CEE2ACT at the Circular Week 2025: Shaping a Circular Bioeconomy for Central and Eastern Europe

How can Central and Eastern Europe lead the way toward a circular bioeconomy and a more sustainable future? At the opening day of the Circular Week 2025 in Warsaw, Poland, our CEE2ACT project team showcased how collaboration, local empowerment, and innovation can turn the circular bioeconomy from vision to action.

The Circular Week 2025, which is hosted by the Institute of Innovation and Responsible Development— INNOWO, brought together high-level representatives from the European Commission, national governments, and international organisations including EIT Food, the Ellen MacArthur Foundation, and Circle Economy.

This first day, themed “Circular Bioeconomy as Key for Biodiversity and Resilience”, set the agenda for the week. Our CEE2ACT project, which supports ten Central and Eastern European (CEE) countries in building national bioeconomy strategies through stakeholder engagement and evidence-based processes, was presented as an example of cross-country and multi-level actor collaboration.

In the session “The CEE2ACT Project and its Bottom-Up Approach to Promote the Bioeconomy Development in the CEE Countries,” CSCP Project Manager Kartika Anggraeni and the coordinator of the CEE2ACT Polish National Bioeconomy Hub, Piotr Jurga (IUNG-PIB) showcased how the project mobilises ministries, research institutions, businesses and communities to co-create bioeconomy roadmaps at national and regional levels.

The Polish National Bioeconomy Hub, represented by Piotr Jurga, shared insights into the ongoing work on a Circular Bioeconomy Roadmap, which will underpin Poland’s future National Bioeconomy Strategy.

A key milestone achieved by the Polish Hub during the day was the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) among several organisations — marking a formal step in strengthening cross-sector cooperation and driving toward a circular, bio-based economy.

As the panels of the day explored topics such as bioremediation, national strategy formation, materials transition and biodiversity reporting, CEE2ACT stood out as an operational example of bottom-up implementation. By strengthening national capacities and promoting peer-learning across CEE countries, the project shows how regional collaboration can accelerate meaningful change.

You can read more about the work of CEE2ACT in supporting 10 Central and Easter European countries to shape their national bioeconomy strategies here.

Within the framework of the Circular Week 2025, the student competition “The Circular Shift: Business Reinvented” held its grand final at Kozminski University, Warsaw, on November 4, where six student teams from across Poland presented circular business solutions to sustainability challenges. CSCP’s Kartika Anggraeni was part of the jury alongside over ten European organisations, supporting initiatives that engage the next generation in shaping a circular bioeconomy.

In 2026, the CSCP will join Circular Week as a co-organiser, bringing the initiative to Germany and highlighting the role of cities in driving the circular transition with a combination of online and in-person events. Would you like to engage with us and be actively involved in Circular Week 2026? Reach out to Mike Tabel!

The CEE2ACT project is funded by the European Union’s Horizon Europe research programme and will run for three years (2022-2025), led by a consortium of 17 European partners.

For further questions, please contact Kartika Anggraeni.