On 16 October 2026, the INSET – Industrial Symbiosis for Enterprises and Training project successfully held its final webinar, “Shaping the Future of Industrial Symbiosis: The INSET Observatory and Policy Brief”, as part of ErasmusDays 2026.
Organised within the framework of ErasmusDays 2026, the webinar offered an opportunity to celebrate European cooperation in education, training and sustainability. It demonstrated how Erasmus+ projects such as INSET can turn international collaboration into practical tools, strengthen professional competences and support lasting partnerships across borders. The event marked an important milestone in the project’s three-year journey, bringing together partners, experts and stakeholders to showcase the results of European cooperation and discuss the next steps towards making industrial symbiosis more accessible, effective and widely adopted.
Co-funded by the Erasmus+ programme, INSET has brought together six partners from five European countries — Université de Strasbourg, RDA Podravje – Maribor, CETEM, Simbiosy, Sistemi Formativi Confindustria and SYXIS — with a common ambition: to strengthen the knowledge, skills and cooperation needed to support industrial symbiosis among enterprises, particularly SMEs, vocational education and training providers, and business support organisations.
Throughout the project, the partnership has worked to address some of the main barriers preventing the wider adoption of industrial symbiosis, from limited awareness and fragmented knowledge to regulatory uncertainty and difficulties in identifying suitable business partners. The final webinar provided an opportunity not only to present the project’s achievements, but also to reflect on their practical value and future application.
Three Years of Cooperation, Four Complementary Results:
INSET has developed a set of interconnected tools designed to support industrial symbiosis from different but complementary perspectives. The project’s capacity-building methodology provides a structured approach to developing the knowledge and competences required to foster industrial symbiosis. The INSET digital app and learning resources help enterprises, trainers and other interested stakeholders increase their understanding of circular business models and resource-sharing opportunities.
Alongside these training-oriented results, the INSET Industrial Symbiosis Observatory and the INSET Policy Brief connect knowledge and practical experience with broader European cooperation and policy development. Together, these four outcomes reflect the project’s central ambition: to move beyond raising awareness and provide accessible resources that can help organisations understand, promote and implement industrial symbiosis. The final webinar focused on the Observatory and Policy Brief, illustrating how these results complement the project’s capacity-building activities and contribute to a more enabling environment for circular industrial practices.
The INSET Observatory: Connecting Europe’s Industrial Symbiosis Knowledge
One of the highlights of the event was the presentation and live demonstration of the INSET Industrial Symbiosis Observatory, developed with the contributions of Simbiosy and SYXIS.
The Observatory responds to a key challenge: although industrial symbiosis knowledge, initiatives and good practices already exist across Europe, they are often dispersed among different projects, organisations and platforms. By bringing these resources together in a single open-access environment, INSET makes relevant information easier to discover, explore and share.
The platform provides access to policies and legislation, research and studies, projects and initiatives, digital tools and methodologies, as well as training and educational resources. Its interactive features allow users to explore information by topic, geographical area or organisation, creating connections between existing initiatives and potential stakeholders. Importantly, the Observatory is designed as a collaborative and evolving resource. Through its contribution features, organisations can share their initiatives, suggest new materials and become part of a growing network of industrial symbiosis actors. This participatory dimension was particularly appreciated during the webinar, reinforcing the Observatory’s potential to support knowledge exchange and cooperation beyond the project’s lifetime. Discover and contribute to the INSET Observatory
The INSET Policy Brief: Evidence-Based Recommendations for Real Change
The second major focus of the webinar was the INSET Policy Brief, developed through the contributions of the Université de Strasbourg and Sistemi Formativi Confindustria. The document represents an important step in translating the project’s research and stakeholder engagement into practical policy recommendations.
Building on national analyses in France, Italy, Lithuania, Slovenia and Spain, a review of European policy instruments and consultation with 31 stakeholders, the Policy Brief identifies 11 recommendations organised around four key priorities: People, Rules, Data and Money.
• People: Recognising industrial symbiosis facilitators as professional figures and strengthening the skills needed to identify opportunities, connect businesses and support implementation.
• Rules: Improving regulatory clarity, particularly regarding waste and by-product classifications, and encouraging more consistent approaches across European countries.
