Circular design for bio-based innovation towards climate-neutral cities

_ Duration 2023 – 2026

_ Programme ERASMUS+

_ Call  ERASMUS-EDU-2022-PI-ALL-INNO

_ Total Project Budget € 1.499.520,00

_ Grant Agreement model Lump Sum

Short description 

The Innovation Alliance Circular Design (CiD) project is developing innovation in Circular Design education by fostering entrepreneurship in academia, with an accelerator programme for students’ start-ups and continuing education courses to upskill in the emerging labour market. This Circular Design Innovation Ecosystem will boost the turn towards a circular construction and design economy.

CiD is rethinking design for a circular economy, orienting multidisciplinary collaboration towards carbon-neutral cities and focusing on bio-based innovation for the built environment using bio-materials from other sectors, creating regional circular systems in renewable materials and installing buildings as bio-machines. Green, digital, resilience and entrepreneurial skills in Circular Design are developed together with relevant actors from Higher Education Institutions and Vocational Education and Training with the broader socio-economic environment (Registered Training Organisations, municipalities, civil society and businesses).

In a multidisciplinary approach, the Innovation Alliance Circular Design (CiD) addresses the gap in skills and knowledge in the sectors of architecture, urban design and product/service design, offering a radically new model on how to link design to circularity and urban transformation. It contributes to the New European Bauhaus’ aim to merge creativity, arts and technology in the context of the Green Deal.

The Architects´ Council of Europe’s involvement 

The Architects’ Council of Europe is contributing to the dissemination and communication of the project, managing CiD’s LinkedIn page and the European observatory group, promoting the Observatory by inviting participation from the Architects’ Council of Europe’s network, supporting CiD events and agendas, and suggesting relevant expert speakers. The Architects’ Council of Europe also connects the CiD project to relevant initiatives at the European Level, such as the New European Bauhaus and the Energy Days at EUSEW.

Expected project results 

The project is developing a set of three academic courses on circular economy, bio-innovation, and urban transformation, the mentoring and continuous professional development courses and the accelerator programme on entrepreneurship skills for the winners of the academic programme competition’s best ideas.

Coordinator

Leibniz University Hannover – Germany

Project Partners

_ Institute for Advanced Architecture of Catalonia – Spain
_ Università degli Studi di Genova – Italy
_ E.M. Associazione A.R.C.E.S. – Italy
_ Ersilia Foundation – Spain
_ Architekturos Fondas – Lithuania
_ Architects´ Council of Europe – Belgium
_ European Association for Local Democracy – Germany
_ Tallinn Business Incubator – Estonia
_ Materiom – UK
_ Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche – Italy

For more information

CiD website | LinkedIn page | Instagram page

This project is co-funded by the European Union under the grant agreement 101111686.