After 23 months of work, the Consortium meeting represented a decisive moment for INSET. Partners from different European regions came together to reflect on the progress achieved so far and to align their efforts for the upcoming stages of the project. The workshop was designed not only as a coordination meeting but also as an open space for exchange with external stakeholders, ensuring that the project’s outcomes remain practical, relevant, and aligned with real-world needs.
One of the main objectives of the meeting was to finalize the work carried out under Work Package 3, dedicated to the development and validation of the INSET Toolkit. This resource offers practical guidance and capacity-building materials to support companies, policymakers and innovative actors in implementing Industrial Symbiosis. The positive external validation done during the summer period confirmed their value as a reference for fostering collaboration between industries, identifying opportunities for resource efficiency, and promoting new business models aligned with circularity.
The workshop also marked the official launch of Work Package 4, which will focus on the creation of the Industrial Symbiosis Online Observatory. This digital platform is envisioned as a European hub for mapping, categorizing, and sharing best practices, tools, policy frameworks, and opportunities in the field of Industrial Symbiosis. Partners agreed on the initial design features, governance structure, and validation methodology of the Observatory, setting a clear roadmap for its implementation over the next months. The platform aims to become a European reference point for researchers, industry stakeholders, and policymakers seeking to accelerate the transition to a circular economy.

A highlight of the two-days meeting was the stakeholder workshop, where local clusters and academic institutions were invited to share their views on the relevance and applicability of the INSET outputs. Representatives from AMUEBLA (the Furniture Cluster of Murcia) and the University of Valencia participated actively, providing constructive feedback to improve both the Toolkit and the Observatory design. This collaborative exchange underlined the importance of ensuring that INSET tools are not only scientifically robust but also adaptable to the real challenges faced by businesses and institutions at regional, national, and European levels.

Hence, this in-person workshop marked an important turning point for the INSET Project. With the successful completion of Work Package 3 and the launch of Work Package 4, the consortium is now well positioned to deliver on its final objectives and to contribute decisively to Europe’s transition towards a circular and resource-efficient economy.

L'articolo INSET In-Person Workshop in Yecla Marks Key Progress After 23 Months of Collaboration proviene da INSET: industrial symbiosis for entreprises and training.

On 30 September and 1 October, the INSET project Consortium held its in-person workshop in Yecla (Spain), bringing together European partners and external stakeholders to advance collaboration in the fields of Industrial Symbiosis and the Circular Economy. The event combined in-person sessions at CETEM’s facilities with online participation, ensuring broad engagement from across Europe.

The workshop marked an important milestone in the project’s development. Two key objectives were addressed:

– Closing Work Package 3 – Partners presented and validated the outcomes of the INSET Toolkit, a set of capacity-building resources designed to strengthen knowledge and practice in Industrial Symbiosis. The toolkit provides practical guidance for companies, policymakers, and innovation actors.

– Launching Work Package 4 – The Consortium kicked off the creation of the Industrial Symbiosis Online Observatory, a European platform for mapping, categorizing, and sharing best practices, tools, policy frameworks, and opportunities to foster Industrial Symbiosis across regions and sectors.

Over two days, partners from diverse backgrounds presented results, exchanged methodologies, and prepared the next steps for the Observatory’s design and validation. A dedicated stakeholder session brought in perspectives from regional clusters and academic institutions, whose feedback will help ensure that the project’s outputs are relevant, practical, and aligned with real needs at both local and European levels.

Beyond the technical sessions, the workshop included networking opportunities and a visit to innovative projects in the furniture and wood sector, providing participants with concrete examples of sustainability in practice. Sessions on communication, dissemination, and planning also set the stage for the next phases of the project.

L'articolo INSET Project organised its in-person workshops in Spain at CETEM’s facilities proviene da INSET: industrial symbiosis for entreprises and training.

The Regionalna razvojna agencija za Podravje – Maribor hosted INSET Erasmus+ project partners in Maribor on January 21-22, marking a significant step forward in developing comprehensive training courses for Industrial Symbiosis Managers and Planners.

“Participating in the INSET project reflects our commitment to addressing global sustainability challenges. By creating tools and methodologies to promote industrial symbiosis, we provide regional actors with the skills needed to support Europe’s green transition,” said Samira Khemkhem from the University of Strasbourg, lead partner of the INSET project.

