How can we make products and everyday items last longer instead of throwing them away—by repairing a broken electronic device, mending a favourite pair of jeans, or giving old wardrobe pieces a second life?
At the same time, food is far too valuable to end up in the trash—yet it happens every day.
Across the value chain, from production and retail to our homes, significant amounts of food are wasted. In the process, valuable resources such as energy, water, fertilisers, and packaging are lost.
That’s why we need to ask a key question: How can we better value food and protect these resources?
Do you have ideas on how to extend the lifespan of products and give them a second life—be it through a lending shop, a second-hand department store, a repair café, or an open workshop? Or are you thinking about ways to reduce food waste, improve composting, or make food production more resource-efficient?
As part of the Kreislauf-WIRK-Statt project, we are looking for ideas for pilot projects in Aachen, Germany and the surrounding region that you would like to implement yourself.
Whether you have an initial concept or a fully developed idea—we will support and guide you on your journey all the way to implementation!
Event: Workshop Repair & Reuse Date: 23 April 2026 Time: 17.00—19.30 Place: Aachen, Germany
Submit your idea in a few quick & easy steps!
For further questions, please contact Alexandra Kessler.
Algae-based products can contribute to healthier diets, sustainable materials, and sustainable innovations. Yet, despite these advantages, they remain rather unfamiliar and under-adopted. Join our AlgaeProBANOS summer school 2026 and learn how to co-create sustainable products, increase their market acceptance, and creatively showcase their benefits to the wider public!
In the AlgaeProBANOS project, the CSCP supports algae entrepreneurs in increasing the market acceptance of their products by co-creating their sustainability storylines and supporting the exhibiting of their products.
In June 2026, you will have the unique opportunity to join the AlgaeProBanos online summer school to deepen your skills on sustainable innovation, co-creative product development and consumer and stakeholder engagement!
What’s in it?
Together with the AlgaeProBanos partners we have put together algae knowledge and insights from the project and created a 4-week online summer school:
Who is it for?
The summer school is designed for aspiring and active algae and blue entrepreneurs, students and researchers in blue bioeconomy disciplines (including biotechnology, marine sectors and business).
The importance of consumer acceptance
As part of the project, we recently published a report on influencing factors on consumer acceptance of algae-based food, feed, cosmetics, textiles, nutraceuticals and bio-stimulants.
What we found: While health and sustainability are strong motivators, novelty, unfamiliarity, and accessibility are key barriers. Targeting health-conscious, innovative, and eco-conscious segments, and ensuring clear communication and consumer engagement, is essential to scale adoption across sectors. Would you like to learn more? Read the full report here!
Methods to foster co-creation
Beyond understanding why consumer acceptance and engagement matters, concrete formats and structured processes are needed to involve relevant actors effectively. In sustainable product development—particularly in emerging fields such as algae-based innovation—co-creation extends beyond consumers.
It also involves entrepreneurs, value chain partners, and external stakeholders who influence feasibility, positioning, and market uptake. Each group brings different perspectives: strategic, technical, regulatory, or experiential.
In the AlgaePro BANOS project, the CSCP implemented several practical formats to engage both stakeholders and end-users. At the summer school you will learn about our three-stage co-creation journey, leading you from ideation to experimentation to validation. You will also get exclusive access to our “Sustainable Product Guidebook” for algae entrepreneurs.
How creative formats increase acceptance
The CSCP hosted a successful first algae exhibition in Berlin in 2025, to showcase algae’s potential for sustainable product development. This and other creative formats will be presented to you to discuss with your peers and develop your own engagement strategy.
As part of the AlgaeProBANOS project, the CSCP also researched factors influencing consumer acceptance of algae-based products in 6 different product groups and published a report.
Subscribe to the project newsletter and follow the project page on LinkedIn so that you’re first to know when the registrations open!
How can local production, open technologies and circular approaches strengthen resilient communities? The upcoming FAB Region Symposium in Wuppertal, Germany invites researchers and practitioners to share ideas and solutions shaping sustainable regional futures.
On 16 June 2026, the interdisciplinary symposium “FAB Region: Building Resilient Communities” will take place at the University Wuppertal, Germany. The event brings together researchers, practitioners, activists and designers to exchange knowledge and explore strategies for building resilient, sustainable regions.
The symposium is part of the FAB Region project, which aims to transform the Bergisch city triangle in Germany into a co-creative circular economy region by connecting local innovation hubs, communities and research institutions.
We invite you to share your contributions to topics such as Fab Cities, makerspaces and Fab Labs, open-source approaches, cradle-to-cradle principles, sufficiency, circular value creation and local production systems.
Interdisciplinary perspectives from fields including technology, urban development, design, social sciences or ecological economics are welcome!
Participants can submit abstracts (max. 300 words) for either:
The submission deadline is 31 March 2026, and selected contributions may be published after the symposium.
The event will provide a space for dialogue, networking and collaborative visions for resilient communities and circular regional development.
Researchers and practitioners interested in contributing are invited to submit their abstracts via email!
For further questions, please contact Nils Kreft.
