As one of the partners of the Symbi project, Government Office for Development and European Cohesion Policy (GODC) organized the fourth meeting for regional stakeholders. The debate focused on the challenge of developing a market for secondary raw materials. The event gathered representatives of the Chamber of Commerce and Industry of Slovenia, Ministry of the Environment and Spatial Planning, Ministry of Economic Development and Technology, Faculty of Health Sciences at University of Ljubljana and Faculty of Information Studies Novo mesto.
Representatives from the Government Office for Development and European Cohesion Policy (GODC) opened the meeting by making an overview and follow-up on the implementation of the activities and results of the fourth semester, including the organization of the November study visit of project partners to Slovenia which sparked the initiative for standardization of industrial symbiosis best practice methodology and terminology. The kick-off meeting for the standardization workshop was recently launched, and the standardization activities will be carried out under the auspices of CEN, European Committee for Standardization.
The meeting also featured a representative from the Faculty of Information Studies Novo mesto who introduced the e-Simbioza (e-Symbiosis) platform which was established under the projects Creative path to knowledge 2016/2017 that were co-financed by the European Social Fund. At present, the platform is the only tool in Slovenia which brings together the industrial symbiosis practitioners (demand, supply and intermediation sides) and encourages their collaboration. The platform enables synergies and facilitates the implementation of industrial symbiosis. The presentation was followed by a discussion to identify the synergies between the activities carried out under the auspices of the Chamber of Commerce and Industry of Slovenia and Strategic and Innovation Development Partnership (SRIP) Circular Economy.
Representative of the Ministry of the Environment and Spatial Planning presented the project MOVECO which is implemented under the Danube Transnational Programme. The lead partner in the project, which aims to create an integrated tool which supports SMEs in their transition to a circular economy, is the Chamber of Commerce and Industry of Slovenia. The project also seeks to launch a macro-regional platform which helps businesses find potential partners for implementing industrial symbiosis.