The two-day meeting focused on advancing competence development plans to enhance capacity building for implementing Industrial Symbiosis. Building on the previously developed Industrial Symbiosis skill map download here, the training paths target two key roles:

The IS Planner: focused on identifying and analyzing resource exchange opportunities between companies.

The IS Manager: responsible for implementing networks, managing stakeholder relationships, and ensuring regulatory compliance.

In the atmospheric setting of the Cona Tezno Museum, INSET partners engaged with local stakeholders, including PCT-Industrial Zone Tezno and Kooperativa 103, showcasing different approaches to implementing industrial symbiosis. These real-world examples demonstrated both bottom-up and top-down models of successful IS implementation.

The working group, comprising researchers from UNISTRA, CETEM, Sistemi Formativi Confindustria, Simbiosy, Syxis, and Regionalna razvojna agencija za Podravje, identified key challenges to develop an IS toolkit, including:

• Providing case studies and best practice of IS for awareness-raising, and promoting the effectiveness of IS initiatives for competitiveness
• Developing practical guidance for supporting IS in the industrial development plan.

Be the change, lead the future: join INSET as a stakeholder and transform industrial waste into competitive advantage

INSET is now accepting applications from new stakeholders to drive forward industrial symbiosis.

We welcome:

• Private sector representatives (companies, foundations, industrial districts)
• Public-private sector organizations (local development agencies, research bodies, environmental management entities)
• Researchers committed in IS development

As an INSET stakeholder, you can participate in:

• Workshops with IS experts and testimonials
• Best practices interviews
• Consultation for INSET Methodology and Policy Brief development
• Regular updates through the INSET newsletter

Your involvement can help shape the future of industrial symbiosis and sustainable business practices!

Contact us and subscribe to our newsletter to become a stakeholder or learn more.

Underground tunnels – the Tezno zone

L'articolo INSET meeting in Maribor: a step forward for Industrial Symbiosis proviene da INSET: industrial symbiosis for entreprises and training.

On 21 January 2025, the partnership gathered in Maribor to evaluate four tools that will be used by the project to promote industrial symbiosis, boost company efficiency, and reduce environmental impact. The stakeholders evaluated how the project will help those who want to gain the knowledge of industrial symbiosis processes with an IS networking manual, learning materials on IS, a handbook of practical examples and the learning app, so they would gain competences to set up and manage the processes of industrial symbiosis, where waste of one company can become a resource of another.

In Maribor, we presented the partners with study cases of companies working together in PCT – Industrial Zone Tezno, where companies lend staff to each other so that they work together and share skills and competences to produce finished products, and an example of how small entrepreneurs come together to form Kooperativa 103, which shares processing equipment, cold storage and warehousing facilities, and other ways of running successful business stories together.

As a leading institution in research and education, the University of Strasbourg leverages its expertise in capacity building and interdisciplinary collaboration to drive the objectives of the INSET project. “Participating in the INSET project reflects the University of Strasbourg’s commitment to addressing global sustainability challenges. By creating tools and methodologies to promote industrial symbiosis, we empower regional actors and support the broader European green transition,” said Samira Khemkhem, INSET project leader at the University of Strasbourg.

“The project helps lifelong learning by providing tools and knowledge to ensure a skilled workforce to meet the demands of a Circular Economy.” says CETEM. Therefore, it aligns with their mission of supporting innovation and industry competitiveness by enhancing workforce capabilities through skill development and promoting collaboration in industrial symbiosis.

SFC sees the project as the action to gap the demands for innovation production systems and opportunities provided by education, thus addressing the increasing need for sustainability expertise in companies by bringing together educational institutions, businesses and government agencies providing academic knowledge with practical implementation needs.

Simbiosy conferms that “as the project develops and offers training materials for industrial symbiosis, it also enhances and expand our training capacity and broadens our reach with a wider audience with developed programmes for specifically enhancing the skills and knowledge about industrial symbiosis.

Undert the Syxis point of view, “INSET allows us to delve into new learning methodologies that support businesses in their economic and social growth, helping to strengthen the importance of circular processes and learning new methods to transfer knowledge and skills in its reference market”.

Final, RRAPM confirms that “as a pilot region of circular cities and regions initiatives, we are building the capacity for circular bioeconomy in Podravje, where skills and knowledge about industrial symbiosis as the advanced step of circular bioeconomy, provides the basis for human resources to foster the transition.

The INSET working group emerges reinvigorated from this workshop in Maribor, enriched by local stakeholders who revealed the wide array of approaches to enacting sustainability.

