Category: blog

Fifth session of Next LATAM-EU Generation: “Training and Mobility Opportunities for Young Professionals and Entrepreneurs”

The goal of Next LATAM-EU Generation is to foster business cooperation between EU and Latam countries

---

This event is supported by Red Business Market and the Congreso Iberoamericano de Empresas Familiares y Pymes

---

A meeting will be held in Medellin (Colombia) in late 2021 to deliver the LATAM Startup Europe Awards

---

The fifth session of Next LATAM-EU Generation will be held on 10 August on the occasion of World Youth Day (12 August)

---

Brussels, 29.07.2021 – On Tuesday 10 August 2021, on the occasion of World Youth Day (12 August), Finnova Foundation and Startup Europe Awards will

launch the fifth session of Next LATAM-EU Generation, “Training and Mobility Opportunities for Young Professionals and Entrepreneurs”, together with Red Business Market and the Congreso Iberoamericano de Empresas Familiares y Pymes.

The main objectives of Next LATAM-EU Generation are the transfer of knowledge, the dissemination of information on available funding facilities for both continents, and the development of shared projects among Latin American and Europe countries in order to forge business alliances. Each Next LATAM-EU Generation session focuses on a specific world day based on the UN SDGs.

The upcoming event on 10 August will be chaired by Juanma Revuelta, one of the promoters of Next Talent Generation and CEO of Finnova, a foundation which endorses employment and training for young people. “Next Talent Generation enables to find paid internships across Europe in order to reduce the number of unemployed highly qualified young people”, claims Mr Revuelta.

The fifth session of Next LATAM-EU Generation, “Training and Mobility Opportunities for Young Professionals and Entrepreneurs”, will feature Bruno Castro, EU Relations with Latin America Officer at DG EAC (Education and Culture) in the European Commission; Moisés Álvaro, ecosystems developer in Italy and Spain, whose mission is to transfer EIT Climate-KIC strategic programmes to these countries; Lorena Pedrós, start-up advisor at IDEASUPV (Universidad Politécnica de Valencia); Frank Babinger, advisor to the Employability and Entrepreneurship Department of the Vice-Chancellor’s Office in the Universidad Complutense de Madrid (UCM), and María José Valero, CEO of Talent Growth Management and ambassador of Technovation Girls Comunidad Valenciana, among others.

Next LATAM-EU Generation was first launched after the success of the Congreso Iberoamericano de Empresas Familiares y Pymes, run by Red Business Market, and which was held on January 2021. It hosted 558 enterprises, more than 60 domestic and international speakers and nearly 9,000

attendees (enterprises). This event showed that transatlantic collaboration is needed in order to face shared challenges in both continents, such as digitalisation, sustainability and circularity after Covid-19.

Josu Gómez Barrutia, CEO of Red Business Market, says that “there is no doubt whatsoever that in an evolving and challenging era in terms of society, economy and geopolitics, creating meeting points, partnerships and strategic connections in the entrepreneurship, business development and cooperation domains between the EU and Latin America is crucial”. Click here to register for this event.

PREVIOUS SESSIONS

The first LATAM-EU session was held on March 8 on the occasion of International Women’s Day. It was run by several female speakers, such as Patricia Llombart, EU Ambassador in Colombia, Liskel Álvarez, External Actions Senior Officer at Cabildo de Tenerife, and Adriana Vargas, head of Trading Links of the Colombian Mission in the EU. The goal of this event was to discuss the role of women in business cooperation between Latam and the EU, especially as regards innovation and entrepreneurship.

The second session, which was held on April 6 – on the occasion of World Health Day (7 April) –, was named “Challenges and Opportunities for Tourism through Cooperation between Latam and the EU during Covid-19”. Its main topics were the challenges that the tourism sector has to face and how to. This session was attended by Manuel Vegas, president of Asociación

The third session, which was held on May 11 on Global Recycling Day (17 May), was named “Challenges of Circular Economy in LATAM-EU Cooperation as a Production and Consumption Model for Sustainability”. Speakers included Isabel Silva Souza, Ambassador of the European

Commission’s Climate Pact; Álvaro Hernández, Chairman of the Board of Directors of Inboplast; Sharam Yalda, partner of CirCoAX and founder of HumanNation; Alonso Salguero, CEO at GTA Ingeniería y Medioambiente, and Giuseppe Liberati, Executive Director at Bridging Value.

The fourth session of Next LATAM-EU Generation, “Entrepreneurship and Water: a Driver of Economic Recovery and Social Development of Regions and Municipalities” was held on 13 July on the occasion of World Population Day (11 July) and World Oceans Day (8 June). Speakers included Rafael Heredero, Policy Advisor at EurEau secretariat in Brussels, Javier Vázquez Hueso, CEO of EMALGESA and deputy mayor of Algeciras City Council, Luis Lehmann, international expert on circular economy, Miguel Lemos, CEO of Aguas de Gaia, and Ana Beccar Varela, water project manager at The Nature Conservancy.

Next LATAM-EU Generation is made up of nine online events which will take place every second Tuesday of each month. Each event is held on the occasion of an International Day in line with UN SDGs. To top it all off, if the health situation allows it, an on-site event will be held in Medellin (Colombia) to celebrate the final of LATAM Startup Europe Awards.

About Finnova Foundation

Finnova Foundation is a Belgian-Spanish foundation which helps institutions and organisations getting funds for innovative projects. Its objective is to promote private-public cooperation through innovation in order to address social challenges, e.g. employment, training, entrepreneurship, SDGs, circular economy, etc. Finnova is in charge of organising Startup Europe Awards, a joint initiative by Finnova and the European Commission to reward the best European start-ups. For more information, click on www.finnova.eu

About Startup Europe Awards

Startup Europe Awards is an initiative by DG CONNECT and has been implemented by Finnova Foundation since 2016. Startup Europe Awards are an open innovation mechanism aimed to identify disruptive start-ups and to promote private-public partnerships. They also seek to raise awareness on the importance of self-entrepreneurship as a driving force for job creation. In addition to promoting networks to meet the UN SDGs and the European Green Deal objectives, they also contribute to circular economy, sustainable tourism and fighting against climate change. For more info, click on http://startupeuropeawards.eu/seua/

About Red Business Market

Business Market is a forum connecting investors, businesses, entrepreneurs and start-ups from Ciudad Real aiming to create a network of business, financing and support for economic and business projects in that area. All this funding can be coupled with venture capital, business angels, personal investments and corporate or financial funds for innovative and disruptive initiatives with an added value which need funding to start operating. For more information, click on https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z-vd9gSy19s

About Next Talent Generation

The Next Talent Generation programme was designed to create an European partnership bringing together entities from different backgrounds, e.g. non-profit organisations, enterprises, universities, European institutions, national administrative authorities… to offer training opportunities in the EU in a single platform. This tool seeks to list all programmes offering internship mobility opportunities across Europe in order to foster cross-border mobility and to enhance the level of employability of young people.

Currently, Finnova offers internships in all EU countries through the Programa del Sistema Nacional de Garantía Nacional Juvenil. For more information, click on https://nextalentgeneration.eu/

Finnova Foundation organises a LIFE 2021-2027 Networking and Q&A Open Day

This online event will take place on Wednesday 28 July

---

It is made up of several networking panels in order to create and to foster synergies among potential partners

---

This event aims to provide help for all those entrepreneurs, start-ups, and public and private entities having initiatives to become eligible projects under LIFE

Brussels 26-07-2021. On Wednesday 28 July, Finnova Foundation will hold an online networking and Q&A event about the recent LIFE call. The main goal is to break down into seven thematic panels all novelties about the recent LIFE Programme 2021-2027 call and to answer all questions which may arise. Every panel will feature experts on each specific domain.

