On September 20 & 21, 2022, the last partners meeting of the project “CESME+ Circular Economy for SMEs-Additional activities” took place in Seinajoki, Finland, since the project is coming to its end. This meeting was co-organized by the partners: Region of South Ostrobothnia and JPYP entrepreneurship development company. The CESME+ project is co-financed by the INTERREG EUROPE Program, and it is a continuation of the CESME project, which was completed with great success in 2020. The lead partner is ANTOLIKI SA, and the Regional Development Fund of Central Macedonia participates as a partner, on behalf of the Region of Central Macedonia. In total, 7 partners from 4 countries (Greece, Italy, Finland, Bulgaria) participate in the project, who were represented by a total of 9 attendants.
Ms Vaso Papadopoulou (ANATOLIKI SA) welcomed the partners and the opening of the meeting on 20.09.2022.
The floor was then given to the partners to present the policy tools of the 4 participating regions and the resulting changes, influenced by the CESME+ project. The policy change targeted by Italy (Emilia Romagna) is about improving governance. It was influenced by Finland's good practice "Climate and circular economy roadmap for South Ostrobothnia" and the initial steps have already been taken. Finland (South Ostrobothnia) aims to change its policy tool regarding new projects and actions, inspired by the good practices of Italy "The Sustainable Innovators Awards" and "the Barresi Award". Bulgaria aims to change its policy tool regarding structural change, inspired by Finland's good practice "Climate and circular economy roadmap for South Ostrobothnia" and Italy's good practices "The Sustainable Innovators Awards", "the Barresi Award" and "The new metropolitan covenant for the work and for the sustainable development". The proposed actions have already been accepted by the government authorities. The policy change targeted by Greece (Central Macedonia) concerns structural change, inspired by the good practice of Bulgaria "New generation packing materials" and the good practice of Finland "Supporting sustainable growth and vitality in regions".
Afterwards, the lead partner presented the technical and financial aspects of the project for discussion within the partnership, as well as the actions completed during the 1st and 2nd semesters. The pending issues remaining until the end of the 2nd semester (30.09.2022) and until the closure of the project on 31.03.2023 were analyzed.
After the meeting, the circular economy actions of the "Kyro Distillery" were presented to the partners through a tour of its facilities.
This was followed by a presentation and a tour of the facilities of the recycling center "Etappi-REPoint Centre".
On the 2nd day of the meeting, on 21.09.2022, the partners were welcomed by the Planning Director of the Region of South Ostrobothnia, Mr Antti Saartenoja.
Next, Mr Kari Laasasenaho, Senior RDI expert of the University of Applied Sciences of Seinajoki, presented the Finish good practice MuoviSampo, which is developed and supported by the specific University.
Also, the progress of the project (LSG meetings, publications, etc.) from the 4 countries were presented, as well as the good practices that had not yet been presented in previous meetings.
Before closing the meeting, time was given to discuss the prospects of the project, after its completion, as well as ideas/proposals for new collaborations between the partners and their collaborators. Other topics of discussion were the possibility of creating circular economy platforms, perspectives for projects related to cost-benefit analysis, examples of circular economy application (eg use of retired tires), ways of measuring circularity, challenges in industrial symbiosis, training of industries, the creation of hubs and the approach to new co-financed projects.
