Building circular value with human-centric resource hubs

Our project proposal is aligned with:
-ECIV Mission 1: Industrial Symbiosis & Resource Efficiency
-ECIV Mission 3: Business Models & Market Innovation

It contributes by strengthening regional capacities to identify, test and scale circular solutions within existing industrial value chains, with a particular focus on implementation-ready innovations (TRL 6–8). The project is resource‑agnostic. Each regional partnership can focus on one or several material and/or waste streams of its choice. We will share a toolbox and insights and lessons learned from establishing and operating local human‑centric resource hubs across ECIV valleys.

The hubs act as practical facilitators. They combine building technical knowledge of local resources and waste streams (and how to valorise them), with building the human capabilities needed. They will

•  map and valorise local resources, by‑products and waste streams

• identify creators, entrepreneurs, designers and technical enablers and connect them with industry, need owners, and other stakeholders. (As example by matchmaking, worksshops, round robins, hackathons, networking, etc)

•  build human capability - ensure there is a local workforce and skilled talents to do the job! (As example by vocational training, young adults engagement, attract talent to industry) 

“Technology is a tool – people are the strategic resource”.

We are now looking for partners who would like to establish their own hub and contribute to one or more of the other hubs that are established in the project. We see right now that we would need expertise in (roughly) the following areas:

1.      Strategic Relevance & Circular Expertise (Excellence)

Knowledge areas:
Mapping and valorizing local resources/waste streams, designing industrial symbiosis (Mission 1), and creating circular business models (Mission 3).

Partner roles:
Research Organizations/Universities: Responsible for defining the state-of-the-art, ensuring the project stays within TRL 6–8, and providing technical expertise on material recovery

2. Implementation & Operational Capacity (Quality and Efficiency)

Knowledge areas:
Establishing and operating resource hubs, project management, risk mitigation, and building human capabilities through vocational training.

Partner roles:
Industry Partners: Provide the "need owners" and industrial branches to test the hubs in a real-world operational environment.
Local Authorities/NGOs: Manage the "human centric" aspects, such as young adult engagement, talent attraction, and social research into behavioral change.

3. Impact Measurement & KPIs (Impact)

Knowledge areas:
Methodology for calculating Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) related to environmental, economic, and social impacts.

Partner roles:
Sustainability Experts: Define baseline and target values for circularity, such as the reduction in virgin raw material extraction.
Business Developers: Quantify economic impacts, including job creation, income growth, and market expansion.
Social Inclusion Partners: Describe and monitor how the project supports equality, diversity, and the inclusion of different societal groups.

4. Dissemination, Replication & IPR (Impact)

Knowledge Areas:
Intellectual Property Rights (IPR) management, communication strategies, and the potential for the resource hubs to be replicated in other EU regions.

Partner Roles:
Communication Leads: Handle the public sharing of results through conferences, open platforms, and digital campaigns.
All Consortium Partners: Collaborate on a preliminary dissemination and exploitation plan and ensure that hub "toolboxes" are adaptable for other sectors.

Interested in developing the concept and applying it to your industrial branch or resources/waste stream?

Please get in touch asap!
oskar.raftegard@ri.se
christina.wolf@glavaenergycenter.se