Finnova Foundation has extensive expertise in drafting, implementing and managing European projects. In fact, it has had more than 30 LIFE projects approved, and it is determined to foster innovation and to generate new ideas regarding the environment. Therefore, Finnova organises this intensive open day to supplement the Info-Day organised by the Ministerio de Transición Ecológica y Reto Demográfico (Spanish Department for Green Transition and Demographic Challenge) and the European Commission’s European Climate, Infrastructure and Environment Executive Agency (CINEA) on July 27.

The LIFE Programme, launched in 1992, is the only EU fund entirely dedicated to environmental, nature-conservancy and climate objectives. To date, more than 900 projects have been approved in Spain – 5,400 projects in total across the EU. With regard to funding, the EU has granted a total amount of €781 million to projects which have been implemented in Spain – the total amount of funds amounts to €9 billion for projects implemented in all EU countries.

Finnova will organise this intensive networking and Q&A open day on Wednesday 28 July, from 09:00 to 18:00 (CEST). This event is broken down into seven thematic panels. See the schedule below.

Panel 1 (09:00) will address the “Next Cities Generation: Waste, Circular Economy and Water” challenge, and it will be chaired by the Congreso Greencities[1]. Juan Manuel Revuelta, CEO of Finnova, and Juan Viesca, EU Funds Director at Finnova, will answer all questions about the green transition cities must undertake presently and in the future. The panel will conclude by showcasing a best practice example – LIFE ECOdigestion 2.0. Click here to register for this panel.

Panel 2 (10:00) will be chaired by Foro de Logística and it will tackle sustainable mobility. It will feature the best practice example “S-Moving”, a congress which will be held on site in FYCMA on 29 and 30 September. This panel will revolve around topics like sustainable and electric mobility, the use of 5G/6G to enhance citizens’ quality of life, and governance in the mobility domain. Click here to register for this panel.

The sustainable agri-food challenge will be the key topic of Panel 3 (11:00). It will be chaired by Balam Agriculture together with Smart Agrifood Summit. This panel will focus on issues related to the agri-food sector and the need to invest in research and innovation. On the other hand, the new Interreg HIBA (Hub Iberia Agrotech) project, which aims to create a multiregional ecosystem for the agrotech sector through Digital Innovation Hubs, will be introduced, and the HIBA Startup Europe Accelerathon will be launched. Click here to register for this panel.

Panel 4 (climate change) will start at noon and will be centered on climate change, more specifically on forest fire management. Inmaculada Vázquez, on behalf of Agencia de Medio Ambiente y Agua de Andalucía (AMAYA) from Junta de Andalucía, will head this panel and will talk about Interreg CILIFO, a best practice epitome of cross-border cooperation to prevent and to fight against forest fires. Questions will be answered by José Manuel Requena, Interreg CILIFO Project Coordinator at Finnova Foundation. Click here to register for this panel.

Panel 5 (“Real state, Sustainable Buildings and Bauhaus”) will feature association Proptech House. Slovak enterprise Sensoneo will be used to exemplify a best practice case in the proptech sector (it was awarded the Proptech Startup Europe Awards held in Paris in 2018). Sensoneo is a start-up which uses technology to enhance or to re-invent services and products in the real estate sector in order to adapt them to current needs and to societal demands in terms of sustainability. EU Project Drafting expert Íñigo Bilbao will answer all questions regarding LIFE and this particular domain. Click here to register for this panel.

The event will resume at 15:00 after a lunch break with a panel (Panel 5) devoted to sustainable energy. Enterprise Global Omnium, who will chair this panel, has coordinated and managed LIFE ECOdigestion 2.0. This project seeks to produce on-demand biogas with sewage sludge and agri-food waste. Questions on sustainable energy will be answered by Juan Manuel Revuelta and Juliana Herrero, a sustainable energy engineer. Click here to register for this panel.

Sustainable tourism could not be left behind in this event. That is why Panel 6 will focus on “Next Tourism Generation”. Suncruise Andalucía will take the floor first. Afterwards, Juan Manuel Revuelta and Íñigo Bilbao will reply to any questions attendees may have and they will discuss available options to adapt this sector to meet current sustainability standards. This panel will be wrapped up by the Asociación Española de Directores de Hotel (AEDH). Click here to register for this panel.

Last, before the closing address, there will be a one-hour session devoted to talking about CircularInnoBooster Fashion and Textile (F&T), a project under COSME programme with an initial duration of two years and a €1,128,000 budget. This project is being led by IED (Istituto Europeo di Design), and is supported by Finnova Foundation, Texfor, Circulab and The Circular Project with HumanNation. Its goal is to transform the highly pollutant fashion and textile industries through innovation and by fostering entrepreneurship to create business models based on the circular economy, thus turning SMEs and start-ups into sustainable and circular enterprises.

CircularInnoBooster’s accelerator, CirCoAX, will select 30 projects forming an international consortium and led by an SME (according to the definition provided by the European Commission). They will have to focus on creating a brand-new product, a process, a service or an innovative, sustainable and circular business model in the fashion and textile areas. They will directly receive up to 12,000 funding.

Representatives from all partners of the project will inform participants about the requirements potential applicants must meet in order to be selected. They will also explain the application process, deadlines, and they will also talk about the Nextextilegeneration challenge, which seeks to reach a more circular, greener, and fully SDG-orientated fashion industry. The call will be open up until Wednesday 13 October 2021 at 17:00 CET. Click here to register for the Info Day.

About Finnova Foundation

Finnova is a foundation which seeks to promote and to develop innovation and entrepreneurship across the EU. Its main HQs are located in Brussels, and it works in all EU countries thanks to collaborations and networks. Finnova’s experience in communicating and disseminating European projects is coupled with a solid expertise in creating enterprises and support programmes for businesses, such as accelerators, incubators and other events.

For more information, click on www.finnova.eu

About Startup Europe Awards

Startup Europe Awards is an initiative by DG CONNECT and has been implemented by Finnova Foundation since 2016. Startup Europe Awards are an open innovation mechanism aimed to identify disruptive start-ups and to promote private-public partnerships. They also seek to raise awareness on the importance of self-entrepreneurship as a driving force for job creation. In addition to promoting networks to meet the UN SDGs and the European Green Deal objectives, they also contribute to circular economy, sustainable tourism and fighting against climate change.

For more information, click on http://startupeuropeawards.eu/seua/

[1] The Congreso Greencities will be held at the Palacio de Ferias y Congresos de Málaga (FYCMA) on 29 and 30 September 2021.

 

Launch of the 2021 LIFE call

What is the LIFE programme?

The LIFE programme, launched in 1992, is the EU fund dedicated to environmental and climate objectives. The new 2021 LIFE –programme has a financial envelope of €580 million for 2021 and it will select projects helping meet the European Green Deal goals in line with EU policies on circular economy.

Projects will be selected that help to achieve the objectives of the European Green Pact by supporting the EU Biodiversity Strategy and the Circular Economy Action Plan, as well as the ecological recovery from the coronavirus pandemic.

Who?

Funds are open to a wide array of applicants, including, most specifically, private entities (big companies, SMEs and start-ups), public institutions (at a local, regional or national level, e.g. town councils and regional councils), non-profit organisations, universities and research centres.

The European Commission is specifically looking for technologies and solutions ready to be implemented in the market throughout the project at an industrial or commercial scale.

Funds are open to businesses from:

1. a) Any EU Member State
2. b) Any members of the European Free Trade Association (EFTA) included in the Agreement on the European Economic Area (EEA)
3. c) EU potential candidates and acceding countries
4. d) Countries covered by the European Neighbourhood Policy
5. e) Members of the European Environment Agency, in accordance with the provisions of Council Regulation n. 933/1999 (1)

Prerequisites

Projects typically have an average fund of €2 million. They are normally made up of 3 to 8 partners in a public-private consortium. Having an international partner, such as Finnova Foundation, represents an added value. Projects commonly last 3 to 5 years.

When?

The stablished timetable is as follows:

July 28th – LIFE 2021 Networking and Q&A Open Day 

 

Finnova Foundation organises on Wednesday 28 July, 2021, at 09:00 (CEST) a session for networking and answering questions about the LIFE 2021-2027 programme for those interested in submitting project proposals in one of the 4 sub-programs under LIFE 2021-2027.

