The event “UVT Green Week – Circular Economy in a European Context“, organised by the West University of Timișoara, took place between 31 May and 4 June 2021 and has been selected as EU Green Week 2021 – Partner event.

The central theme of this year’s event was dedicated to circular economy, considering that the West University of Timișoara has developed a working group dedicated to circular economy, part of the UNITA Circular Economy taskforce, in co-creation with regional and national partners.

The weeklong event made its debut with a day dedicated to the role of European University Alliances in providing circular economy education and innovation. The online conference was entitled: “The contribution of the European university network UNITA to the European green transition” and reunited representatives of the 6 UNITA Universities, also accompanied by private and public sector representatives. The plenary conference was followed by a virtual round table session, where participants explored options for using Living Lab methodologies in co-creation processes, aimed at sustainably developing our communities. The recording of the online streamed event can be found here.

Another event aimed at providing food for UNITA thoughts was the „Green Argument @ UVT Green Week”, a student debate as reasoned expression of the pros and cons in relation to the statement „Anyone can generate innovation in the context of circular economy”. The official language of this debate was English in order to facilitate the use of the information in all UNITA universities. Recording of the debate can be found here.

Other events of the UVT Green Week included the inauguration of the UVT Urban Garden, workshops dedicated to the children’s non-formal education on circular economy topics and a 360 degrees’ perspective on the Circular Economy Action Plan. More information on the event and on the Sustainability Strategy of the West University of Timisoara can be found on the UVT and UVT Verde webpages.

The role of this weeklong event is to contribute to the transformative agenda of our continent, with a focus on the Green Deal portfolio and the Circular Economy Action Plan. The aim is also to strengthen the role of European Universities in providing education for sustainable development, as well as acting as a stimulus for innovation and enhanced societal readiness of circular economy business models.