Day: 25 January 2022

The month of January concludes with three key dates for the sustainability of the planet: International Education Day, International Day for Environmental Education and World Day for Action against Global Warming. From its commitment in the textile and fashion sector, the CircularInnoBooster project and its accelerator CirCoAX join the commemoration of these dates highlighting the fundamental role of education in raising awareness and building critical thinking in the face of environmental and social challenges.

Quality education with an environmental basis is a necessary starting point to provide both professionals in the sector and future generations with a solid foundation for the preservation of our environment. For CircularInnoBooster, education is the tool for building social awareness that facilitates a paradigm shift in both producers and consumers in the fashion and textile industry, one of the most polluting industries. Thanks to it, each actor in the sector is encouraged to work together to achieve objectives.

In fashion and the textile sector, the only thing that can be exploited is creativity in order to change the model and combine it in parallel with its best ally, education. This ally is the toolbox for building a sustainable world and transforming the production and consumption model that has made the sector one of the most polluting ones. Thanks to it, each actor will not cease to be indifferent to the need to re-establish a better relationship with their social environment and with the planet, with the clarity of where we are going, where we are going and why we are going there.

We need to bring relevant information from different educational levels about the consequences of our actions on nature, the impacts of climate change and our responsibility to reverse this dramatic situation. Through education, we can help to dismantle the large amount of false news and half-truths that unfortunately prevail today. Only well-educated societies will be able to develop critical thinking capable of identifying the best opportunities in this sustainability roadmap and those that are not.

At CircularInnoBooster, we support universal education that guarantees the sustainability of our planet and forges the foundations of a citizenry committed to protecting the environment. To this end, we work to disseminate quality information related to the textile and fashion industry, and we have launched the #CircuLearn initiative, a collaborative dictionary with the key concepts for understanding the sustainable transformation of the sector, which also complements its content with documentaries, reports and readings.

Agents of change in the fashion and textile industry, this week we remind you that, with a book, a pencil and a piece of paper we have managed to change the world, but also with a thread and a needle we have done it and we can continue to do it.

About COSME

COSME is the programme for the Competitiveness of Enterprises and Small and Medium-sized Enterprises by the European Commission’s Executive Agency for Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (EASME).

This programme assists SMEs to develop their business models, to receive funds, and to internationalise. This scheme also supports public administrations to enhance the entrepreneurial environment and to facilitate the economic growth of the EU. During the funding period of 2014-2020, this programme allocated €2.3 billion to support SMEs.

About IED

Istituto Europeo di Design is an academic institution working in education, training, and the research of fashion, design, visual communication, and management. IED has offices in Spain (Madrid and Barcelona), Italy (Milan, Rome and five other cities) and Brazil (São Paulo and Rio de Janeiro). IED works in several EU and COSME countries through collaborations and arrangements with institutions, business support organisations, teachers, experts, and mentors. IED has an extensive network of connections in the fashion and textile sector (F&T).

About Finnova Foundation

Finnova is a foundation working to promote and develop innovation and entrepreneurship across the EU. Headquartered in Brussels, it works through collaborations and partnerships across all EU countries. Finnova’s experience in communicating and disseminating European projects is coupled with an extensive and grounded experience in creating businesses and programmes to support enterprises, such as accelerators, incubators, and the selection and organisation of ceremonies and events.

About Texfor

Texfor is a leading textile association in Spain with roughly 400 members. Founded in 2010 and based in Catalonia, Texfor brings together enterprises from the textile value chain, i.e. from weaving to fabrics as well as accessories, textile finishing, printing, and dyeing for the dressmaking industry, textiles for households, and technical and industrial applications. Texfor has an extensive expertise as it has worked in relevant expert committees at an EU level: university and professional training, developing financial capacities, cross-cutting collaboration, fostering RDI, specialised services, and leadership in sustainability focused on the circular economy.