If you are interested in knowing the possibilities that the LIFE program can offer to your project, you can register at the Finnova identification and resolution of doubts day.

From 09:00 – 10:00h (CEST)

LIFE2021 Next Cities Generation challenge: waste, circular economy and water

http://life.nextcitiesgeneration.eu/

From 10:00 – 11:00h (CEST)

LIFE2021 challenge: sustainable mobility

http://life.nextlogisticgeneration.eu/

From 11:00 – 12:00h (CEST)

LIFE2021 challenge: sustainable agribusiness (HIBA Startup Euorpe Accelerathon launch)

http://life.agritechfood.eu/

From 12:00 – 13:00h (CEST)

LIFE2021 challenge: climate change, management and forest fires

http://retoforestal.cilifo.eu/

From 13:00 – 14:00h (CEST)

LIFE2021 challenge: real state, sustainable buildings and bauhaus

http://life.nextproptechgeneration.eu/

14:00 – 15:00 (CEST): LUNCH

From 15:00 – 16:00h (CEST)

LIFE 2021 challenge: sustainable energy

http://life.nextenergygeneration.eu/

From 16:00 – 17:00h (CEST)

LIFE2021 Next Tourism Generation challenge: sustainable tourism

http://life.nextourismgeneration.eu/

Updates for 2021

There will be 4 sub-programmes as opposed to the former 2.

• Nature and Biodiversity
• Circular Economy and Quality of Life
• Climate Change Mitigation and Adaptation
• Clean Energy Transition

Co-funding will be raised up to 75%, and up to 95% for Nature and Biodiversity projects.

Finnova Foundation’s participation in LIFE

Finnova has seasoned experts in EU projects and funds. In fact, 35 LIFE projects in which Finnova’s team has actively participated have been approved, one of them being the recent LIFE ECOdigestion.

Similarly, Finnova has a platform called EU Training Platform offering a wide array of courses made by Finnova dealing with EU funding, including two on LIFE (soon available in English):

LIFE – EU Funds for Environment

LIFE – EU Funds for Climate Change

Fourth session of Next LATAM-EU Generation addresses business cooperation between the EU and Latin America in the water management sector

The webinar was held on July 13 to commemorate World Population Day and World Oceans Day

---

Circular economy and wastewater management project LIFE ECOdigestion 2.0 was the overarching topic throughout the webinar

---

The event was supported by Red Business Market and the Congreso Iberoamericano de Empresas Familiares y Pymes

---

A meeting will be held in Medellin (Colombia) in late 2021 to deliver the LATAM Startup Europe Awards

---

Brussels, 14.07.2021 – On Tuesday 13 July, 2021, on the occasion of World Population Day and World Oceans Day, Finnova Foundation and Startup Europe Awards launched  the fourth session of Next LATAM-EU Generation: “Entrepreneurship and Water: a Driver of Economic Recovery and Social Development of Regions and Municipalities” together with Red Business Market and the Congreso Iberoamericano de Empresas Familiares y Pymes.

The main objectives of Next LATAM-EU Generation are the transfer of knowledge, the dissemination of information on available funding facilities for both continents and the development of shared projectsamong Latin American and European countries in order to forge business alliances.

The fourth session of Next LATAM-EU Generation: “Entrepreneurship and Water: a Driver of Economic Recovery and Social Development of regions and Municipalities” was chaired by Finnova – LIFE ECOdigestion 2.0 CEO Juanma Revuelta, who used LIFE ECOdigestion 2.0. to showcase best practices in the wastewater sector. Partnered by Finnova, LIFE ECOdigestion 2.0 aims to control on-demand production of biogas in WWTPs digesters. This project seeks to treat organic waste from livestock farms e.g. swine or chicken manure, waste from the HORECA sector, waste from cooperatives and supermarkets, and solid urban waste in order to foster sustainability and to reduce CO₂ emissions.

Javier Vázquez Hueso, CEO of EMALGESA and Deputy Mayor of Ayuntamiento de Algeciras, which harbours the fourth most important port in Europe and is located between two continents, was the first speaker in the “Institutions” section of the webinar. Mr. Vázquez said that Algeciras will invest €25M in the upcoming years on its water agenda.

Rafael Heredero, Policy Advisor at EurEau, broke down into different sub-topics the European Green Deal, the EU’s strategy to become a resource efficient, competitive and modern economy, which urges to minimise GHG emissions by 2050.

Luis Lehmann, Circular Economy and Sustainable Development Consultant, initiated the “Water and Region Experts” section by pointing out the major problems which affect water in this decade i.e. water pollution,poor quality of water for human consumption and floods. All of these are particularly dangerous for Latin America. “Facing these challenges by implementing a circular economy model to reach sustainable development is a great opportunity, especially for local governments”.

The CEO of Red Business Market, Josu Gómez Barrutia, said that over the past years, “there has been a growing interest in the sustainability and circular economy start-up ecosystem”. According to Mr. Barrutia, the amount of environment-related start-ups in Spain has soared to more than 36%, which has led to a 361% surge in renewable energies and sustainability related patents. This clearly shows the concern of start-ups vis-à-vis the environment.

Ana Beccar Varela, Water Project Manager at The Nature Conservancy, introduced a long-term water funds management strategy. Waters funds are organisations which design and promote financial and governmental mechanisms bringing together public, private and civil society agents to achieve water security based on the comprehensive management of watersheds and the implementation of nature-based solutions.

Diego Correa, CEO of APSU, talked about a microwave reactor APSU is currently using and which extracts biochar from sludge. This project was accelerated by Finnova’s Startup Europe Accelerator and won the Startup Europe Awards competition in the water category in 2017. This sludge represents “one of the greatest dangers to water”. Mr. Correa said this reactor “transforms this sludge into clean energy, eliminates pathogens and extracts biogas with steam in a single process”.

Speaking from Águas de Gaia in Portugal, CEO Miguel Lemos stressed the urgency to take care and to protect water. “Water is necessary for human life. We need to find a social, financial and environmental balance when it comes to water management”.

Sub-director of Agri-food Innovation at Cajamar Ricardo García talked about Almeria’s “agricultural miracle” i.e. its strategic water management system. Mr. García and his team strive to recruit new talent in the agri-food industry of Almeria to copycat this very same system in the rest of Spain and the world.

José Teixeira, Key Account Manager of Buntplanet, discussed how his company has created a unique software based on AI to optimise water management and to prevent leaks by digitalising it.

Adrián Nadal, CEO of Bioferric, talked about Bioferric’s technology to design and assemble water treatment and purification plants. Bioferric won the first edition of Water Accelerathon, an event implemented by Finnova. Thanks to their technology, Bioferric can recover up to 95% of components from effluents.

The last speaker in the “Experts” section was Carlota Corzo, Co-founder of Lazzaro, a technology-based and socially-oriented enterprise specialising in designing software for NGOs (non-governmental organisations) to manage their websites and to raise funds and donations, hence filling the digital divide. “One of our goals is to monitor transactions by using blockchain, as the first reason why people avoid donating to NGOs in Spain is the lack of confidence. We realised only 8% of NGOs are digitalised”.

Adrián Noheda, Entrepreneurship and Innovation Director at Finnova Foundation, wrapped up the “Funds” area by explaining the different EU funding opportunities for all those entrepreneurs wishing to bring their projects into the EU and who participate in companies operating in Member States.

Horizon Europe, the EU’s Framework Programme for Research and Innovation for 2021-2027, has been recently launched. It envisages international cooperation with non-Member States.

The LIFE Programme is the EU’s funding instrument for the environment and climate action created in 1992. For the 2021-2027 period, the programme has a financial envelope of €5.4 billion, which means €1.9 billion more as opposed to the 2014-2020 period. LIFE can be broken down into four sub-programmes whit a co-funding rate of up to 60%: Nature and Biodiversity, Climate Change Mitigation and Adaptation, Circular Economy and Quality of Life and Clean Energy Transition.

