IO2. Guides to Identify, Collect and Classify Circular Challenges

io2

Guides to Identify, Collect and Classify Circular Challenges

CIRCLE Challenges to adress

Bachelor’s and master’s programs at technical universities focus heavily on technical skills, lacking preparation for addressing societal challenges. The 21st century demands life skills and transversal competencies to navigate rapid global changes. Key societal challenges include defending education as a public good and ensuring equitable wealth distribution. While initiatives like the UN's efforts for fairer global governance make progress, much work remains. The CIRCLE Challenges aim to spotlight and address critical issues for societal improvement.

Methodology to define the CIRCLE Challenges

The CIRCLE project analyzes shared societal interests and civic responsibilities, forming a "citizen contract." The Circular & Socio-Civic Learning Hub combines circular economy principles with ethical citizen responsibility to guide future professionals. Organizations present real-world challenges, inspiring solutions from students, educators, and stakeholders. These challenges, categorized into environmental, educational, socio-economic, and political/governance areas, promote sustainable and socio-civic actions to address critical societal issues.

PROJECT RESULTS

ENVIROMENTAL CIRCLE CHALLENGES

EDUCATIONAL CIRCLE CHALLENGES

SOCIO ECONOMIC CIRCLE CHALLENGES

The New Work culture: mobility and productivity.
Enhancing SOC compromise: Community organizing and mobilization vs. patriotism.
Platforms or media are more powerful than the government.
The Internet is the biggest market ever.
Wars are outdated.
Wealth distribution and values, and class struggles.
Generational implications of non-linear economic development in the new world order.
The internet: breach of privacy and freedom.
Developed societies know no borders.
Gender perspective trough circular economy.

GOVERNANCE CIRCLE CHALLENGES

CONCLUSION

In order to find the common point where the interests of the circular economy converge with
the interests of citizens and, through the process of search, documentation and discussion,
these 21 CIRCLE Challenges themes have been developed. The

This project commits to empower new generations of professionals working in a circular transition with a socio-civic compromise. To that end, we establish the Circular & SOC Learning (CIRC.LE) Hub; a meeting point for students, professors, transdisciplinary experts, society at large, and decision-makers, working together with a circular and sociocivic compromise. In the Circular & SOC Learning Hub, students reflect on challenges by evaluating social and civic implications and become co-creators and active part of the challenge. This humanizing approach is here considered as the perfect complement to the technical skills for a true application of circularity principles. The CIRC.LE Hub creates a multi-stakeholder, participatory, democratic mutual learning and knowledge transfer platform and puts on the table complex dilemmas and “out of the box” ideas for students’ social and civic development and promoting local action and global thinking. This contributes to boosting the concept of the European Engineer. The pilot Circular & SOC Learning Hub will be promoted by the participating Universities and Associated Partners and then grow beyond this partnership.