About Circulab

Circulab is a laboratory and design studio specialising in developing transformation methods, tools and programmes to help enterprises adopt circular and sustainable business models. Circulab has designed several tools to implement a circular business model in enterprises. It works in 23 countries – 9 out of them in the EU – and it supports projects via 60 independent entrepreneurial consultants. It applies circular methodologies and tools.

About The Circular Project co-designed with HumanNation

TCP (The Circular Project) favours and promotes a circular and sustainable fashion in different areas, offering the fashion industry a communication strategy based on a cross-cutting and systemic approach of the circular economy. TCP combines social, ethical, environmental, and economic aspects, and has a strong presence as well as connections in the sustainable fashion world. TCP has promoted the Circular Sustainable Fashion Week Madrid, a one-of-a-kind event, and also serves as HQ for the Spanish Association for the Sustainability, Innovation and Circularity in the Fashion Industry. TCP is also ambassador of Sannas (Triple Bottom Line Business Association) and has collaborated with a wide array of Spanish, European, and Latin American institutions and enterprises.

The Circular Project works with HumanNation to co-design and develop CirCoAX. HumanNation is a consultancy enterprise specialising in the development of transformative and disruptive ecosystems of innovation and companies for the ‘new economy’. It is based on the fourth economic sector, the systemic thinking, and co-creation. It raises awareness in organisations and ecosystems to respect the planetary boundaries and the social fabric, creating resilient local economies with a global perspective.

Madrid, 21/01/2022

Once again, Finnova was present at FITUR, the International Tourism Fair, which was held from 19 to 23 January at IFEMA (Madrid Trade Fair Centre). After the hard blow of the pandemic to tourism, the foundation is committed to sustainability and digitalization as the cornerstones for the recovery of the sector through the Next Generation EU recovery funds.

FITUR TALENT, the importance of training in the tourism sector

The Finnova Foundation co-organized an event on European funds for training on Friday 21 January, as part of FITUR Talent, a monographic space that focuses on people, their talent, skills and professional training.

During the panel, the speakers discussed the importance of training in the tourism sector. Frank Babinger, Advisor, Vice-rectorate for Employability and Entrepreneurship at the Complutense University of Madrid, highlighted the importance of internationalization, such as internships outside Spain: “We must make an effort beyond the classroom,” he said. For his part, Manuel Vegas, President of the Spanish Association of Hotel Managers, pointed out the importance of training young people for the sustainable and environmentally conscious transformation of hotels.

Massimiliano Dragoni, from the European Commission, emphasized the importance of digitalization and logistics for the sector and also presented the Digital Europe programme, with 400 million euros to bring digitalization to companies, public administrations and citizens.  Carla Garcia, European projects technician at Finnova, highlighted the importance of programmes such as Erasmus+ that promote inclusion, sustainability and digitalization among young people.

Finally, Juanma Revuelta, CEO of Finnova and moderator of the event, presented two of the European projects in which the foundation participates as a partner. LIFE Ecodigestión, as a replicable model in the HORECA sector, and Circoax by CircularInnoBooster, where companies such as DeleiteWear participate, to recycle hotel sheets and towels, giving them life in the form of clothing.

Interreg Napoctep Project

Fitur was also the setting for the presentation of the Interreg NAPOCTEP project, a development alternative for rural areas based on the rich Napoleonic heritage of Castilla y León and the Central region of Portugal. The project, led by the Comunidade Intermunicipal da Região de Coimbra (CIM Regiâo de Coimbra), has created different tourist routes following the different scenarios of the War of Independence in Spain and Portugal, contributing through cultural tourism to boost the local economy, safeguard the environment and create employment in areas affected by depopulation. Íñigo Bilbao, coordinator of NAPOCTEP at the Finnova Foundation, was present in the space that the Junta de Castilla y León gave to the project in Hall 9, stand 9C10.

The foundation also collaborates with other European projects linked to the tourism sector such as Logroño Enópolis, the European Cultural Routes of the Council of Europe or the Interreg Atlantic MMIAH+.