L'articolo Industrial symbiosis: do you know what it is?  proviene da INSET: industrial symbiosis for entreprises and training.

The success of the INSET project depends on our partners. Our strength comes from these collaborations. By joining forces, we increase our capacity to act and innovate.

In January, the first Stakeholders Workshop on Industrial Symbiosis took place in Strasbourg, followed by the second workshop in Barcelona on May 28, 2024. We invited six partners to these meetings. These collaborations have enhanced our project and provided expert perspectives. Our partners have shared their knowledge, expertise, and skills regarding our working methodology for Work Package 2 and our Joint Curriculum.

Materalia is a competitiveness cluster in the Grand Est region, specializing in materials, processes, and solutions for industry. Materalia is a key player in the region’s economic development, collaborating on research and development projects, and supporting innovation initiatives like INSET to make the region’s players more innovative.

The SIBILA Erasmus+ project aims to develop an innovative training program for integrating competitive and technological intelligence practices in SMEs, particularly in the industrial sector. Its objective is to improve information management for innovation and business development.

France Clusters plays a crucial role in supporting business clusters, competitiveness clusters, and business networks. They encourage the creation of centers of excellence, cooperation between companies, universities, and local authorities, and support public programs on major environmental issues. Lela Melon, coordinator of the postgraduate degree in Sustainable Transition and Climate Emergency Management at ESCI-UPF, emphasized the importance of identifying key sustainability challenges within companies and how industrial symbiosis can effectively address them.
Francesc Magrinyà, leading the circular economy and industrial symbiosis strategy in the Barcelona metropolitan area and the EXIT research group at UPC, stressed the need for better integration of these groups into public-private strategies, highlighting the essential role of facilitators in sustainable development. Lastly, we welcomed Tomás Videla, a specialist in sustainable development and energy efficiency involved in the industrial symbiosis strategy in the Valparaiso regio of Chile.
We extend our warmest thanks to our associated partners, whose involvement is transforming the industrial symbiosis landscape. Together, we are building a greener, more sustainable industry. The coming months promise to be rich in challenges, which we intend to tackle hand in hand with our loyal partners. Other collaborations will be highlighted in future issues!

Thank you for being part of this journey. Stay tuned for more updates and opportunities to engage with the INSET project.

L'articolo Network and collaboration ­ proviene da INSET: industrial symbiosis for entreprises and training.

In today’s rapidly evolving industrial landscape, the demand for skilled professionals in Industrial Symbiosis (IS) is more critical than ever. To meet this demand head-on, our partnership has designed the INSET joint curriculum, to empower IS Planners and IS Project Managers with essential skills and knowledge.
The INSET curriculum is the result of a competency mapping process. This process ensures that the curriculum addresses specific needs, overcomes barriers, and focuses on critical skills essential for IS Planners and IS Project Managers. Aligned with the Recommendations on the European Qualifications Framework (EQF5), the curriculum outlines clear learning outcomes.

These outcomes define what participants should know, do, and understand upon completing the training, emphasizing practical skills application and theoretical knowledge utilization in professional contexts.

The INSET training program spans 100 hours of comprehensive learning, including 25 hours of online training and 75 hours of self-directed study. Structured into five modules, the curriculum offers flexibility for participants to tailor their learning experience:[/vc_column_text]

L'articolo INSET output proviene da INSET: industrial symbiosis for entreprises and training.

This important meeting took place on 23-24 January at the University of Strasbourg, where the INSET project partners held their first in-person meeting and stakeholder workshop. The core agenda of the meeting was dedicated to the development of capacity building methodologies to democratise industrial symbiosis for both the public and private sectors, an essential step in the initial phase of the project.

After intensive discussions, the workshop gave way to a very enlightening session. Esteemed stakeholders from France Clusters, MATERALIA and sibila.eu provided insightful feedback on the methodology formulated by the partners. This methodology aims to develop the first output of the project: a comprehensive capacity building approach to stimulate industrial symbiosis.

To this end, the partners have launched a Europe-wide survey to identify gaps and needs in the field of industrial symbiosis. The ultimate goal is to create a competency map that will serve as the basis for designing a training programme that integrates digital and innovative tools to take the field into the future.

The excitement is building as the Competency Map will soon be unveiled on our website. Keep an eye out for our updates on this ground-breaking development

L'articolo Inaugural workshop of the INSET project: Pioneering Industrial Symbiosis for a Sustainable Future proviene da INSET: industrial symbiosis for entreprises and training.