At the initiative of the Luxembourg Directorate of Defence and the European Defence Agency, the Luxembourg European Convention Centre will host the first annual conference of the Incubation Forum for Circular Economy in European Defence (IF CEED) on 6 and 7 September.
This high-level event will provide an opportunity to take stock of the progress made so far within IF CEED, one year after its launch, and to consolidate the links between the stakeholders involved (ministries and public institutions, companies, research centres…) and point the way forward.
“Incubation sessions” will allow discussions around specific collaborative and transnational project ideas, approaches and roadmaps. Major topics of the circular economy applied to the European defence sector will be addressed, such as the green transition of EU defence industry currently taking place, or how to find and exploit circular economy synergies between the private sector and the defence sector.
Nine project categories
“There is a great interest for Luxembourg companies to participate in this event,” explains Alexander Link, Defence Industry Coordinator at Luxinnovation. “They will be able to showcase their experience/competences in the civilian domain, which can be used as a reference in the defence domain, but also to participate in one – or more – of the nine project circles defined within the IF CEED initiative.”
These nine “circles” relate to (i) critical raw materials, (ii) circular additive manufacturing, (iii) circular materials for textiles, (iv) sustainable ecodesign, (v) waste, (vi) circular data, (vii) EMAS (Environmental Management and Audit Scheme) directive, (viii) green procurement, and (ix) spare parts management.
“We can only encourage our SMEs and some other large Luxembourg companies to participate as well,” M. Link insists. “Any company or research centre active in the field of the circular economy is concerned.”