The region will be the coordinator of the consortium of the European project ECIV (European Circular Innovation Valley), an initiative funded with 27 million euros to create an interregional ecosystem around the Regenerative Economy. Specifically, of this money, Navarre will receive 6.4 million, 50% of which will come from funds provided by the European Commission. “This is an international accolade for our region’s commitment to the development of new solutions based on the reuse, recycling and recovery of raw materials for their reintegration into the value chain of our companies”, said the Regional Minister for Industry and Ecological and Digital Business Transition, Mikel Irujo.
The specific objectives of the project include mobilising, energising and connecting nine European regional ecosystems of innovation in the circular economy. Also, to increase innovative activity and experimentation in circular industrial value chains as well as to increase knowledge, mobilise public funding and private investment for innovation in circularity. And finally, to generate common knowledge assets and regional policies and strategies related to circularity.
The ECIV is expected to generate up to 35 collaborative innovation projects and up to 30 smaller collaborative experimentation programmes in value chains in up to 10 industrial sectors.
Moreover, the initiative will mobilise a wide network of innovation actors, including 9 regions and more than 25 regional or national authorities, more than 1,200 companies (including numerous SMEs), more than 100 universities and research centres together with around 50 clusters and associations.
The nine regions and the leading actors in each of them are (apart from Navarre), the Northern Region of the Netherlands (Friesland, Groningen and Drent), Norra-Mellansverige (north-central Sweden), Normandy (France), Bulgaria, Wallonia (Belgium), Lithuania, Helsinki-Uusimaa (Finland) and Scotland (UK).
Source: navarra.es