Mr. Noheda seized the opportunity to use LIFE ECOdigestion 2.0 as a best practice example. This project is a consortium formed by Global Omnium, Finnova Foundation and Aguas do Centro Litoral.

Mr. Noheda also talked about the Innovation Fund, one of the most comprehensive funds in the world for the development of low-carbon innovative technologies. This fund will provide nearly €20 billion for 2020-2030 to commercialise industrial solutions to decarbonise Europe and to help achieve a climate-neutrality transition.

On the other hand, the European Innovation Council (EIC) offers up to €15M-worth investments and up to €2.5M-worth grants for entrepreneurs and SMEs having from 1 to 250 employees and less than €50M revenue.

The fourth session of Next LATAM-EU Generation was closed off by poet and president of Poets without Borders Chema Paz Gago, who read his ecopoem called “False Prestige”.

If you couldn’t attend the event, you can watch it here.

 

PREVIOUS SESSIONS

The first LATAM-EU session was held on March 8 on the occasion of International Women’s Day. It was run by several female speakers, such as Patricia Llombart, EU Ambassador in Colombia, Liskel Álvarez, External Actions Senior Officer at Cabildo de Tenerife, and Adriana Vargas, head of Trading Links of the Colombian Mission in the EU. The goal of this event was to discuss the role of women in business cooperation between Latam and the EU, with a special focus on innovation and entrepreneurship.

The second session, which was held on April 6 (on the occasion of World Health Day), was named “Challenges and Opportunities for Tourism through Cooperation between Latam and the EU during Covid-19”. Its main topics were the challenges that the tourism sector has to face and how to. This session was attended by Manuel Vegas, president of Asociación Española de Directores de Hotel (AEDH); Antonio López de Ávila, Co-founder and CEO of Toursim Data Driven Solutions (TDDS), and Irene Sánchez, Business Creation Manager at EIT Health Spain.

The third session, which was held on May 11 on Global Recycling Day, was named “Challenges of Circular Economy in LATAM-EU Cooperation as a Production and Consumption Model for Sustainability”.Speakers included Isabel Silva Souza, Ambassador of the European Commission’s Climate Pact; Álvaro Hernández, Chairman of the Board of Directors of Inboplast; Sharam Yalda, partner of CirCoAX and founder of HumanNation; Alonso Salguero, CEO at GTA Ingeniería y Medioambiente, and Giuseppe Liberati, Executive Director at Bridging Value.

Next LATAM-EU Generation is made up of nine online events which will take place every second Tuesday of each month. Each event is held on the occasion of an International Day in line with UN SDGs. To top it all off, if the health situation allows it, an on-site event will be held in Medellin (Colombia) to celebrate the final of LATAM Startup Europe Awards.

 

About LIFE ECOdigestion 2.0

The main objective of the LIFE ECOdigestion 2.0 project is the real-scale demonstration of an innovative technology for the automated control of waste dosage in anaerobic digesters of WWTPs to maximise the production of biogas on demand as a renewable energy.

LIFE ECOdigestion 2.0 undertakes to turn biogas into a reliable source of energy to supply green power to industries and companies in order to ensure that the EU’s goal to reach at least 27% of renewable energy in 2030 is met. This methodology is especially interesting for Europe, as there are 18.000 water treatment plants accounting for 0.8% of energy consumption.

LIFE ECOdigestion 2.0 kicked off on 1 September, 2020, and will continue up until 29 February, 2024. Its main coordinator is Global Omnium Medioambiente, and its main partners are Finnova Foundation and Portuguese consortium Águas do Centro Litoral. It has a €970,000 budget.

https://www.lifecodigestion.com/

About Finnova Foundation

Finnova Foundation is a Belgian-Spanish foundation which helps institutions and organisations to get funds for their innovative projects. Finnova aims to promote private-public cooperation through innovation in order to address social challenges, e.g. employment, training, entrepreneurship, SDGs, circular economy, etc. As part of its commitment to innovation, Finnova has been organising the Startup Europe Awards since 2016, an initiative from the European Commission.

Finnova’s HQ are located in Belgium and across Spain – Comunitat Valenciana, the Basque Country, Andalusia, Madrid and the Canary Islands. It also has branches in Chile and Panama.

For more info, click on www.finnova.eu

About Startup Europe Awards

Startup Europe Awards is an initiative by DG CONNECT and has been implemented by Finnova Foundation since 2016. Startup Europe Awards are an open innovation mechanism aimed to identify disruptive start-ups and to promote private-public partnerships. They also seek to raise awareness on the importance of self-entrepreneurship as a driving force for job creation. In addition to promoting networks to meet the UN SDGs and the European Green Deal objectives, they also contribute to circular economy, sustainable tourism and fighting against climate change.

For more info, click on http://startupeuropeawards.eu/seua/

About Red Business Market 

Business Market is a forum connecting investors, businesses, entrepreneurs and start-ups from Ciudad Real aiming to create a network of business, financing and support for economic and business projects in that area. All this funding can be coupled with venture capital, business angels, personal investments and corporate or financial funds for innovative and disruptive initiatives with an added value which need funding to start operating.

For more info, click on https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z-vd9gSy19s

Ivace supports the cultural and creative industries sector with a new European initiative aimed at rendering them more resilient and competitive

• Ivace supports competitiveness, innovation and sustainability in the cultural and creative industries sector by carrying out multi-sector and collaborative actions under different EU programmes

  ---

• The goal is to find out innovative solutions to the challenges faced by this sector as well as to get EU funding

  ---

València (6.7.21).– The Instituto Valenciano de Competitividad Empresarial (Ivace) has just launched a challenge to the cultural and creative industries sector (CCIs) aimed at identifying innovative solutions eligible for EU funding under Horizon Europe, Creative Europe, LIFE, Green Deal or Next Generation EU.

This challenge will take form in an open innovation European programme led by Ivace. According to Júlia Company, General Director at Ivace, “our goal is to support those artists, creators, professionals and organisations that have an innovative project to cooperate and to jointly create products with local and European actors by offering them instruments to become more resilient and competitive”.

On July 15, Ivace will deliver an online presentation on this European programme. “We hope many businesses, professionals and stakeholders from the CCIs sector will join us. We want to find innovative solutions to meet the challenges the CCIs are currently facing”, said Company.

Participants in this programme (http://inscripcion.accelerathon.eu/) will benefit from the Startup Europe Awards methodology by DG CONNECT in order to find out innovative projects in the cultural sector. Startup Europe Awards is being implemented by Finnova Foundation and is backed by SEIMED (European Services supporting Businesses and Innovation), REDIT, Las Naves, el Foro de Agencias de Desarrollo Regional (ADR) (Spanish Association of Development Agencies), EURADA (the European Association of Development Agencies) and Startup Europe Accelerator.

Startup Europe Awards aims to look for disruptive start-ups promoting private-public cooperation, to raise awareness on the importance of self-entrepreneurship as a driving force for job creation and to foster partnership relations to meet the UN SDGs and to carry out the European Green Deal actions to address the circular economy, climate change and sustainable tourism.

Challenges faced by the CCIs

The CCIs are a major source of sustainable growth and job creation across Europe. However, the Covid-19 pandemic and the subsequent economic downturn has deeply affected them. As a result of restrictions, many jobs have been lost and the economic activity has been paused.

According to the Reconstruyendo Europa: la economía cultural y creativa antes y después de la COVID-19 report (In English, Rebuilding Europe: The cultural and creative economy before and after the COVID-19 crisis), SMEs account for 90% of all CCI companies. Furthermore, this sector was one of the major sources of job creation in Europe in 2019 (7.6 million jobs created in different areas e.g. architecture, multimedia, advertising, publishing and press, music, the performing and visual arts, radio and videogames). This sector is responsible for creating 8.4 times more jobs than the telecommunications industry.

