Review: IAGF networks in the Danube region - SYMCRAFT forges new alliances
Linz & Bratislava, March 2025 - Two major network meetings in March provided the IAGF with ideal opportunities to present the Interreg CE project SYMCRAFT - Creative Craft for Industrial Symbiosis in Circular Economies - and to expand its own partner landscape in the Danube region.
IAGF networks in the Danube region - SYMCRAFT presents itself in Linz
Stakeholders from politics, science and practice came together at the Johannes Kepler University Linz to discuss future cooperation and funding strategies for the Danube region.
- Driving force
o Federal Ministry of Agriculture (BML)
o Federal Ministry of Labor and Economic Affairs (BMAW)
o Topic sheet: European cohesion policy to circular economy policy
- Working groups
o Innovation & research
o SMEs & circular economy
o ... and further in-depth topics
The forum proved to be the perfect platform for the IAGF to present SYMCRAFT to a wide audience and explore new interfaces. An important point was the exchange with Wood Kplus, a competence center for the material separation of mixed fabrics - a valuable addition to the Austrian SYMCRAFT network.
IAGF networks in the Danube region - Symcraft Capitalization Workshop Bratislava,
March 26-27, 2025 - Why this network meeting was important
Almost 120 stakeholders from 17 countries met at the Slovak Centre of Scientific and Technical Information in Bratislava at the end of March to "capitalize" their projects along the Danube and Central European programmes - in other words, to pool knowledge, create synergies and plan the next steps together. Four working groups took center stage, but the greatest interest was in the circular economy track with a focus on textiles - precisely the content of the SYMCRAFT project - in order to drive it forward.
Learning from others - synergies for Symcraft
After a compact introduction to the EU strategy for the Danube region, the projects presented themselves in short pitches. In addition to the presentation of the Symcraft project by Heidi Bichler-Ripfel (IAGF), other interesting projects relating to the circular economy and textiles were also presented:
Green-Tex - Enhancing Danube Green Textile and Garment Production and Consumption
Green-Tex strengthens the circular economy in the textile sector through a transnational consortium of 11 partners and 2 ministries. Along the entire value chain - from zero-waste design and production to collection and recycling - new solutions are being developed and piloted in several regions. A quadruple helix approach involves business, science, civil society and administration in order to anchor resilient, regenerative business models.
TEX-DAN - Moving forward with circularity in textile and fashion value chains
TEX-DAN (14 partners, 11 countries) supports SMEs in implementing circular technologies and business models. Bio-based materials, design strategies, resource-conserving production processes and recycling solutions are tested in living lab pilots. At the same time, a Danube Circular Textile Cluster is being created, which exchanges knowledge, formulates policy recommendations and has concluded a "MoU Green-Tex Pact" together with Green-Tex.
This led to an intensive exchange within the "Circular Economy" focus group.
The two events impressively demonstrated how much dynamism there is in the circular textile economy when projects openly share their results and trade, research and industry pull together. For SYMCRAFT, this means:
- Stronger network: new contacts such as Wood Kplus expand the range of expertise.
- Knowledge exchange: with Green-Tex, TEX-DAN & Co.
- Visibility: SYMCRAFT is now firmly anchored in a growing network.
SYMCRAFT is entering the next project phase with networking from Linz and Bratislava. The focus is now on further support for the pilot activities on industrial symbiosis and regional workshops to further anchor creative craft in the circular economy.