About us

Title: The European Alliance for Advancing Circular Economy via Industrial Digital Symbiosis

Acronym: SymbioTech

Programme: Erasmus +

Project Duration: 01.11.2024 – 31.10.2027 (36 months)

LEAD Partner: Poland (AGH University of Krakow)

Project Partners:

• Slovenia (Dermol d.o.o)
• Italy (Exeo Lab)
• Greece (University of Patras)
• Norway (Prios Kompetanse)
• Bulgaria (Chamber of Commerce and Industry - Vratsa)
• Czech Republic (VSB – Technical University of Ostrava)
• The Netherlands (Lidi Smart Solutions)
• Austria (IMC University of Applied Sciences Krems)
• Denmark (InDialogue Denmark)
• Slovakia (SIEA – Slovak Innovation and Energy Agency)

SymbioTech focuses on advancing the circular economy through the innovative Digital Industrial Symbiosis paradigm, aiming to foster sustainable growth by integrating innovative training programs, AI solutions and innovative digital tools for knowledge exchange and industrial symbiosis practices.

The project emphasizes collaboration among European SMEs, educational institutions, and key stakeholders to enhance skills and opportunities in the green economy by leveraging cutting-edge technologies.

The SymbioTech project aligns with the European Union’s goal of sustainable development in Europe and the transition towards a circular economy. The project’s focus is on the integration of digital technologies in Industrial Symbiosis (IS). This innovative approach leverages technological advancements to facilitate efficient resource use, waste reduction, and sustainable industrial practices, contributing significantly to the European Union’s sustainability and climate goals.

SymbioTech focuses on advancing the circular economy through the innovative Digital Industrial Symbiosis paradigm, aiming to foster sustainable growth by integrating innovative training programs, AI solutions and innovative digital tools for knowledge exchange and industrial symbiosis practices. The project emphasizes collaboration among European SMEs, educational institutions, and key stakeholders to enhance skills and opportunities in the green economy, by leveraging cutting-edge technologies.

The initiative will develop microtraining modules and organize live training events to promote green entrepreneurship and labour market opportunities for the SymbioTech Managers, with an emphasis on peer-to-peer learning and real-world case studies. The expected outcomes include improved resource efficiency, reduced environmental impact, and a boost in economic growth by fostering innovation and collaboration in the green sector.

The project will be carried out and implemented at two levels: 

1. At European level, the partners will exchange knowledge, transfer good practices and create a coherent and impactful Digital IS curriculum, training programme, collaborative platform and energy management tool to provide the SymbioTech Managers with a full round package of know-how and resources and make them ready for the labour market.
2. At local and national level, the partners will adapt, validate and test the Digital IS curriculum, and training programme, in accordance with their own target groups and local context.

The SymbioTech features a truly pan-European consortium with partners from Nordic Europe (Norway and Denmark), Central and Eastern Europe (Austria, Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Slovakia, Slovenia and Poland), Western Europe (The Netherlands) and Southern Europe (Italy and Greece).

Main objectives: 

1. Establish a new labour market framework for SymbioTech managers;
2. Generate exchange of good practices among circular economy, Industrial Symbiosis (IS) and labour market actors representing several industry sectors;
3. Build capacity of HEI teachers and VET providers to improve their Industrial Symbiosis (IS) competences;
4. Involve more women employees in circular economy challenges.

Main results:

• The expected outcomes include improved resource efficiency, reduced environmental impact, and a boost in economic growth by fostering innovation and collaboration in the green sector.
• Advancing the circular economy through the innovative Digital Industrial Symbiosis paradigm;
• Sustainable growth by integrating innovative training programs, AI solutions and innovative digital tools (The SymbioTech digital platform and SymbioEnergy tool), for knowledge exchange and industrial symbiosis practices;
• Collaboration among European SMEs, educational institutions, and key stakeholders to enhance skills and opportunities in the green economy, by leveraging cutting-edge technologies;
• Relevant learning programmes and curricula to address the circular economy challenges through technological innovations, building train-the-trainer programmes to upskill and reskill circular economy experts to meet todays and future technological opportunities, micro training modules and live training events to promote green entrepreneurship and labour market opportunities for the STech Managers, with an emphasis on peer-to-peer learning and real-world case studies;
• Greater awareness of CE practices, especially those related to Industrial Symbiosis (IS);
• Innovative technologies into IS mechanisms that can make this CE mechanism more attractive for companies (in terms of efficiency, productivity, and impact on existing business practices);
• Qualified external support, since Industrial Symbiosis is a collaborative mechanism among the involved companies (which otherwise wouldn't invest resources, time, and energy in implementing such processes);
• Better understanding by the companies and dealing with innovative digital/circular economy practices will enable them to increase productivity and innovation capacity, contribute to greener production patterns, digitized processes, and more resilience to unexpected global turbulence, climate and demographic trends;
• Improved resource efficiency, reduced environmental impact, and a boost in economic growth by fostering innovation and collaboration in the green sector.