The CCIs are one of the most diverse and promising sectors, and they are also one of the key contributors to the EU’s GDP, as the turnover generated in this sector in 2019 accounted for 4.4% of the EU’s GDP (€643 billion). Nevertheless, due to the pandemic, in 2020, the cultural and creative economy lost approximately 31% of its revenues.

Register here to attend the webinar on July 15 at 4pm and find out more about this challenge: http://inscripcion.accelerathon.eu/

Fourth session of LATAM-UE Generation: “Entrepreneurship and Water: Engine of Economic Recovery and Social Development of Regions and Municipalities”

The goal of LATAM-UE Generation is to promote business cooperation among EU and Latam countries

---

This fourth session is supported by Red Business Market and Congreso Iberoamericano de Empresas Familiares y Pymes

---

It will be held on July 13 on World Population Day and World Oceans Day

---

A meeting will be held in Medellin (Colombia) to celebrate the LATAM Startup Europe Awards in late 2021

Banner of the 4^th session of LATAM-EU

Brussels, 23.06.2021 – On July 13, 2021, on the occasion of World Population Day and World Oceans Day, Finnova Foundation and Startup Europe Awards will hold the fourth session of Next LATAM-EU Generation: “Entrepreneurship and Water: Engine of Economic Recovery and Social Development of Regions and Municipalities” together with Red Business Market and the Congreso Iberoamericano de Empresas Familiaries y Pymes.

Next LATAM-EU Generation seeks to exchange knowledge, to discuss available financial instruments for both continents and to launch common projects among different countries from Latin America and Europe aiming to create new business alliances. Each of the LATAM-EU sessions focuses on a World Day as part of its commitment to the UN SDGs.

The event on July 13 will be chaired by Juanma Revuelta, founder of Tourism Startup Europe Awards and CEO at Finnova, which has had more than 30 LIFE projects approved. According to Revuelta, “there are some €150,000M that can be redefined up until late 2023 and can be used up until 2030”.

The LIFE programme, established by the European Commission, will open for applications on late June until October 2021. It will have a financial envelope of €5,300M for projects addressing environmental issues.

The fourth session of Next LATAM-EU Generation, “Entrepreneurship and Water: Engine of Economic Recovery and Social Development of Regions and Municipalities”, will feature Rafael Heredero, Policy Advisor at EurEau secretariat in Brussels; Javier Vázquez Hueso, CEO at EMALGESA and deputy mayor at Ayuntamiento de Algeciras; Luis Lehmann, international expert on circular economy; Juan Carlos Gázquez, Director at Cajamar Innova – Incubadora de Empresas de Alta Tecnología en Agua en Fundación  Cajamar, and Adrián Nadal, CEO at Bioferric Ink, among many other participants.

Next LATAM-EU Generation was first launched after the success of the Congreso Iberoamericano de Empresas Familiares y Pymes, run by Red Business Market, and which was held on January 2021. It hosted 558 businesses, more than 60 domestic and international speakers and nearly 9,000 attendees (companies). This event showed that transatlantic collaboration is needed in order to face shared challenges in both continents, such as digitalization, sustainability and circularity after Covid-19.

Josu Gómez Barrutia, CEO at Red Business Market, claims that “there is no doubt whatsoever these events, which serve as a meeting point for developing strategic connections in entrepreneurship and business development and cooperation between the EU and Latin America are crucial in such a time of deep changes, challenges and transformations in economies, societies and geopolitics.

Haven’t registered yet? You can do it for free here.

PREVIOUS SESSIONS

The first LATAM-EU session was held on March 8 on the occasion of International Women’s Day. It was run by several female speakers, such as Patricia Llombart, EU Ambassador in Colombia, Liskel Álvarez, External Actions Senior Officer at Cabildo de Tenerife, and Adriana Vargas, head of Trading Links of the Colombian Mission in the EU. The goal of this event was to discuss the role of women in business cooperation between Latam and the EU, with a special focus on innovation and entrepreneurship.

The second session, which was held on April 6 (on the occasion of World Health Day), was named “Challenges and Opportunities for Tourism through Cooperation between Latam and the EU during Covid-19”. Its main topics were challenges that the tourism sector has to face and how to. This session was attended by Manuel Vegas, president of Asociación Española de Directores de Hotel (AEDH); Antonio López de Ávila, Co-founder and CEO of Toursim Data Driven Solutions (TDDS), and Irene Sánchez, Business Creation Manager at EIT Health Spain.

The third session, which was held on May 11 on Global Recycling Day, was named “Challenges of Circular Economy in LATAM-EU Cooperation as a Production and Consumption Model for Sustainability”. Speakers included Isabel Silva Souza, Ambassador of the European Commission’s Climate Pact; Álvaro Hernández, Chairman of the Board of Directors of Inboplast; Sharam Yalda, partner of CirCoAX and founder of HumanNation; Alonso Salguero, CEO at GTA Ingeniería y Medioambiente, and Giuseppe Liberati, Executive Director at Bridging Value.

Next LATAM-EU Generation is made up of nine online events which will take place every second Tuesday of each month. Each event is held on the occasion of an International Day in line with UN SDGs. To top it all off, if the health situation allows it, an on-site event will be held in Medellin (Colombia) to celebrate the final of LATAM Startup Europe Awards.

About Finnova Foundation

Finnova Foundation is a Belgian-Spanish foundation which helps institutions and organisations getting funds for innovative projects. Its objective is to promote private-public cooperation through innovation in order to address social challenges, e.g. employment, training, entrepreneurship, SDGs, circular economy, etc. Finnova is in charge of organizing the Startup Europe Awards, a joint initiative by Finnova and the European Commission to reward the best European start-ups.

For more info, click on www.finnova.eu

About Startup Europe Awards

Startup Europe Awards is an initiative by DG CONNECT and has been implemented by Finnova Foundation since 2016. Startup Europe Awards are an innovative mechanism aimed at identifying disruptive startups promoting private-public partnership. They also seek to raise awareness on the importance of self-entrepreneurship as a driving force for job creation. In addition to promoting networks to meet the UN SDGs and the European Green Deal objectives, they also contribute to circular economy, sustainable tourism and fighting against climate change.

For more info, click on http://startupeuropeawards.eu/seua/

About Red Business Market 

Business Market is a forum connecting investors, businesses, entrepreneurs and start-ups from Ciudad Real aiming to create a network of business, financing and support for economic and business projects in that area. All this funding can be coupled with venture capital, business angels, personal investments and corporate or financial funds for innovative and disruptive initiatives with an added value which need funding to start operating.

For more info, click on https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z-vd9gSy19s

 

 

 

“S-MOVING Zero Emissions Smart and Sustainable Mobility Alliance” webinar addresses urban mobility and sustainable transport on the occasion of #EUGreenWeek

•  This online event was held by FYCMA and Finnova on June 3 as we celebrate the European Green Week and the World Environment Day

•  The goal of this event was to form new alliances in order to devise a plan for green and efficient urban transport

•  This event is a preview of the Foro S-MOVING, Movilidad Inteligente y Sostenible forum, which will be held in Malaga on September 29 and 30, 2021

S-MOVING Zero Emissions Smart and Sustainable Mobility Alliance banner, an online event held during EU Green Week

Brussels, 04.06.2021 – On June 3, FYCMA (Palacio de Ferias y Congresos de Málaga) and Fundación Finnova held the “S-MOVING Zero Emissions Smart and Sustainable Mobility Alliance” webinar on the occasion of the World Environment Day (June 5) and the European Green Week 2021 #EUGreenWeek in order to discuss sustainable mobility in cities.

The European Green Week 2021  #EUGreenWeek, held by the Directorate-General for Environment from May 31 to June 4 under the slogan “Zero Pollution”, is a great opportunity to discuss EU environmental policies in online events held by member countries.

