Chile, Chile

You can be the leader of circular transformation!

Are you about to start a circular economy project? Are you looking for inspiration and expert knowledge? Do you need international partners? To contact Circular Change, simply write an email to join@circularchange.com, or visit the website, circularchange.com.