The learning took place in a hybrid format - a studio was organized in the Living Lab for Industrial Symbiosis development in St. Petersburg, where communication with participants took place live, and at the same time a broadcast to the ZOOM platform was organized. Online participants had the opportunity during the Live Discussion to communicate with guests in the studio.
The recording of the broadcast can be viewed at the link -First day of Industrial Symbiosis peer-to-peer learning Hybrid event in the LivingLab, StP, Russia
On the first day of April 22, the event began with the greeting of the event participants from the studio in the Living Lab and from the fields of the Baltic Circular Economy Forum, where TYREMAN GROUP presented the BIS project at a Panel discussion & forecast session “NTI ECONET and ecosystems of industrial symbiosis: a step towards circular economy?”
To immerse participants in the atmosphere of the city and give feel of the venue after the greetings, the participants went on a live guided city tour and even went to the famous "Pyshki" on Konyushennaya Street. There, over a cup of coffee, participants talked with guide Anna about pressing urban issues: current restrictions due to COVID-19, property prices, tourism and electronic visas.
After the excursion and coffee break, the participants returned to the studio to get acquainted with the team implementing the event and greet the first guests - Sergey, one of the founders and director of 99Recycle and Natalia, the owner of Umnaya Sreda (Smart Environment) St. Petersburg.
The first company where the event participants went on a tour was 99Recycle - Sasha, Olesya and Vasily talked about how the company was founded, about the idea of the project, about the first experiments in the garage, about the grant of the Innovation Assistance Fund and the Bortnik Foundation, the rapid development of the company and areas of activity: basic production - production of products from plastic bottle tops, printing on a large-format 3D printer and sewing workshop. The company has its own brand and online store, where you can buy 99Recycle designer products, and also produces merchandise for corporate customers. In addition to production, the company is engaged in eco-educational activities.
The second tour was organized to the production of Umnaya Sreda St. Petersburg. Natalya spoke about the main goal of the company - to rid the planet of plastic and the method of processing secondary household plastic, invented by the founders of the Umnaya Sreda franchise. The company produces small architectural forms, street furniture with quality, design and reliability competing with all available analogues, using exclusively secondary plastic of various categories, sand and electricity. The company is also engaged in educational activities, participates in the Clean Russia project, plants trees in city parks.
After tours to the enterprises, together with the participants and guests of the event, we discussed the participation of companies in the BIS project, an assessment of the industrial symbiosis concept as a model of sustainable development, as well as the competitiveness of handmade products produced by SMEs compared to global brands.
After the coffee break, the first stage of the industrial symbiosis case challenge finale organized in partnership with ITMO University, was held as part of the event. To hold this event, we were joined by Daria Mironova, Ph.D., Deputy Director for Project Activities and Commercialization - Mega Faculty of Biotechnology and Low Temperature Systems - ITMO University. 5 teams, consisting of students, postgraduate and their scientific leaders, prepared presentations on the use of a secondary resource - pig blood, as the main resource for new production. International experts listened to the teams presentations , asked questions and by voting determined the winner of this stage of the competition. Until May 01, the other two stages will be held - the scientific and business community will vote. After that, the winner of the competition will be determined by the total points.