Participants at the “S-MOVING Zero Emissions Smart and Sustainable Mobility Alliance” conference, which covers 5 out of 17 UN SDGs, i.e. 3, 7, 9, 11 and 13, discussed sustainable and efficient mobility and transports. Participants focused mainly on the innovation, development and application of new technologies aimed at furthering disruptive changes in infrastructures and energy, urban mobility, zero pollution and electric transports.

This webinar was split into three different parts – governments, European funds and companies. Juanma Revuelta, Fundación Finnova – LIFE ECOdigestion 2.0’s CEO, chaired the event and encouraged participants to seek LIFE funding for their projects.

The LIFE programme is the EU’s funding instrument for the environment. The call for new pilot projects will start in half June and will have a financial envelope of up to €5.4 billion. Revuelta presented two LIFE projects where Finnova has had enormous success – LIFE Ecobus and LIFE Ecodigestion 2.0. LIFE Ecobus (Valencia) aims to turn vegetable oil used in hotels, bars and restaurants into biodiesel and glycerin, which in turn can be used to fuel public buses. On the other hand, LIFE Ecodigestion 2.0 allows transforming organic waste in the HORECA sector (leftovers, etc.) into biogas in every wastewater treatment plant, which then can be used as fuel for tourist buses or food-delivery vehicles. Finnova held a specific webinar on LIFE Ecodigestion 2.0 during #EUGreenWeek.

EIT Urban Mobility Director Daniel Serra kicked off the event in a video explaining the challenges cities must face in order to become sustainable in the upcoming years. “We have identified three strategic plans cities will implement after the pandemic, which include mobility in suburban areas; intermodal mobility and new additional systems combining all mobility services, and redesigning public spaces, including more green areas in cities.

MEP and Committee on Transport and Tourism member Isabel García Muñoz stressed that EU institutions are committed to achieving sustainable mobility through different mechanisms. “Due to last year’s economic downturn and pandemic, some people have wondered whether the European Green Deal should still be in force. The recovery and reactivation of our economies and societies need to be green, fair and inclusive. We are convinced that the European Green Deal is the path we must follow, as it ensures asustainable and resilient recovery and it will make us more competitive and stronger on a global scale. The European Green Deal has never been this necessary”.

Raul García Brink, Technical Coordinator in the Economic Development, Energetic Sovereignty, Climate and Knowledge Department at the Cabildo de Gran Canaria, pointed out that governments are important in reaching greener means of transport. García mentioned some projects under construction in Gran Canaria, one of them being the installation of an island-wide network of recharging points for electric vehicles. “We must do everything we can as an institution to bolster sustainable mobility”.

Adrián Noheda, Innovation and Entrepreneurship Coordinator in Fundación Finnova, presented the European Innovation Council (EIC) programme, which offers funding up to €15 million in investments and €2.5 million in grants to entrepreneurs and SMEs having a workforce of 1 to 250 employees and less than €50 million revenue.

According to Urban Resilience partner Mariano Sydney Rubio, “shared mobility has come to stay”. During his talk, he emphasized the advantages of using electromobility as a public service.

T-Box Delivery Solutions CEO Alberto Moreno urged participants to find new solutions from a logistic point of view. “We need to define processes with the most convenient technologies in order to render transport and mobility operations more efficient, including food delivery, which has experienced a boom since the first lockdown”.

According to Antonio Pérez Vázquez, Industrial Technical Engineer at Madel, we are now living a historic transformation. In Pérez’s words, we need to foresee potential events and start building recharging pointsfor electric vehicles in houses and living spaces.

On the other hand, Business Development Director at Albufera Energy Storage Cristina Domínguez said that citizens need to take part in this process. In her opinion, longer battery life in electric vehicles and lower prices are crucial for such purpose. “If we manage to have sustainable batteries at a reasonable price, this transition towards a clean electric mobility will be more affordable”.

Similarly, Arturo Pérez de Lucía, Director at Asociación Empresarial para el Desarrollo e Impulso de la Movilidad Eléctrica (AEDIVE), pointed out that “there is currently being an industrial, technological and automotive and mobility services revolution centered on shared, connected and autonomous electric vehicles. He said that consumption will quickly rise as soon as Spanish autonomous communities speed up their recovery plans.

Although the electric car was viewed as one of the most preferred alternatives during the webinar, Miguel Ruiz, EMT de Málaga’s Director and Asociación de Trasnportes Públicos Urbanos y Metropolitanos (ATUC)’s Chairman, expressed his concern about electric cars in urban areas. “If we all had electric vehicles, surely we would breather better; however, we could not move around since cities cannot get packed with cars”.

In a video, Fernando Ferrero, IDEA’s Strategic Investments Director, encouraged innovation companies to settle in Andalusia. “The main objectives of the Invest in Andalucía programme are to position Andalusia as an appealing region for direct foreign investment both at an international and domestic scale, especially in the Smart areas. Furthermore, we aim to consolidate investments from foreign companies already operating in Andalusia”:

Regarding alternative means of transport, Nightway CEO Fernando Casado presented ultraphotoluminiscent lights created using solid and sustainable materials. These devices emit a much higher degree of light compared to any other existing products for demarcating bicycle lanes. According to Casado, this technology “requires zero consumption or maintenance”.

Finally, Activacar Mobility CEO Eduardo Medina Banderas, who wrapped up the “companies” part of the webinar, advocated for electric carsharing as an added value for businesses and clients, especially for hotels and residential areas”.

In the closing remarks section, Ana Belén Martos, FYCMA’S Greencities and S-Moving Officer thanked all the speakers for their participation and reminded them that the Foro S-MOVING de Movilidad Inteligente y Sostenible forum will be held in Málaga on September 29 and 30, 2021. She also seized the opportunity to talk about last year’s event, which, despite coronavirus, was attended by over 1500 professional visitors, 34 countries, 225 experts, 720 entities, 22 majors and 53 cities.

 “We are committed with this intelligent, sustainable, connected, electric, autonomous and shared mobility, which is no longer a future thing, but a present-day reality, since mobility is constantly evolving and we must make it more sustainable”.

This forum seeks to tackle zero carbon emissions and climate change. Both national and international public and private agents will discuss their proposals and will form alliances focused on intelligent mobility and sustainable transport.

Couldn’t attend the webinar? Don’t worry, click here to watch it.

About FYCMA

FYCMA (Palacio de Ferias y Congresos de Málaga) is one of the most active forum organisers in southern Europe. It specialises in the conceptualization and development of professional events related to innovation, digital transformation and knowledge-building. These forums are highly technical and have an international scope. All of them share one goal – capturing talent and investment. At the same time, they aim to serve as a meeting point for both Spanish companies and researchers. Thanks to these events, economic activity is fostered, new disruptive projects are announced and new opportunities and alliances are formed. The venue enables Málaga and Andalusia to be important figures in especialised sectors, and it also helps strengthen the Spanish marca in an increasingly digital and connected world.

For more info, click on www.fycma.com

About the Finnova Foundation

European Foundation for the financing of innovation. Its objectives are to promote private-public cooperation through the technology transfer of low-cost solutions among the best technologies available to address social challenges such as employment, entrepreneurship, the United Nations SDGs and the circular economy. As a staunch defender of innovation, Finnova has been organising the Startup Europe Awards since 2016. This is an initiative launched by the European Comission’s DG Connect.

Finnova’s HQs are located both in Belgium and across Spain – in the Valencian Community, the Basque Country, Andalusia, Madrid and the Canary Islands. It also has branches in Chile and Panama.

For more info, click on www.finnova.eu

About Greencities y S-MOVING

Greencities, Inteligencia y Sostenibilidad Urbana, and S-MOVING, Movilidad Inteligente y Sostenible, will be held on September 29 and 30, 2021, in FYCMA (Palacio de Ferias y Congresos de Málaga). These events will provide a concise view of challanges faced by the different regions and how they can be managed using innovative concepts. These forums are the first national platform to discurss mechanisms, solutions and ideas for a intelligent, sustainable and connected development of regions. Some of the topics that will be examined at include technology and connectivy as a tool to fight against rural exodus –smart rural-, opportunities in intelligent touristic destinations, collective transport as the key to sustainable mobility, 5G and connected and autonomous mobility or the potential uses of green hydrogen, among many others.

