SYMCRAFT - Creative craft for industrial symbiosis in circular economies

Project date: 01. 06. 2024 - 30. 11. 2026

Contact: Majda Potokar

Phone: +386 (0)1 620 34 00

E-mail: +386 (0)41 661 159

The SYMCRAFT project addresses the challenge of advancing the circular economy within Central Europe by enhancing the role of the craft sector, including craft-based SMEs and socially innovative craft practices, as key contributors to industrial symbiosis. The project focuses on the textile, wood/furniture, and agro-food sectors, expanding the concept of symbiosis beyond a purely industrial scope to encompass broader social and economic processes that enable circularity.

Key Objectives:

1. Enhancing Circularity: Promote the craft sector as a vital component for fostering industrial symbiosis, particularly in the textile, wood/furniture, and agro-food sectors.
2. Innovative Approaches: Expand the notion of symbiosis to include social practices and economic processes that drive circularity.
3. Collaboration and Symbiosis: Facilitate cooperation between traditionally isolated economic sectors, particularly between small craft-based firms and larger industries, to foster creativity and socially innovative approaches to circularity.

Expected Outputs:

• 1 Strategy and 1 Action Plan: To guide the promotion of circular economy practices across Central Europe.
• 3 Pilots and 3 Solutions: Focused on challenges such as re-use of industrial waste, development of eco-business models, and fostering collaboration between industries and the craft sector.
• Transborder Network: To ensure continued cooperation post-project.

Beneficiaries:

• Primary Beneficiaries: Medium to large industries discovering creative ways to implement circularity, and small craft-based firms gaining new opportunities for sustainable business development.
• Secondary Beneficiaries: Community-based organizations, local governments, and citizens who benefit from the social networks generated by craft activities.

Project partners:

• t2i - Technology Transfer and Innovation (Italy)
• Ca' Foscari University Foundation (Italy)
• South Bohemian Chamber of Commerce (Czech Republic)
• Slovak Chamber of Commerce and Industry (Slovakia)
• West Pannon Regional and Economic Development Public Nonprofit Ltd. (Hungary)
• Croatian Agency for SMEs, Innovation and Investments (Croatia)
• Technology Park Ljubljana (Slovenia)
• IAGF - Institute for Applied Research for Skilled Crafts and Trades (Austria)
• b&s Management Consulting and Training for Rural Areas GmbH (Germany)
• Leipzig Environmental Institute (Germany)
• Association Kultur in der Fabrik (Austria)

Budget overview:

EUR 2,170,074.33