In the first phase of the project, various actions were defined in the "Regional Action Plan" that are being developed in Bizkaia and in the Lea-Artibai region as part of the framework of this initiative and are currently being carried out through different projects.
Currently, the partners are immersed in the last phase carrying out the actions defined within the Regional Action Plan determined by each of them for their region in the first phase of the project. All the actions detailed in this planning are aimed at the development of projects that guarantee the cohesion and cooperation of various local agents.
Azaro Fundazioa and BEAZ are working hard on the projects initiated to carry out the actions defined for Bizkaia and the Lea-Artibai region. Each of the projects is directed by local entities, and Azaro Fundazioa is the coordinator of all of them:
ACTION 1 | Pilot Programme for Diagnoses and Circular Economy Plans in SMEs.
The pilot program has been developed to perform Circular Economy diagnoses in small and medium-sized companies with the help of the Provincial Council of Bizkaia. The project involved 5 industrial companies of Lea-Artibai from various sectors and the results and conclusions that have been obtained have been different. Therefore, the Circular Economy practices corresponding to each of them have been determined with the aim of improving the competitiveness of these companies.
ACTION 2 | Mainstreaming awareness and training on the Circular Economy
AZARO Fundazioa has developed an active awareness rising and support activity for pushing up between companies and economic agents of the area, the knowledge about the Circular Economy concept and models. In this field, the good practices field visited in RETRACE have been a relevant pool of information and inspiration.
Following the capitalisation of such good practices, AZARO Fundazioa has been led to consider that awareness-raising activities about Circular Economy can only be limited in its impact, so a further mainstreaming of Circularity on the other services provided by the organisation is proposed. Thus, the following is proposed:
EMEekin training programme will run again in 2019 and the training programme for the entrepreneurs runs every year twice
About the entrepreneurship support services, Azaro will continue to carry out these activities, introducing them into its methodology
ACTION 3 | Circular Bilbao Bizkaia
The Circular Bilbao Bizkaia project has been launched in Bilbao under the direction of the Provincial Council of Bizkaia. The development of this project is based on collective work among several entities: BEAZ, Innobasque, Provincial Council of Bizkaia, Bilbao City Council and Bilbao Ekintza, respectively. The project consists of defining and establishing projects of Circular Economy in Bilbao and surrounding towns in Bizkaia. After a reflection process based on the methodology of the Dutch company Circle Economy, the projects will be developed in the following 3 sectors: in food-related business (including restaurants and hotels), commercial sector and in the advanced manufacturing sector.
ACTION 4 | Pilot Project for Food Sovereignty
Pilot food strategy project in Lea-Artibai. This project is being developed under the direction of Leartibai Garapen Agentzia and Lea-Artibai Landa Garapen Agentzia. A brand called Hamenbertokoa has been created, based on the philosophy of production and consumption of food in each place. There are several companies and regional producers adhering to the project. To consume here what is produced here is another practice of the Circular Economy; offering the local society what has been achieved with local resources, gives the possibility to boost the products and the economy of each place.
ACTION 5 | New territorial governance model for a Circular Economy
Improvements have been implemented in the model to promote the Circular Economy in the territory. And to better understand and approach this economic concept, awareness and training actions have been awarded in companies, among entrepreneurs and society in general.
