SAVE THE DATE – Switch Med Connect to share and scale up eco and social innovations
SAVE THE DATE! – SwitchMed Connect will take place on 29-30 October in Barcelona
SwitchMed Connect, the first annual gathering of Mediterranean stakeholders to build synergies, exchange knowledge and scale up eco and social innovations, will take place from 29 to 30 October 2015 at the Centre Cultura Contemporànea de Barcelona (CCCB) in Barcelona, Spain.
More than 300 participants including leading start-ups and entrepreneurs, industry agents, change agents, policy and financial institutions working on applications of productive, circular and sharing economies in the Mediterranean will gather to experience, investigate, learn and take action under the theme “Towards Productive, Circular and Collaborative Economies in the Mediterranean”.
Stories of entrepreneurs and change makers working to practise sustainable food, housing, tourism and fashion will be shown at ‘Switchers Expo’. In addition, at the SwitchMed Connect, the brand new online platform ‘The Switchers’ will be launched. There will also be parallel tracks, each showcasing Mediterranean initiatives working to build capacity in industries, entrepreneurs and civil society organisations. Impact investing sessions will provide a mapping of green and social investment solutions from credit lines, venture capital to crowd funding available in the region.
UfM project Mediterranean RESCP
The SwitchMed Connect – co-organised in partnership with the UfM Secretariat – will also see the announcement and presentation of the activities planned and launched under the Union for the Mediterranean (UfM) labelled project “Mediterranean RESCP Post Rio+20: Supporting the adoption of Sustainable Consumption and Production (SCP) and Resource Efficiency (RE) models in the Mediterranean region”. Promoted by the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD), United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO) and the Regional Activity Centre for Sustainable Consumption and Production (SCP/RAC) of the United Nations Environment Programme, the project aims at supporting access to financing for companies adopting SCP/RE models in Morocco, Tunisia, Egypt, Jordan; and up-scaling the SCP/RE enabling and demo activities for green industries, businesses and local stakeholders in Albania, Bosnia & Herzegovina, Montenegro and Turkey.
The project is a direct follow up to the Rio+20 Summit and complements the EU-funded SwitchMed programme in order to ensure the shift of the entire Mediterranean region towards SCP patterns.
SwitchMed Connect is organised as part of SwitchMed, an initiative that supports and connects stakeholders to scale-up eco- and social innovations in the Mediterranean. SwitchMed is funded by the European Union and is collaboratively implemented by the EU, UNIDO, the United Nations Environment Programme/Mediterranean Action Plan (UNEP/MAP), SCP/RAC and UNEP/DTIE (Division of Technology, Industry and Economics).
More information at www.swichmed.eu
The Ecodesign Award
The Ecodesign Award, funded by the Catalan Regional Government, will be awarded at the ceremony taking place on 29 October within the framework of SwitchMed Connect. The award counts on the support of SwitchMed, and on the collaboration of UNEP/MAP, UNEP/DTIE and the UfM Secretariat. This award includes a Euro-Mediterranean category to which more than 40 companies, professionals and entrepreneurs from the region have submitted their cases.
More information here