Photos © Juliane Herrmann
The CSCP has been reappointed to the European Circular Economy Stakeholder Platform (ECESP) Coordination Group for the third consecutive term and will be co-lead the Leadership Group on “Enabling an inclusive circular society”. With the 2026–2028 work programme as a compass, we aim to translate ambitions into people-centred action. Curious to learn more? We will be unpacking this topic at the ECESP Annual Conference on 22–23 April 2026—join us there!
During the third term (2025–2028) as a Leadership Group member, we aim to shape the platform’s agenda and connect practitioners, policymakers, and civil society around tangible circular solutions.
As co-hosts of the Leadership Group “Enabling an inclusive circular society”, together with Rediscovery Centre and Generation Climate Europe, we will focus on anchoring the social dimension at the centre of circular economy efforts.
This includes linking circular policy and practice with just transition programmes, decent work and territorial cohesion; identifying positive, accessible and affordable behaviour and lifestyle shifts; and integrating culture, creativity and social innovation to strengthen wellbeing and inspiring new narratives for change.
This work directly supports the ECESP Coordination Group’s new 2026–2028 work programme, which sets four strategic priorities for the platform.
These include translating regulatory developments into practical implementation pathways (especially for small and medium-sized enterprises, cities and regions), supporting longer product lifespans, repair and reuse, and strengthening networks, peer learning and citizen engagement where the transition actually happens—within communities, workplaces and everyday life.
The ECESP Annual Conference, which this year takes place under the theme “A competitive and fair circular Europe”, offers a key opportunity to accelerate this agenda.
Day two of the conference (the Stakeholder Day) is organised by the ECESP Coordination Group and will feature parallel workshops led by the Leadership Groups.
Within this programme, together with our Leadership Group partners, we will host a parallel workshop on how to design circular policies and business models that work for people, create quality jobs, broaden participation, and make circular lifestyles the easy, affordable, and attractive option.
We look forward to engaging with partners across Europe to co-shape this session and to ensure that inclusion, skills and behavioural insights are treated as enabling conditions—not afterthoughts—in the next phase of Europe’s circular transition.
Event: ECESP Annual Conference Date: 22–23 April 2026 Place: Brussels & online Language: English Cost: Free of charge
To join the conference, please register here!
Interested in contributing and joining us on this effort? The Leadership Groups are open to the broader circular economy community, and the ECESP invites all stakeholders to express interest in joining.
For further questions, please contact Rosa Strube.
How can we turn Europe’s circular economy strategies into tangible change in cities and regions? This year, the CSCP has joined hands with INNOWO as a co-organiser of the Circular Week 2026, a European platform turning circular economy ambition into urban action. From 26–31 October 2026, cities, policymakers, and practitioners will come together to explore how circular strategies can be turned into real change on the ground.
Since its launch by the INNOWO Institute in 2018, the Circular Week continues to grow, with the 2026 partnership with the CSCP marking a step forward in advancing cross-border collaboration for circular and climate-resilient cities. Building on a strong Polish–German cooperation and diverse local experiences, the Circular Week 2026 aims to demonstrate how Europe’s circular economy ambitions can be translated into practical, place-based solutions in cities and regions.
The Circular Week brings together cities, practitioners, researchers, businesses, citizens and policymakers who are actively shaping the circular transition. Rather than focusing only on high-level strategy, the 2026 edition puts implementation at the centre: How do circular economy policies become tangible impact? How can cities decarbonise industry and empower communities to take action? What does a circular and resilient urban system look like in practice?
What’s in it for you?
Throughout the week, participants can take part in various activities, including engaging site visits in Germany and Poland, a high-level online conference, and other collaborative formats designed to encourage genuine exchange. The programme will explore how cities and regions are:
A platform to connect and engage
By co-organising Circular Week for the first time, the CSCP reinforces its commitment to accelerating sustainable consumption and production through practical, systems-oriented approaches. The Circular Week 2026 provides a platform to connect European policy ambitions with on-the-ground implementation and to strengthen partnerships between cities and regions across borders.
Become part of the Circular Week 2026
The event is conceived as an open European platform. Circular economy pioneers, networks and initiatives from across Europe are invited to become part of the week or the online conference by contributing case studies, sharing experiences, organising satellite events or joining as partners to increase collective impact.
The online conference explores how policy can empower diverse stakeholders at the city level by bringing together actors from the EU, pioneering businesses and municipal representatives. It addresses key questions such as how to build resilient urban infrastructure, finance circular economy efforts, actively engage citizens, and leverage regulations like the Ecodesign and Right to Repair directives to foster truly circular societies.
Cities are key drivers of Europe’s circular and climate transition and the Circular Week 2026 seeks to amplify their role as laboratories for innovation and collaboration, showing how circular ambition becomes an urban reality.
More information on locations and programme highlights will follow soon. If you are interested in becoming a partner of Circular Week 2026 or organising your own event as part of the programme, please get in touch with us!
Event: Circular Week 2026 Date: 26–31 October 2026 Location: Online as well is in selected locations in Poland and Germany Language: English and German Cost: Free of charge
To learn more about the event, please visit the Circular Week 2026 website.
The Circular Week 2026 is funded by the Ministry of the Environment, Nature Conservation and Transport of the State of North Rhine-Westphalia.
Fur further questions, please contact Nils Kreft.
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