Basque Circular HUB: Advanced Circular Economy Services Centre of the Basque Country
About this good practice
The Basque Circular HUB is the Advanced Circular Economy Services Centre of the Basque Country, led by Ihobe, the Basque Environmental Agency.
It is one of the key instruments of the Circular Economy Strategy of the Basque Country 2030.
Its aim is to build capacities on circular economy for the Basque companies, mainly for SMEs. It is based on early intelligence, pilot projects and training to foster Basque competitiveness through circular economy. It responds to two barriers:
• Lack of professionals trained in circular economy and life cycle thinking
• Lack of resources of SMEs to identify and anticipate to challenges related to circular economy.
It provides 4 different services:
• Learning: Educational activities for young people, teachers and in-house staff, consisting of specific courses in collaboration with enabler agents
• Working: Technical projects with companies, involving young people on placement and themed experts in each of the subjects addressed, where possible
• Observatory: It tracks all alerts of interest related to the implementation of instruments and concepts linked to the Circular Economy and draws up monitoring reports and market trends.
• Tools: Methodologies and tools for the application of Circular Economy principles. Mainly aimed at SMEs, they arise from the knowledge acquired in the development of pilot projects with large companies and pioneering actors in the Circular Economy.
Expert opinion
Resources needed
Annually, it requires about 300.000 €, which are spent in consultancies, mentoring, and scholarships, as well as around 1.500 hours for coordination.
Evidence of success
Results from 2015-2020:
• 14 training courses for youngsters
• 1 training course for companies
• 156 youngsters trained
• 138 scholarships that had had practices in Basque companies
• 88 hours of training per youngsters (average)
• 84 companies have developed projects in collaboration with the basque companies
• 177 projects developed in Basque companies
Potential for learning or transfer
This practice can be replicated easily in any region facing similar challenges. It is resulting in building capacities for young people to respond to the demand of green jobs, mainly linked to the new requirements of the Rueopean Green Deal.
Further information
Good practice owner
You can contact the good practice owner below for more detailed information.