We are pleased to invite you to the webinar ‘Circular Economy: Opportunities and Needs in the Labour Market‘ aimed to share information about how Vocational and Education Training (VET) programmes can support the transition towards a circular economy and exploits its potential for employment and social inclusion. 

The circular economy is among the core policy priorities of regional, national, and international policy-makers being a major tool to counter negative environmental trends while offering new opportunities for employment and social inclusion. The core pillars of the circular economy – reuse, repair, remanufactured, and recycling – imply a more labour intensive process than the linear economy where resources are wasted or lost. This results in an unparalleled potential for the promotion of employment, with the expected creation of approximately 700 000 new jobs linked to the circular economy (the so-called circular jobs) by 2030 in the EU (Cambridge Econometrics, Trinomics and ICF, 2018).  

At the same time, the transition is a broad process involving an overarching redefinition of the economy as a whole, as well as requiring the readiness of all economic and sectors in order to be fully realised. To this extent, this year, the European Union has adopted a new Circular Economy Action Plan for the achievement of a “cleaner and more competitive Europe in co-creation with economic actors, consumers, citizens, and civil society organisations”. As suggested in the document, the labour market plays a fundamental role in this process in that if able to anticipate and prepare for the transition, it can accelerate and maximise the potential of a circular economy. Hence, both the realisation of a circular economy and the effective uptake of its employment opportunities strongly depend on the readiness of the labour market.  

About the webinar

The event will be held within the sixth edition of the Skillman International Forum focused on ‘Redefining the Future of Learning in the Advanced Manufacturing Sector’. Additionally, it is part of the Skillnet series of 18 webinars designed to bring together experts in different fields linked to vocational education and training (VET) with the purpose of establishing relevant groups of collaboration and partnerships for future EU project proposals.  

It will offer regions and stakeholders engaged with the circular economy the opportunity to learn and exchange about how regions, companies, and VET organisations can support the transition towards a circular economy and exploit its employment potential by fostering the needed skills in the workforce.   

In this context, the webinar aims to: 

• Provide information about what are the skills needed in a circular economy with particular regard to the advanced manufacturing sector.
• Offer the possibility to learn from, and exchange with, experts about how VET can support the circular economy transition by developing new curricula tailored to skill and upskill the ‘circular workforce‘.
• Create a space for debate and network for experts in the field in order to establish relevant partnerships that can be applied within future EU funding opportunities.

How to join the webinar?

Only one registration is given for all the events within the Skillman International Forum (SIF). Hence, to join the event, you have to register to Skillman International Forum and participants will be re-directed from the plenary (main room) to the various sessions in the course the event through break-out rooms.  

If you cannot attend the whole SIF, you may access the event at least 15 minutes before the beginning of the webinar “Circular Economy: Opportunities and Needs in the Labour Market” (starting time 15:30) so that you can be re-directed to the session.

This webinar is organised in the context of SKILLNET, an EU-funded project which aims to strengthen the Vocational Education and Training (VET) system’s role and capacity to design high-quality VET programmes tailored to current societal needs through enhanced transnational and cross-sectoral partnerships.