SwitchMed Connect is a gathering of Mediterranean stakeholders to build synergies, exchange knowledge, and scale up eco and social innovations. Leading start-ups and entrepreneurs, industry agents, initiatives, change agents, policy and financial institutions working on applications of productive, circular and sharing economies in the Mediterranean will come together in Barcelona.
“The Circular Economy in Action in the Mediterranean”
The Switch to the Circular Economy is already taking place in the Mediterranean. The private sector, from larger businesses to SMEs and start-ups, is innovating to respond to the environmental challenges of the region. Governments are developing new policies and instruments to support this transition.
How to accelerate the Circular Economy in the Mediterranean will be the overarching question of the SwitchMed Connect 2018. Based on the learnings of the first phase of the Switchmed’s programme, the event will be the opportunity to share best practices, lessons learnt and develop recommendations on how to foster the Circular Economy in the Mediterannean region. SwitchMed Connect 2018 will also be the opportunity to discuss about the future: presenting new projects, co-create scale-up strategies, and develop new collaborations.
This year, SwitchMed Connect will focus on 4 main topics and offer a variety of formats for in-depth discussions.
Greening the industry
Harnessing industry’s potential for a circular economy (lead by UNIDO – MED TEST II component)
The Transfer of Environmentally Sound Technology to the industry is key in stimulating circular economies and to improve patterns of Sustainable Consumption and Production (SCP) in the Southern Mediterranean. Based on the experiences from the MED TEST II component of SwitchMed, This thematic block will demonstrate the potential of Ressource Efficiency and Cleaner Production (RECP) for Mediterranean industries while engaging discussions on how to scale-up RECP in the region.
Enabling Policies for the Circular Economy
What are conducive policies to foster the transition to Circular Economy (lead by UNEP and SCPRAC – Policy Component)
This thematic block will look at the barriers and gaps in the region, and the required policy changes and incentives to enable the Circular Economy. Successful initiatives from the Southern Mediterranean region and learnings from the SwitchMed’s policy pilots will be presented.
Green Entrepreneurship
Green Entrepreneurship as an innovative pathway towards the Circular Economy (lead by SCP RAC – GE/CS Component)
This thematic block will demonstrate how green entrepreneurs are providing innovative and long-term solutions for the switch to the Circular Economy. It will share experiences and lessons learnt from SwitchMed in building an ecosystem for green entrepreneurship in the region, and a community.
Accelerating the Circular Economy
Calls for Action: How can we accelerate the Circular Economy in the Mediterranean region?
In this thematic block, synergies between regional, national and local programmes will be explored. Participants will have the opportunity to engage in small group discussions with peers and potential partners to develop new collaborations.
Others elements of the programme
SwitchMed Connect Marketplace
The Marketplace will run in parallel to the event and present more innovative eco initiatives from a variety of sectors and countries. The marketplace will convene around 50 Switchers, SMEs as well as a number of policy initiatives that where supported by the SwitchMed programme. It offers participants a great opportunity for networking and connecting with liked-minded individuals.
SwitchMed Exhibition
2018 marks the end of the first phase of the SwitchMed programme. After several years of implementation, many success stories illustrating the transition to the Circular Economy have thrived across the region. On the evening of 13 of November we will celebrate these stories with the launch of the SwitchMed Exhibition on the Circular Economy.