For more info, click on www.greencitiesmalaga.com and www.smovingforum.com

About Startup Europe Awards

Startup Europe Awards is an initiative by DG CONNECT and has been implemented by Finnova Foundation since 2016. Startup Europe Awards are an innovative mechanism aimed at identifying disruptive startups promoting private-public partnership. They also seek to raise awareness on the importance of self-entrepreneurship as a driving force for job creation. In addition to promoting networks to meet the UN SDGs and the European Green Deal objectives, they also contribute to circular economy, sustainable tourism and fighting against climate change.

For more info, click on www.startupeuropeawards.eu

About Startup Europe Accelerathon

Startup Europe Accelerathon seeks to identify innovative ideas eligible for EU funding including LIFE, the Green Deal, Horizon 2020 or NextGenerationEU, among others. Startup Europe Accelerathon aims to contribute to all UN SDGs, and is part of the broader methodology Startup Europe Awards by DG CONNECT. It was set up by DG Research and Development in 2020 with paneuropean campaign Hackthevirus. Startup Europe Accelerathon has had successful results, such as project involving the Valencian Community government dealing with industrial toxic wastewaters or the one involving the Andalusia government dealing with climate change, forests, innovative preventive mechanisms, fight against bushfires and recovery of burnt areas.

For more info, click on www.accelerathon.eu

Mobility and sustainable transport in cities the main topics of the webinar for the #EUGreenWeek2021: “S-MOVING Zero Emissions Smart and Sustainable Mobility Alliance”

The online event, organised by FYCMA and the Finnova Foundation for the European Green Week, will take place on Thursday, 3^rd June from 4:00 p.m. to 5:30 p.m. (CEST)

---

The event promotes the generation of alliances for an ecological and efficient approach to transport in the cities of the future

---

This meeting is the prelude to the S-MOVING Forum which will be held in Malaga on the 29^th and 30^th September 2021

Banner of “S-MOVING Zero Emissions Smart and Sustainable Mobility Alliance”, an online event within the framework of the #EUGreenWeek

Brussels, 27.05.2021 – Next Thursday, 3^rd June 2021, FYCMA (Palace of Fairs and Congresses of Malaga), with the support of the Finnova Foundation, organises the professional webinar within the framework of the European Green Week 2021 #EUGreenWeek “S-MOVING Zero Emissions Smart and Sustainable Mobility Alliance” on the occasion of the World Environment Day (5^th, June) to address sustainable mobility in urban centers.

The European Green Week 2021 #EUGreenWeek, organised by the Directorate General for the Environment of the European Commission, will take place from the 31th May to the 4^th June 2021 with a defined cross-cutting topic: “Zero Pollution”. This annual event, which is an opportunity to debate European environmental policy, will feature online events in all member countries of the European Union.

“S-MOVING Zero Emissions Smart and Sustainable Mobility Alliance”, which aligns with up to five of the 17 SDG challenges of the United Nations, specifically 3, 7, 9, 11 and 13, has as its main objectives to promote the latest developments of mobility and intelligent, sustainable and efficient transport, provide a space to generate business, establish alliances promoting innovative ecosystems to promote new industries and advance disruptive changes in aspects such as infrastructure and energy, urban mobility, zero pollution or electrical transports.

Mobility is one of the human activities that generates the most environmental impact. On the one hand, it uses energy inefficiently and produces air and noise pollution; on the other, it occupies a large amount of land and the infrastructures on which it depends are the cause of the permanent transformation of the territory they occupy, modifying its entire environment. Coinciding with the European Year of the Railway, S-MOVING focuses on innovation and the application of new technologies in mobility and transport, which in turn has repercussions in the productive, business, social and environmental fields.

To face the challenge of sustainable and efficient mobility and transport, this webinar will have the participation of numerous experts, among which are Isabel García Muñoz, MEP member of the Transport and Tourism Commission, Alberto Moreno, CEO at T-Box Delivery & Solutions, Mariano Sydney Rubio, partner Urban Resilience SL, Daniel Serra, director of the EIT Urban Mobility, Raúl García Brink, technical coordinator of Economic Development, Energy Sovereignty, Climate and Knowledge of the Cabildo de Gran Canaria, among others.

The event will pay special attention to how European NextGenerationUE funds can support companies in their transition towards sustainability thanks to the participation of experts in the achievement of the different funds offered by the European Union.

 “S-MOVING Zero Emissions Smart and Sustainable Mobility Alliance” is the online precedent of the face-to-face event S-MOVING, Intelligent and Sustainable Mobility, a forum that will be held at the Malaga Trade Fair and Congress Center on the 29^th and 30^th September 2021 with all the necessary anti-COVID-19 security measures. This meeting, aligned with the achievement of zero carbon emissions and the fight against climate change, will feature different spaces in which different national and international both public and private actors will present their proposals and generate alliances focused on smart mobility and sustainable transport.

Have you registered yet? If not, you can do it here.

About the Finnova Foundation

A Spanish-Belgian Foundation for the financing of innovation, whose objectives are to promote public-private cooperation through innovation to address social challenges such as employment, training, entrepreneurship, the United Nations SDGs, the circular economy, etc. In its commitment to innovation, Finnova has organised the Startup Europe Awards since 2016, an initiative of the DG Connect of the European Commission.

For more information: www.finnova.eu

About FYCMA

FYCMA (Palacio de Ferias y Congresos de Málaga) has established itself as one of the most active trade fair organizers in Southern Europe, specializing in the conceptualization and development of professional events in to the field of innovation, digital transformation and the generation of knowledge. These forums, highly specialized and with an international vocation, share the common objective of fostering the recruitment of talent and investment, at the same time ensuring convergence between the capacities of the Spanish productive and research fabric and facilitating physical and virtual spaces for the generation of business, launch of disruptive projects, new opportunities and the establishment of alliances. The venue contributes with them to the positioning of Malaga and Andalusia among the key prescribers of the advanced sectors, as well as the strengthening of the Spain brand in an increasingly digital and connected world.

For more information: www.fycma.com

About Greencities and S-MOVING

Greencities, Intelligence and Urban Sustainability and S-MOVING, Intelligent and Sustainable Mobility, will hold their next editions on the 29th and 30th September in person at FYCMA (Palace of Fairs and Congresses of Malaga), converging in a single business and knowledge space, and also providing a comprehensive vision of the challenges of the territories and their management through a global concept of sustainability. Thus, positioned as the main national platform on tools, solutions and ideas for the development of smart, sustainable and connected territories, they will address in depth issues such as technology and connectivity as tools against depopulation, the opportunities of the smart tourist destinations, public transport as the axis for sustainable mobility, 5G and connected and autonomous mobility, or the potential of green hydrogen, among others.

For more information: www.greencitiesmalaga.com and www.smovingforum.com

About Startup Europe Awards

It is a methodology of the DG CONNECT of the European Commission, implemented by the Finnova Foundation since 2016. SEUA is an open innovation tool to identify disruptive startups that promote public-private collaboration and raise awareness about the importance of self-entrepreneurship as a driver generator of employment. In addition to generating alliances that help meet the United Nations SDGs and the actions of the European Green Deal, thus contributing to the circular economy, the fight against climate change and sustainable tourism.

For more information: www.startupeuropeawards.eu

About Startup Europe Accelerathon

Startup Europe Accelerathon aims to identify innovative ideas eligible for funding from the European Union, such as the LIFE program, Green Deal, Horizon 2020 or NextGenerationEU. Startup Europe Accelerathon follows the indications of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals, contributing from each challenge to the proposed SDG objectives; within the framework of the Startup Europe Awards methodology of DG CONNECT of the European Commission that was born from DG Research and Development in 2020 with the pan-European Hackthevirus campaign. It has been successfully carried out with governments such as the Valencian Community with the challenge of industrial polluting waters or the Junta de Andalucía with the challenge of the fight against climate change, forest management and innovation in prevention, fire fighting and regeneration of burned areas.

