ARoundTable: Circular Economy - From challenge to opportunity

How can we use the principles and practice of the circular economy to help rebuild economies and create jobs after the global Covid-19 pandemic?

The current pandemic we are experiencing has put the lives of most of us “on pause”, having strongly impacted local and global communities. Many of the affected communities will see unemployment rise sharply and many organizations have had to completely change their work systems. This whole situation has led many of us to reflect on the way we live today, the true meaning of things and the harmful impacts that the current linear economy, which relies on the logic of extracting, consuming and ransomlessly, has generated on our planet .

The Circular Economy helps us to collectively rethink how we can make the current situation an opportunity to transform our economic systems, into something more just, balanced, healthy and sustainable. Instead of going back to normal, NOW is the perfect time to experiment with new models, materials and business processes, more sustainable and circular to improve our communities as we recover.

The objective of this event is, through design thinking methodology, to develop solutions to accelerate local transformation for the circular economy, creating new opportunities, innovations and creating jobs. In this event, we will explore the question: how can we use the principles and practice of the circular economy to help rebuild economies and create jobs after the Covid-19 global pandemic?

The event will be online, in a collaborative format and will have the following structure:

1. Introduction and ice-break (30 minutes)

2. Brainstorming (60 minutes)

3. Mapping and final conclusions (30 minutes)

This event will take place simultaneously in several cities around the world and the ideals, learning and conclusions will later be shared and debated worldwide by Circular Economy Clubs in several cities around the world.

We invite a variety of participants, including academics, professionals, small and medium-sized companies, companies, city authorities, students, community members, NGOs and anyone with a strong interest in Circular Economy to get involved in aRoundTable - CEC Almada and Braga.

This event will help you to:

· Understand better about the principles and practical application of circular economy, systemic thinking and circular design

· Expand your network and build professional relationships globally

· Find people to collaborate and turn your passion and ideas into real projects

· Obtain insights and feedbacks from a global audience

· Make our local community more resilient and help accelerate the transformation to a circular economy

We look forward to involving you in our aRoundTable | CEC Almada & Braga in order to enhance the development of concrete measures to recover and improve our local economies, through the thinking of the circular economy.

For more information, visit the aRoundTable 2020 website here: https://www.aroundtable.earth/ .

aRoundTable 2020 is a Circular Economy Club (CEC) event, designed by CEC Milan, CEC Melbourne and Circular Economy Victoria, which will be facilitated in online format by CEC Almada, CEC Braga and BeeCircular.