About FITUR

FITUR is the premier annual event for global tourism professionals and the leading trade fair for inbound and outbound markets in Ibero-America. In the 2020 edition, FITUR broke participation records with 11,040 companies from 165 countries/regions, 150,011 professionals and 111,089 visitors from the general public. It is a unique place to promote brands, present new products, learn about the latest trends and fill agendas with contacts and prospects.

About NAPOCTEP

The NAPOCTEP project: Napoleonic Routes through Spain and Portugal is a project framed within the Interreg V-A Programme of Cross-border Cooperation Spain-Portugal POCTEP and whose aim is to enhance the cultural heritage of the Napoleonic period, through the creation of Napoleonic routes in an area that includes the central region of Portugal (Beiras and Serra da Estela) and the western provinces of Castile and Leon (Salamanca, Zamora, Valladolid, Leon and Avila), generating an innovative and attractive tourist product that generates economic activity and employment in an area affected by depopulation.

About Finnova Foundation

It is a European foundation based in Brussels whose objectives are to promote public-private cooperation through innovation to address social challenges such as employment, training, entrepreneurship, the UN SDGs, the circular economy, etc. Finnova organises the Startup Europe Awards, an initiative of the European Commission and the Finnova Foundation, to recognise the best European startups in the social field.

This Monday, 24 January, during International Education Day, the seven partners of the Erasmus DESTINE project met to celebrate the day that marks the starting point of an innovative proposal that aspires to become a benchmark for inclusive, diverse and tolerant online education.

The covid-19 pandemic has brought about a paradigm shift in traditional education. The digitization of the education system requires specialized knowledge on the part of teachers and other relevant staff.

The Erasmus project DESTINE (DivErSity and Tolerance IN E-Environment) was created with the aim of promoting online Professional Education that guarantees support for diversity, inclusion and tolerance, providing the necessary tools so that all professionals and students can adapt to the e-learning methodology. DESTINE also targets Professional Training students, and in particular learners with fewer opportunities, who need a learning environment that is tolerant of diversity.

The project will respond to the following needs

– To introduce ways of efficiently adapting traditional classrooms to the new digital learning environment, focusing mainly on safeguarding the values of diversity and tolerance.

– Train Professional teachers/trainers/educators to acquire the skills and competences to develop innovative educational activities and methods that promote diversity and tolerance in the virtual classroom environment.

– Promote the attractiveness of Professional Training by fostering the innovative transformation of online teaching and distance learning.

– To provide education that embraces diversity and tolerance and is inclusive for all.

Transnational collaboration project

With the duration of two years, this project is supported by transnational collaboration between entities from different European countries. OSENGO (France), as project coordinator, is joined by SIMPLEXIS and AKMI (Greece), BK Consult GbR (Germany), the FINNOVA Foundation (Spain), Future in Perspective Limited – FIPL (Ireland) and Centrul Pentru (Romania).

In the course of the project, project outcomes, multiplier events and a teaching, learning and training activity will be designed and implemented.

– An online learning platform will be created containing material focusing on tolerance and diversity methods applied in traditional classrooms and how this material could be transferred to the online classroom environment.

– Innovative activities, tools and educational methods for diverse and tolerant learning in the e-classroom environment will be created in the form of Open Educational Resources (OER). The OER will be presented and shared with teachers/trainers/educators through Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs).

– A toolkit containing all the material produced regarding methods and techniques for tolerance of diversity in the virtual classroom. The toolkit will be uploaded on the E-Learning Platform and will be freely accessible to teachers, trainers and mentors as well as interested learners.

– A new environment for cooperation between training institutions will be developed, creating a widely available online repository of OER available to their members and their trainers/teachers/educators. This increases the potential for sustainability, creating added value for the Professional Training system at the EU level.

The launch of the project coincides with the European Year of Youth, through which the European Commission recognizes the courage and resilience of young people, one of the groups most affected by the pandemic. DESTINE aims to provide quality education free of discrimination to increase opportunities for these young people.