The fourth CRESTING Workshop, in a series of six, was hosted by the University of Technology of Troyes (UTT), France from the 2nd to the 8th of February 2020.
It was organised by Supervisors Sabrina Dermine-Brullot and Tatiana Reyes and Early Stage Researchers (ESRs) Estephania Delgadillo and Santiago Perez.
This workshop was the second workshop of the second year of training for the ESRs from the CRESTING ITN and was hosted by the University of Technology of Troyes (UTT), France. The central theme of the workshop was “The local and the regional Circular Economy.”
The workshop included the presentations from the 15 Early Stage Researchers (ESRs) providing an update on their research, which focused on a reflection of the evolution of their research questions after one year of bibliographic and active work done.
Presentations and discussions of the workshop started with a special focus on the operationalisation of the Circular Economy in France. Nathalie Oree, presented the French Policy on the Circular Economy, Adrian Deboutière from the National Institute of the Circular Economy (INEC) presented French examples of the Circular Economy in practice. A round table followed, on the development of the Circular Economy in the Grand Est region with Florian Bratec (Altermaker), Anne Mette (Carbonex), Gregory Lannou (Club of Circular economy from the Aube) and Adrain Deboutière (INEC). Furthermore, Bernard Pecqueur from the University of Grenoble Alpes introduced the concept of the “territory” for discussing the importance of the “territorialisation” of the Circular Economy.
Alexandre Lemille discussed the transformation of circular economy shifting towards the focusing on human needs through the Circular Humansphere approach. Introducing the perspective of design in sustainability transitions, Fabrizio Ceschin (Brunel University of London) and Idil Gaziulusoy (Aalto University) presented the evolution of Design for Sustainability, through their Design for Sustainability multilevel framework: from products to socio-technical systems. Followed by the examples and learnings on Designing Sustainable Product-Service System (S.PSS) applied to Distributed Economies (DE) by Luca Macri (Politecnico de Milano).
In addition, Open Source and communication were key topics of this workshop. Jean-Baptiste VU Van (UTT) presented on the Open access publications. The diverse strategies of communication and dissemination of researchers were discussed with Stuart Robertson (University of Salford), from the use of social media (for researchers and for the general public) to the impact of alternative ways of communication of research content (through arts, virtual reality, festivals and other communication platforms).
Additional activities of the workshop included a presentation and brain storming session on inclusive platforms and third places philosophy lead by Victor Petit (UTT) and Tatiana Reyes, as well as the reflections on sustainability transitions of socio-technical systems from the vision and work of the interdisciplinary laboratory CREIDD by Nadège Troussier (UTT).
Some of the excursions of practical examples of the CE strategies in France included the Foyer Aubois (social enterprise), the European Center for Biotechnology and Bioeconomy and a tour around the industrial symbiosis site of Bazancourt Pomacle.
The workshop concluded with important reflections regarding the environmental impact of the research activities as members of an Innovative Training Network, which resulted in a project mission statement.