For more information: www.accelerathon.eu

The CirCoAX by CircularInnoBooster project is presented as a reference for the sustainable transformation of the textile and fashion industry at the EU Green Week

The online event will take place this Thursday, May 27th, at 16h00 (CEST).

---

The aim of the event is to point out the pollution of the conventional fashion and textile industry and to address solutions based on the circular economy.

---

The COSME project CirCoAX by CircularInnoBooster, which seeks to scale innovative fashion and textile SMEs and startups, will be presented.

Brussels, 24.05.2021 – This Thursday, 27th May 2021, the EU COSME project CirCoAX by CircularInnoBooster will be presented at the conference “Circular Economy: sustainability and new jobs for the textile industry”, a Partner Event at #EUGreenWeek. The Green Week is Europe’s largest annual environmental policy conference. This year it will be held from May 31 to June 4, under the main theme of“Zero Pollution”.

The aim of this event is to point out the problems of the current conventional fashion and textile industry, the second most polluting industry in the world, and to indicate lines of action to achieve the transformation of these sectors towards a circular model in its broadest sense, considering the environmental, economic, and social aspects.

The event, moderated by Carolina Lechado, director of Water and Circular Economy at Finnova Foundation, the event organizer, will be opened by Natalia Martínez Páramo, Second Head of Unit – DG Internal Market, Industry, Entrepreneurship and SMEs of the European Commission, followed by the intervention of Juanma Revuelta, CEO of Finnova, who will present the “Nextextilgeneration” platform, an initiative to disseminate information on the four COSME projects approved in the same F&T call.

In a first block, the conference will be attended by the different partners that make up the CirCoAX by CircularInnoBooster project who, in addition to presenting the project and encouraging interested SMEs and startups to join the accelerator to promote their innovative proposals, will delve into the key aspects of conventional industry that must be addressed under the prism of the circular economy. The workshop will be attended by José Francisco García, director of IED Innovation Lab, Adrián Noheda, EU Funding for Circular Economy of the Finnova Foundation, Paloma García, director of The Circular Project and president of SIC Moda, Sharam Yalda, founder of HumanNation, David Allo, sustainability director of TEXFOR, Confederation of the Textile Industry and Brieuc Saffré, CEO of Circulab. In addition to presenting the project, topics of interest will be addressed, such as the possibilities of applying for European funding to promote disruptive initiatives and the concept of regenerative economy that characterizes CirCoAX and that represents a further step in the circular model, creating value in society and the environment.

The implementation of this project contributes to achieving several of the United Nations SDGs (Sustainable Development Goals): end of poverty, zero hunger and gender equality, as well as decent work and economic growth; industry, innovation and infrastructure, responsible production and consumption, and partnerships to achieve the goals.

One of the key objectives, to which the project is strongly committed, is number 17, related to the creation of alliances. Cooperation and collaboration between public-private institutions of various kinds is the maximum guarantee that the project can be sustained over time, expanding its scope.

For this reason, the event will feature a block to give voice to “key players for the transformation of the F&T industry”, which will be attended by Tobias Biermann, from the delegation of the European Union in Colombia, Francisco Ferrando, head of Unit in the Area of European Programs of IVACE, Santiago Ramos Navarro, coordinator of the Green and Circular Economy course at the School of Industrial Organization and CEO Founder of Reloops and Tatiana Kaler, founder of the Mediapila Foundation. From each of their areas of expertise, they will provide their vision on how to achieve sustainable change in the fashion and textile sectors.

Furthermore, coordination between similar projects is also a vital requirement in the creation of synergies for the achievement of common goals, so, to conclude the event, there will be a round table with representatives from different COSME projects. This block will include the participation of Mari Saar, from the Fashion for Change project; Friori Zafeiropou, from Small but Perfect; Ingrid Willems, from the S4Fashion project and Clara Mallart, sustainability manager of the FASCINATE Project.

Haven’t registered for the event yet? You can do it here.

About CirCoAX by CircularInnoBooster

CircularInnoBooster Fashion and Textile (F&t) is a European project of the COSME Programme, with a 2-year duration and a budget of 1.128.000 €. It is 75% co-financed by the European institution. Led by the IED (Istituto Europeo di Design), together with the Finnova Foundation, Texfor, Circulab and The Circular Project with HumanNation, it aims to transform the highly polluting fashion and textile industries through innovation. It seeks to foster entrepreneurship to generate business models based on the circular economy, turning SMEs and start-ups into sustainable, circular, and regenerative companies.

CirCoAX LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/circoax-by-circularinnobooster

About COSME

COSME is the program for the Competitiveness of Small and Medium Enterprises of the Executive Agency for Small and Medium Enterprises (EASME) of the European Commission.

Through this program, assistance is offered to SMEs to develop their business models, access financing and internationalize. Likewise, support is offered to public administrations to improve the business environment and facilitate economic growth in the European Union. During the 2014-2020 funding period, this program allocated 2.3 billion euros to support SMEs.

About IED 

The Istituto Europeo di Design is an academic institution that operates in the fields of education, training, and research in the disciplines of design, fashion, visual communication, and management, covering professional, vocational, and business design training. IED has branches across Spain (Madrid, Barcelona), Italy (Milan, Rome, and 5 other cities), and Brazil (São Paolo, Rio de Janeiro). It operates across several EU and COSME countries through collaborations and agreements with institutions, business support organizations, professors, experts, and mentors with whom it has established relationships. IED draws on a broad network of connections in the F&T sector specifically for this project, drawing on R&D in the areas of fashion design, product design, interior design, visual arts, communications, and management.

https://iedmadrid.com/

About Finnova

FINNOVA is a foundation that works for the promotion and development of innovation and entrepreneurship at the EU level. With headquarters in Brussels, it operates through collaborations and partnerships across EU countries. FINNOVA expertise in leading communication and dissemination activities for EU projects is coupled with strong proven experience in setting up businesses and entrepreneurial support programmes, like accelerators, incubators and selection and award/ceremonial events.

https://web.finnovaregio.org/

About Texfor

TEXFOR is the reference textile association in Spain with 400 members. Founded in November 2010 and located in Catalonia, it groups companies of the whole textile value chain, from yarns to fabrics including accessories, finishing processes, printing and dying for the apparel industry, home textiles, and technical/industrial applications. Texfor has specialization and experience, having worked on important EU-level expert committees: University and Vocational Training, Financial capacity building, Cross-Sectoral collaboration, R+D+I promotion, specialized services, and sustainability leadership focused on the circular economy.

https://www.texfor.es/

About Circulab

CIRCULAB is a business design lab and studio specialised in developing transformation methodology, tools and programmes to help businesses develop circular and sustainable business models. CIRCULAB has designed a toolkit for implementing Circularity in businesses and operates across +23 countries (9 EU countries), supporting projects through +60 certified independent CE consultants, applying the Circ methodology and tools.

https://circulab.com/

About The Circular Project co-designed with Humanation

TCP is a Circular and Slow Fashion promotion firm that collaborates with experts in the field to offer a communication strategy, platform and expertise on circular value chains, applying a broad and systemic approach to Circular Economy, integrating social, ethical, environmental and economic approaches. It has a strong presence and connections to the sustainable fashion world through the Asociación Española para la Sostenibilidad, la Innovación y la Circularidad en Moda, Sannas (Triple Bottom Line Business Association) and a broad institutional and industrial network across Spain, Europe and South America.

For this project, The Circular Project works with HumanNation for the co-design and development of the project. HumanNation is a consulting firm specialised in the development of transformative and disruptive ecosystems of innovation and business: the ‘New Economy’. Based on the Fourth Economic Sector, systemic thinking and co-creation, it promotes awareness within organizations and ecosystems to respect planetary boundaries and social fabric, creating resilient economies at the local level, with a global perspective.

https://thecircularproject.com/

https://humannation.earth