• Data: Developing shared indicators and comparable information to demonstrate the economic and environmental benefits of industrial symbiosis.
• Money: Adapting financial instruments to support collaborative projects, particularly SMEs facing costs related to feasibility assessments, technical studies and legal requirements.
A defining feature of the Policy Brief is its focus on practical implementation. Rather than proposing general objectives, its recommendations consider which actors can take action, through which instruments and within what timeframe.
The stakeholder consultation provided strong initial validation of the document: 97% of respondents considered it useful, 94% found it clear and 81% regarded its recommendations as realistic.
These results confirm the relevance of INSET’s evidence-based and participatory approach, while also identifying opportunities to further strengthen the feasibility and applicability of the proposed measures.
An Open Dialogue to Shape the Future of Industrial Symbiosis
The webinar continued with an interactive discussion moderated by CETEM, allowing participants to share experiences, question assumptions and identify priorities for future action. One of the key messages emerging from the exchange was that industrial symbiosis is already a reality at commercial scale, with successful examples implemented across different sectors and countries. However, access to the knowledge, skills and supporting structures required to replicate these approaches remains uneven. The discussion highlighted two closely connected priorities: standardisation and facilitation.
Common terminology, consistent methodologies and comparable data can help improve the understanding and assessment of industrial symbiosis activities, while also addressing regulatory challenges across national borders. At the same time, effective facilitation is essential to transform potential synergies into concrete partnerships. Enterprises need access to professionals and supporting organisations capable of identifying opportunities, connecting actors, building trust and guiding implementation. Participants also emphasised the need to adapt industrial symbiosis approaches to different local conditions, recognising that industrial structures, regulatory environments and levels of experience vary considerably between territories. These contributions reinforced the importance of the integrated approach promoted by INSET, combining shared knowledge and methodologies with practical skills and support mechanisms.
Stakeholder Perspectives Confirm the Relevance of INSET’s Approach
The interactive consultation conducted during the webinar provided additional insights into the barriers and opportunities surrounding industrial symbiosis. Among the policy priorities discussed, people and professional facilitation emerged as particularly important, followed by regulatory clarity and the need for shared, measurable data.
Participants also identified limited awareness, knowledge gaps and difficulties in finding suitable partners as significant obstacles to implementation. These findings directly connect with the challenges that INSET has sought to address through its capacity-building resources, digital tools and Observatory. The discussion also highlighted potential synergies with other European and international initiatives, opening opportunities for continued knowledge exchange and cooperation. Feedback collected during the event will contribute to refining the final version of the Policy Brief, ensuring that INSET’s recommendations remain grounded in the practical experience and priorities of relevant stakeholders.
Beyond the Final Webinar: The Lasting Value of INSET
As INSET approaches its official conclusion on 31 October 2026, the final webinar highlighted that the project’s results are designed to remain useful beyond the funding period. The Observatory will continue to provide an open space for accessing and sharing knowledge, with the ambition of further expanding its network of initiatives and contributors. The project’s capacity-building methodology, digital learning resources and policy recommendations will remain available to support enterprises, VET providers, facilitators, business support organisations and policymakers.
The discussion also reinforced the importance of continued cooperation between projects, institutions and industrial stakeholders to build on existing achievements and avoid fragmentation of knowledge and experience.
The INSET partnership has demonstrated how European cooperation can connect training, technological resources, stakeholder engagement and policy development, creating complementary tools to address a shared industrial challenge. The final webinar, held during ErasmusDays 2026, made these achievements visible as concrete outcomes of three years of collaboration supported by Erasmus+. The project’s contribution goes beyond the individual resources produced. By promoting a common understanding of industrial symbiosis and strengthening the connections between knowledge, skills and implementation, INSET supports the development of a more collaborative and resource-efficient industrial ecosystem.
The message emerging from the final webinar is clear: industrial symbiosis already works.
The next challenge is to make the knowledge, competences and cooperation needed to implement it accessible to more enterprises and territories. Through its results and the networks developed over three years, INSET provides practical foundations for continuing this journey towards a more circular, sustainable and competitive European economy.
Explore the INSET project and its results
Access the Industrial Symbiosis Observatory
