Almost all industrial applications require a high-water purity at some point of the process stage for manufacturing, in cooling towers, as boiler feed water rinsing, cleaning and ensuring product quality. The EU market for industrial process water purification is valued with 761M€/year with a growth rate of 5% annually. AQUA-PURTM system, developed by BIOAZUL, is a suitable system to penetrate this growing market. It is based on Membrane Distillation, is a fully automatic water purification process without any need of pretreatment or added chemicals. Compared to SotA, dependent on the type of application 35-85% of fresh water as well as 45% of electric energy can be saved. AQUA-PUR TM demonstrated during a test in an industrial laundry, to be a water and energy-efficient, economically accessible and profitable solution, reaching a 97% water efficiency and a resulting water purity that meets the demands of the rinsing and washing processes. AQUA-PURTM will facilitate the transition to a circular economy in the industrial water purification sector. Our business opportunity is reflected in a large number of EU-industrial establishments seeking to reduce their freshwater consumption and meet the environmental legislation for efficiency. There is a huge market potential for higher resource efficiency and less water footprint and, as an impelling factor of our business success, the current EU legal framework aims to promote water efficiency in the industry through innovative solutions.

PROJECT OBJECTIVES (RESULTS)The project objective is to create and evaluate methodologies for circular economy in public and private procurement. The following project intellectual outputs will be processed: a) Methodology for participants of circular public and private procurement course; b) Methodology for lecturers of circular public and private procurement course. This project is actively supported by Czech Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs that is a leader on Czech market in process of responsible public and private procurement (Letter of Intent). NUMBER OF PARTICIPANTSThis project consortium consists of 3 partner organizations from 3 different European countries (Czechia, Slovakia and Spain). All partner organizations are for a long time active in the field of circular economy and they are leaders in this topic in their countries.PROFILES OF PARTICIPANTSBIC Brno - is a business and innovation center established in 1991 as a part of the European Business and Innovation Center Network (EBN). The aim of BIC Brno is innovation support and its implementation into practice. BIC Brno is a private research organization that cooperates with a number of universities and research organizations in the Czech Republic and abroad. BIC Brno has a scientific board that is used as an advisory body for various research topics and projects. Scientific board is consisted of top researchers working at Czech universities. This organization participates on a number of projects focused on eco-innovation, environment, circular economy and modern energetics. During its existence BIC Brno has successfully realized lots of research and innovative projects of various focus and size.INCIEN SK - Slovak Institute for the circular economy (INCIEN SK) is a non-profit organization which specializes in implementing circular economy principles into companies, national legislation and public awareness. INCIEN SK is focusing on bringing the solutions with a direct impact to the economy. INCIEN SK cooperates also with the Slovak Presidential palace. INCIEN SK organizes specialized circular economy events and courses.BIOAZUL - is a well experienced organization in water management, an important part of the circular economy. BIOAZUL has wide experience in international R&D and innovation projects. This company implements circular economy principles using water treatment and reuse systems according to Spanish policies and strategies. The organization has large experience with organizing circular economy events, training sessions and conferences gathering stakeholders from the value chain.DESCRIPTION OF PROJECT ACTIVITIESThis 24-month long innovative project will consist of the following activities: a) Two professional methodologies, intellectual project outputs, focused on circular economy public and private procurement. These methodologies will be created by an intellectual output team consisting of specialists for this topic. These outputs will be sent for validation to external experts; b) Three transnational project meetings will be organized during the project. c) Tree multiplier events used as a platform for validation and dissemination of the two methodologies. Project partners from each project country will organize one multiplier event at the end of the project.ANALYSIS OF NEEDSCircular economy is an effective way, how we can reduce large sums of different kinds of waste, how we can reuse material that has already been used, how we can reduce unnecessary use of raw materials and how we can ensure sustainable development for next generations. Public and private procurement is an area where implementation of circular economy principles will have a great positive impact. Why exactly this consortium? Because these organisations are active for a long time in the field of circular economy, they have very good cooperation with stakeholders from public and private sectors and they have an active cooperation with project target groups.IMPACT AND LONG TERM BENEFITAll project partners are for a long time in close cooperation. All project partners are experienced in circular economy. All project partners are in active contact with stakeholders from public and private spheres in their countries. Moreover all project partners are experienced in organizing circular economy conferences, seminars, workshops and other professional events. Thanks to organization of these events, project partners are in real and active contact with target groups of this project. After this project ends, project partners intend to organize for a long time the courses of circular economy public and private procurement that can be realized only thanks to the methodologies from this project. So the impact and long term benefit of this project for industry and society will be high in all project countries.

