Circular Economy Catalyst project launch in India

The Circular Economy Catalyst (CEC) project was launched at the India Circular Economy Forum #ICEF2022 on 2nd June 2022 at the India Habitat Center in New Delhi. ICEF2022 was organised for 2-days (2-3 June 2022) by the International Council for Circular Economy (ICCE). 

The forum was inaugurated by Mr. Amitabh Kant, CEO of Niti Aayog, and Kari Herlevi, Project Director of Circular Economy at SITRA. The ICEF2022 provided an opportunity to identify, highlight, and celebrate circular initiatives in India across various focus sectors. The forum provides a platform for stakeholders to share insights, network, and learn from other circular economy experts and practitioners, as well as envision a futuristic approach for stakeholders to build and scale up a circular economy.

The Circular Economy Catalyst project was launched on the panel discussion ‘Unleashing the Entrepreneurship Spirit’. The panel discussion was headed and moderated by Mr. Amar Munnolimath, Senior Manager, adelphi. Mr. Chintan Bakshi, Partner-Incubation, Startup Oasis (CIIE) emphasized the opportunities for entrepreneurship in every stage of circular economy in India and mainly in the non-metro cities in India. Mr. Axel Darut, Head of EU & International Affairs, Citeo, discussed the best policy mechanisms from Europe that can be adapted to the Indian context to boost entrepreneurship in circular economy in India. Mr. Sharang Ambadkar, Founder, FeelGood Econurture LLP shed light on current challenges in the Indian entrepreneurship ecosystem for green and circular business models. Some of the major challenges discussed were around access to technology, access to information on regulation, access to green finance and a lack of capacities in existing incubation and acceleration organisations to assist circular economy business models. 

Mr. Amar Munnolimath presented the CEC project timeline activities planned for India, which tackle some of the challenges discussed on the panel. Panelists and participants were very excited about the project activities and programmes and were interested to be part of the project in their capacities.

The Circular Economy Catalyst is supported by the IKEA Foundation and hosted by adelphi in collaboration with SEED. By supporting circular economy enterprises in India and Kenya through targeted incubation and acceleration programmes, the Circular Economy Catalyst helps entrepreneurs to transform their visions and ideas into profitable and sustainable circular economy businesses. The project offers a comprehensive support package including tailored, interactive capacity building (business development support) based on co-creation and design thinking methodologies, accompanied by financial and technical support, opportunities for networking and partnership building, as well as profiling on a regional, national and international level.