On Thursday, July 7, 2021, the meeting of the representatives of the scientific committee of the thematic area took place at UVT Circular Economy within the work package of the UNITA project – Montium University. This work package is dedicated to research and innovation in order to reduce development inequalities between central regions and peripheral areas through the sustainable development of rural and mountain areas. We remind you that the European alliance UNITA 6 European universities: Western University of Timișoara (Romania), Università degli Studi di Torino (Italy), Université de Pau et des Pays de l'Adour (France), Université Savoie Mont Blanc (France), Universidad de Zaragoza (Spain), Universidade Beira Interior (Portugal).
Solutions for the sustainable development of rural and mountain areas in the regions represented by the six universities target three thematic areas: circular economy, renewable energies and cultural heritage. In order to achieve this objective, the activity of the work package is subsumed to the fulfillment of three main actions: orientation of the research towards the territories; connecting research with educational programs and respectively activating the territories. As part of the first action, a mapping of the concerns of the three fields of interest at the level of the six universities of the UNITA university consortium has already been carried out.
The event on July 7 was intended to establish an operational model of the research-innovation hub in the field of the circular economy, with the partners from Pau and Chambery to organize similar events in the fields of cultural heritage and renewable energies during July 2021.
The meeting benefited from the physical presence of representatives of 4 of the 6 partner universities: Prof. Carole HARITCHABALET – Université de Pau et des Pays de l'Adour, Assoc. Prof. Jose Maria FRAILE – Universidad de Zaragoza, Assoc. Prof. Grégory CHATEL - Université Savoie Mont Blan, professor Cătălina Ancuţa and professor Gabriela Mircea - West University of Timisoara. The other two higher education institutions in the consortium were represented online, as follows Università degli Studi di Torino – Prof. Luca Cocolin, Prof. Giancarlo CRAVOTTO, Universidade Beira Interior – Prof. Ana Paula DUARTE, Assistant Prof. Tânia LIMA, Researcher Annabel FERNANDES, Ricardo Gouveia RODRIGUES, Sonia Cristina Almeida NEVES.
The program of the meeting included panels dedicated to the presentation of circular economy concerns from UNITA universities, the specifics of stakeholders in the circular economy in Timișoara and the region, the debate on the operational model of the research and innovation hub, respectively the planning of the seminar planned for implementation in October and dedicated to researchers in the sphere of interest.
The conclusions of the meeting are very useful for the continuation of our activity within the UNITA project and beyond. Thus, a great potential emerged regarding the exchange of good practices, the interests and results at the university level being complementary; also, the stakeholders highlighted the need and usefulness of a research and innovation hub in the field of Circular Economy. The hub that will bring together researchers and stakeholders in the field of the circular economy, with the aim of facilitating dialogue, stimulating the transfer of research results to them and ensuring the definition of educational programs. It emerged from the debates that the hub will be structured in such a way as to allow, on the one hand, interaction between researchers and beneficiaries in the region, but also connections with socio-economic actors and researchers from the entire consortium.
In the October 2021 seminar, to be organized in Zaragoza, dozens of circular economy researchers from the six universities of the European UNITA alliance will gather. They will be grouped in various subgroups organized around common themes in the area of the circular economy, identified in the process of mapping research interests in the UNITA consortium, carried out in the spring of this year. In continuation of the meeting in Timisoara, they will continue in Zaragoza to develop the framework and content of the activities to take place in the UNITA Research and Innovation Hub dedicated to the Circular Economy.