A full transition to Circular Economy is not possible without professionals with a new way of understanding the economy, a comprehensive knowledge of the circular business models and new skills, tools and competences for developing circular strategies. Business leaders specially trained are essential to drive this shift. The job market needs to be prepared for a transition that is already taking place and a specific Circular Economy training would be a key instrument to boost the employability, self-employment and meet the new labour market demand.For that purposes, the objectives pursued are:- Identify the current state of development of Circular Economy in the EU zone.- Identify areas with more potential of self-employment and job profiles required.- Promote Circular Economy showing the opportunities this model offers and the risks for our society of a linear model continuation.- Endow a range of young adults with a deep understanding of the Circular Business Models and tools to initiate and finance their business in the context of Circular Economy.To reach these objectives, U-eco target groups are:- Entrepreneurs interested in starting a business in a Circular Economy Context.- Professionals interested in learning about Circular Business Models in order to:o Acquire new skills and competences that can improve their curricula, aligning it to the needs and opportunities that the labour market will offer.o Bring their current business activities closer to a circular approach.The project is gathering partners from 5 EU countries (Belgium, Poland, Romania, Spain and Sweden).The expected results are:- Current state of development of Circular Economy in the EU zone including:- A list of the main problems connected to a linear economy.- A report about the areas with more potential of entrepreneurship in a circular context including data as: market scope, growth rate, costs structure and profitability.- A list of the SMEs capacity gaps and their potential for market development.- A directory of barriers regarding rules and regulation.- A SWOT analysis of the identified business solutions.- A set of business strategies for entrepreneurship in a Circular Economy context.- A catalogue of 15 job profiles that will be demanded in the next decade to meet the circular labour demand and a set of skills and competences connected to those profiles.- A training system composed of 12 training modules/pills, which will include a useful toolkit for guiding the entrepreneurship process.- A set of 12 case studies and good practices divided in the areas previously identified as those with more potential for business opportunities.- An online content of open access with all the Intellectual Outputs developed during the project available in all partners’ languages (EN, SW, ES, RO, PL and FR).- Social networks (Facebook, Instagram and LinkedIn)

In recent years, a growing concern has been expressed throughout the EU regarding water scarcity problems and the significant impacts on freshwater resources by agricultural activities. The concept presented in this project is an advancement of the TREAT&USE system, a successful EU research project (FP7) approaching the safe reuse of wastewater in agriculture production with excellent technical and scientific results. The upscale of TREAT&USE prototype will permit to overcome main barriers to reach the market and adapt the technology to intensive agriculture production. The result will be a commercial system thoroughly demonstrated and tested in its operational environment. RichWater system is composed of a low-cost and energy-efficient MBR (to produce pathogen-free and nutrient rich irrigation water), a mixing module (for tailor-made mixing with freshwater and additional fertilizers), the fertigation unit and a monitoring / control module including soil sensors to guarantee demand-driven and case sensitive fertigation. By combining these developed modules a complete and turn-key system for safe wastewater reuse in agriculture is available covering all topics relevant to farmers and the market. In TREAT&USE, a prototype system has already been tested and implemented in a small-scale tomato plantation in Southern Spain. It is RichWater project ambition to develop an up-scaled commercial prototype (min. 100 m³ treatment capacity/day) and pursue the goal of implementing it in a real scale food producer in Southern Spain to reuse local community wastewater for irrigation purposes. The aim is to create a win-win situation between two sectors (the wastewater treatment and the agricultural sector) by turning public wastewater into a valuable end-product. A detailed life cycle assessment and business plan will help to precisely assess the ecologic, technological and economic benefits enabling an effective market strategy.