At the Circular Valley Forum, Federal Research Minister Bettina Stark-Watzinger emphasised the joint interests of the German government and the Rhine-Ruhr Region Initiative in the circular economy.
„With the initiative Circular Valley you want to be pacesetters for the circular economy, provide impetus for our country and beyond,“ said Stark-Watzinger in a video message for the major meeting of the circular economy. The The German government, in turn, is currently bundling all activities in a „circular economy strategy“. „We want to be pioneers in Europe,“ said the Minister.
The Circular Valley Forum is a meeting with around 600 guests from politics, business, science and civil society. For one day, they will discuss which Challenges and ideas for moving from the linear economy of the throwaway society to genuine circular behaviour. Among others, NRW Economics Minister Mona Neubaur, State Environment Minister Oliver Krischer as well as CEOs and board members from BASF, Bayer, Evonik, Vorwerk, Haniel, Grüner Punkt, Fraunhofer Umsicht, Max Planck Institute and the Wuppertal Institute will be taking part.
To bring ideas from research to market maturity, in other words Connecting science and business is another thing that the Federal Government and Circular Valley have in common. „The transfer has to work,“ said Stark-Watzinger. „That's what you have in mind at Circular Valley. For example, you approach start-ups so that they don't start from scratch when knowledge is already available.“
The forum is organised by the Circular Valley Foundation. It is committed to the transformation to a circular economy and wants to make the extended Rhine-Ruhr region a global hotspot for the circular economy. to make the world a better place. The foundation pursues these goals with an international start-up funding programme, policy advice and projects for citizens. The Federal Research Minister praised the foundation for this: „With Silicon Valley in mind, the name Circular Valley is both a programme and an aspiration. I hope that we will hear a lot more from you, and that others will too - worldwide.“
Source: Circular Valley
