Turin Hub participates in the World Economic Forum’s Scale360° Circular Innovation programme aimed at accelerating the transition of different local ecosystems to the Circular Economy. The programme provides participating organizations with the Scale360° Playbook, a guide listing nearly 30 possible interventions that leverage design thinking to achieve that goal. Within the programme, Shapers select, customize and deliver interventions that are most relevant to local needs. 

 

PILOT PROJECT

Turin Hub was one of only four Global Shapers Hubs selected from a highly competitive pool to implement a pilot project within the Programme. The pilot phase run from January to July 2021. Throughout the process, Shapers were directly supported by the Global Shapers Team,, the WEF and the local Advisory Board made up of leading experts in the area of Circular Economy. Shapers have organized a panel presenting some Members of the Advisory Board to the public at Davos Lab Torino in April 2021 (reaching over 450 viewers and 70 engagements). 

Although Piedmont is not lacking organizations that support circular economy solutions, they tend to operate in silos rather than through collaborative partnerships, resulting in the fragmentation of the local circular economy ecosystem. Following consultations with relevant local stakeholders, Turin Hub has resolved to carry out the intervention called “Co-Creation Session” to bring these actors together to discuss common challenges and find tangible common solutions. 

The Co-Creation Session took place on 3rd June and included over 30 representatives from 14 organizations operating in or headquartered in the region. Among these were regional policy-makers and representatives from major corporations and SMEs, universities and existing circular economy networks. Over 20 Turin Shapers have contributed to the organization or facilitation of the Co-Creation Session, led by Margherita Barbieri and Simona Grande. 

Within the Co-Creation Session, participants provided more insights into the possible future development of the Programme in Turin. The Playbook’s intervention “Network Formation” has emerged at the top priority, preferably with a name “Hub” instead of “Network”. “Policy Working Group” was the second most voted scenario. The session resulted in at least 5 valuable connections sparked among local stakeholders, as reported by participants a month later, and the efforts of the pilot programme were reported by national and local press. 

 

CITIES GO CIRCULAR

The outcomes of the pilot project were featured in the public livestream broadcasted by the WEF Cities Go Circular on 23 July 2021, scoring 17,600 views across the WEF Agenda website, Facebook and Twitter. The broadcast included a short summary video that was also widely shared on social media. 

Press release was reprinted in or highlighted by: SME10 Smart Cities World, Modern Diplomacy, Mirage News, World News Daily, Resource Recycling, Mint Magazine, Green Finance, Daily Advent, Memo-X, Anunt Bucaresti.

 

SCALE 360° LEADERSHIP 

Following the successful conclusion of the pilot project, Margherita Barbieri, Simona Grande and Olga Osuchowska were selected to the global Scale 360° Team to support and guide the next cohort of hubs in the GSC Scale360° programme.

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  Margherita serves as one of the programme mentors, facilitating regular sessions for the Global Shapers Hubs selected for the new cohort and Impact Lead, 

  
  


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  Simona shares her expertise and resources, building on her research work at the University of Turin;

  
  


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  Olga contributes to the programme’s communication strategy and content creation.

  
  

 

CLIMATE REALITY PROJECT INCUBATOR

In May 2021 the Turin Hub was selected to participate in the Climate Reality Project Incubator. Turin Shapers participated in 6 training sessions, gaining invaluable skills and know-how to implement projects focused on climate action. 

Within the Incubator, Shapers envisioned and presented the project “The Centre of Excellence for Circular Economy”, combining methodologies from the Scale360 Playbook and from the Climate Reality Projects Guide. The project’s goal is to provide companies and start-ups in Turin with a common focal point providing Circular Economy expertise in order to collaboratively build a more circular ecosystem. 

Creating the Centre of Excellence for Circular Economy in Turin is an opportunity to specifically include expert voices representing interest groups that until now have been excluded from decision-making, and to put them at the centre of the local movement for the transition of our current unsustainable ecosystem to the circular economy. Furthermore, creating a formal Centre is the most tangible, long-lasting and realistic solution to address systemic inequities that currently isolate relevant local stakeholders into siloses, preventing them from collaborating as an efficient network and from forming a genuine community.

Turin Hub’s project was awarded a $1,000 grant from the Climate Reality Incubator and will be implemented in the period from September 2021 to April 2022.