Nextetilegeneration

Finnova support the European Week for Waste Reduction with diverse events

  • From 19th to 25th of November, Europe celebrates the European Week for Waste Reduction (EWWR) in order to raise awareness of sustainable management for resources and waste, under the slogan “Circular and sustainable textiles. Waste is out of fashion!”.
  • FIPAS, LIFE Ecodigestion 2.0, CircoAx by CircularInnobooster, and HIBA, European projects in which Finnova collaborates, celebrate the journey on the occasion of celebrating the week for waste.

On the 15th of November, the world’s population reached 8 billion, the largest number of people the planet has ever supported. Since the beginning of the industrial revolution in the 18th century, population growth has been a cause for concern. Examples of this are the Malthusian problems, the response with the colonisation of Africa as a source of goods or the more recent globalisation. A situation that has led to the search for alternative resources such as the reuse of materials to produce new elements. This is when waste ceases to be a simple waste product and becomes a second chance.

The European Union is no stranger to this problem and for years it has been funding European projects through different programs that aim to contribute to a circular and sustainable economy. The Finnova Foundation participates in several of these programs and during this week it plans to hold various events to give visibility and disseminate solutions to combat the problem of resource scarcity.

Four events

Tuesday, the 22nd of November at 10.30 a.m. (GMT+1): Day of exchange of experiences on fire fighting

Finnova inaugurates the European Week of Waste with a day of exchange of experiences on firefighting, an area in which waste is of great importance, as 25% of fires come from waste. In view of this situation, FIPAS, a forest fire prediction alarm system through Artificial Intelligence, led by Nassat and developed within the framework of EIT Climate-KIC will hold a hybrid event with the intention of promoting the analysis of opportunities, disseminating the project and generating the exchange of knowledge, skills and resources that promote good practices in the fight against fires.

Those interested in following the event will be able to do so after registering at the following link: https://bit.ly/3XmRux9

Thursday, 24th of November, 10.00 a.m. (GMT+1): Conference to exchange experiences on sustainable waste treatment strategies

Under the name: «Raising awareness and creating a community on sustainable waste treatment and reduction in Europe», Finnova celebrates the second event, within this week, on behalf of the European Project Life Ecodigestion 2.0. An initiative framed within the LIFE program that aims to demonstrate on a pilot scale the production of biogas on demand with WWTP sludge, using agri-food waste and slurry as co-substrate.

This event aims to give visibility to existing projects such as BIOMASA-CAP, G2G – Algae, as well as the contribution of practical knowledge from experts in the sector such as the Catalan Waste Agency or representatives of the Valencian Community, future European Green Capital in 2024.

Anyone interested in attending this online event can do so by registering in advance: http://bit.ly/3hU5wG1

Friday, the 25th of November, 10.00 a.m. (GMT+1): Workshop on good practices in agri-food waste management. New opportunities for European funding

Finnova is organising a side event of the Iberia Agrotech HIBA Hub Project, which aims to share best practices for the management of agri-food waste, as well as to raise awareness of new funding opportunities to promote similar cross-border cooperation projects at European level (Interreg POCTEP – Interreg SUDOE).

HIBA is a project made up of 19 beneficiaries from Spain and Portugal, and 75% co-financed by the European Regional Development Fund – ERDF, in the framework of the Interreg V-A Spain-Portugal 2014-2020 program (POCTEP), with a total project budget of 5.3 million euros. With a multi-regional character, the axis of the European project is based on inclusive growth through cross-border cooperation between Spain and Portugal in favour of business competitiveness, in order to improve the competitiveness and development of small and medium-sized enterprises. The project seeks to promote entrepreneurship by facilitating the economic exploitation of new ideas and encouraging the creation of new companies.

Registration and booking at: https://bit.ly/3VfOalg

Friday, the 25th of November, 16.00 p.m. (GMT+1): Online webinar on circular economy projects in the textile sector

As a finale, Finnova is holding the last of the events planned for the waste week, an online webinar offered by CircoAX by CircularInnoBooster, a project funded by the COSME program that aims to transform textile and fashion companies into sustainable, circular and regenerative enterprises.

An event closely linked to this year’s slogan «Waste is out of fashion!» in which some of the managers of the 30 SMEs that make up CircoAX will participate, as well as Sharam Yalda, founder of Human Nation or Juanma Revuelta, CEO of Finnova, who will provide a vision of how to contribute to this fight from the management of European funds.  If you would like to attend, do not hesitate to register: http://bit.ly/3EPuDD6

About Finnova

Finnova is the European foundation for innovation financing. Its objectives are to promote public-private cooperation through its knowledge and experience in European funding instruments, addressing societal challenges such as youth employment, entrepreneurship, the UN SDGs, the circular economy, waste recovery, sustainable tourism and the fight against climate change.

About FIPAS

The European project FIPAS consists of a forest fire prediction alarm system through Artificial Intelligence, led by Nassat and Rivulet developed within the framework of EIT Climate-KIC, community that supports innovative initiatives that help combat climate change and mitigate the effects of global warming.

FIPAS has a total budget of 144,500 euros, 80% financed by the EIT Climate-KIC. This tool is being implemented in the town of Pehchevo, Macedonia. The Social Innovation Lab, a laboratory located in Skopje, which dedicates its resources to offer innovative solutions based on technology, is collaborating with Finnova.

About CircularInnoBooster

is a project funded by the European Union’s Competitiveness of Enterprises and Small and Medium-sized Enterprises Program (COSME).

The CircularInnoBooster project aims to transform companies in the textile and fashion industry into sustainable, circular and regenerative enterprises. With a duration of 2 years, it has a budget of 1,128,000 euros, 75% co-financed by the European Commission. The project is composed of an international consortium led by the European Institute of Design (IED), together with Texfor, Circulab, Finnova and The Circular Project with Human Nation.

About LifeEcodigestion 2.0

The LIFE ECODIGESTION 2.0 project presents a digital automatic control system for the dosing of organic waste in anaerobic digesters of WWTP (Waste Water Treatment Plant) to maximise the production of biogas on demand as renewable energy. This project has a budget of more than 970,000 euros. The pilot project, which has a duration of four years (2020-2024), is led by Global Omnium Medioambiente (Spain) and has as partners the Finnovaregio Foundation (Belgium) and Águas do Centro Litoral (Portugal). The production of biogas to cover energy demand and reduce the amount of waste in landfill contributes to compliance with the European Landfill Directive.

About HIBA

The Interreg Spain-Portugal Cross-Border Cooperation Project (POCTEP) HIBA will promote a multi-regional ecosystem focused on the digitalisation of the agri-food sector in Spain and Portugal through the creation of a network of Digital Innovation Hubs (DIH) that promotes initiative, competitiveness and business sustainability, fostering post-Covid19 economic recovery. With a budget of 5.3 million euros, 75% co-financed by the ERDF (European Regional Development Fund) in the framework of the Interreg V-A Spain-Portugal Cross-Border Cooperation Program 2014-2020 (POCTEP), HIBA has 19 beneficiaries, with the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries, Water and Rural Development of the Andalusian Regional Government being the main beneficiary.

About the European Week for Waste Reduction (EEWR)

In an effort to make visible the effort and passion that many people around the world dedicate to bring sustainable consumption supported by the circular economy, Europe celebrates this week the European Week of Waste (EWWR). A celebration that aims to mobilise European citizens as well as institutions to follow the actions of reducing, reusing, recycling and cleaning up the area we live in to achieve a sustainable Europe under the pillar of circular economy and waste reduction.