The representatives of the EuroTech universities in Brussels with TUMCS-Professor Magnus Fröhling. (Photo: Valerie Schegk/TUM)
TUMCS, 24.01.2020
The joint Brussels Office of the EuroTech Universities Alliance regularly facilitates the establishment of competitive consortia for funding instruments within the European Framework Programme for Research and Innovation (Horizon 2020). On November 15, a successful workshop on EU funding possibilities and joint activities in the area of Circular Economy took place, engaging multiple EuroTech partners.
Representatives from TU Eindhoven, DTU Copenhagen, TU Munich, EPFL Lausanne and the Technion in Israel attended the workshop in Brussels. The event marked the beginning of further activities in the areas of sustainability, energy and climate, which EuroTech partners want to focus on even more in the future. The researchers identified great complementarity in their work in the field of circular economy and are now looking forward to intensifying the initiated exchange in the future. Different ways of cooperation are envisioned, for example joint applications for EU funding and summer schools.
The icon of the UN’s Sustainable Development Goal Number 12 represents the ideas behind the concept of circular economy. (Graphic: UN)
Although there are different conceptions of the circular economy, their basis is a new way to look at value creation, through extending a product’s lifespan and relocating waste from the end of the supply chain to the beginning. Overall, the approaches the EuroTech researchers will work on, shall lead to using resources more efficiently and contribute to the development and establishment of more sustainable industrial and economic systems – which is in line with the European Commission’s Circular Economy Action Plan and the UN’s Sustainable Development Goal Number 12: Responsible consumption and production.
The goal of this kick-off workshop was to pinpoint reciprocal research expertise and to facilitate joint proposals for EU funding – a goal that was well achieved with promising future developments lined up. The workshop was jointly initiated by the Section of Engineering Design and Product Development of the Department of Mechanical Engineering at DTU (Prof. Daniela C.A. Pigosso and Prof. Tim C. McAloone) and the professorship for Circular Economy at the TUM Campus Straubing (Prof. Dr. Magnus Fröhling).