The knowledge alliance of KATCH_e is now identifying the needs of companies and comparing it to the educational offer on circular and sustainability design

All partners of the Alliance are now working in their respective countries to identify the training necessities of companies and to analyse the educational offer and needs on circular and sustainability design, new model businesses, entrepreneurial skills, required to promote the transition to CE.

This identification is fundamental to design an educational programme and higher education training materials suitable to encourage cross-curricular learning connecting mainly with designers and engineers and other relevant stakeholders.

The KATCH_e partners are therefore currently carrying out a comprehensive review of several aspects related to CE, sustainability, design and education sources such as:

• Training offers and materials, technical papers, tools, innovative learning approaches and methodologies regarding CE, sustainability, new model business, industrial symbiosis, entrepreneurship;
• Policy trends at European and national level.

Circular economy (CE) is a relatively new concept which is receiving increasing attention worldwide as a way to overcome the current production and consumption models based in so-called “linear economy” or “take, make and dispose”.

In this new transition towards CE, the role of the designers is crucial but there are still some limitations and barriers in its implementation. There is not a systematic approach for its implementation and CE is not already a well-established and mature concept. On the other hand, this situation represents an opportunity and a challenge to prepare future generations of designers through the embedding circularity in the design high education system, because CE design must not continue to be left behind or added as a last minute thought.