Helsinki-Uusimaa Circular Valley
Updated on 10.01.2024
The Council is leading a Helsinki-Uusimaa Circular Valley initiative – a platform of various innovation actors aiming to create systemic change towards accomplishing circular economy (CE) in the region.
CE is a great opportunity for Helsinki-Uusimaa, both in terms of sustainable development and business. Most of Finland's material flows are generated here and we have the largest population in the country. Also, our strong research, development and innovation (RDI) sector is developing CE solutions. Circular Valley is being developed in close cooperation with member municipalities, the government, the business sector, universities and research institutions, as well as with civic organisations.
More information
CE is one of the priority themes for the region, articulated in the Regional Program, Smart specialisation strategy and the Climate-neutral Helsinki-Uusimaa 2030 Roadmap.
The Helsinki-Uusimaa Regional Council is a joint regional authority of 26 municipalities in the Helsinki-Uusimaa Region, as mandated in law, and tasks include regional and land-use planning. The Council articulates common regional needs, long-term development goals and conditions for sustainable development.
Leading organisation
Helsinki-Uusimaa Regional Council
Unit/department/section
Regional development
Main partners/stakeholders
Relevant circular economy stakeholders (municipalities, development companies, RDI organisations, etc.)
Link to existing circular economy action plan
Objectives
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Other activities
The understanding of the importance of CE has slowly risen in our region, starting from the previous regional programme in 2017. The 2017 programme already mentioned CE as a topic to be developed. In the programme, our region also set the goal of achieving climate neutrality by 2035.
To realise the climate neutrality target, the council prepared the Climate Neutral Helsinki-Uusimaa 2035 Roadmap. During the process of preparing the Roadmap, CE gained even more momentum, thus becoming one of our spearheads. There was a workshop to identify the regional strengths and weaknesses, followed by a project to map the current CE stakeholders and their projects.
The projects were identified from 2018 to 2020. During these years there had been 68 projects, with stakeholders from the Helsinki-Uusimaa Region. Over 300 national or international partners were involved in these projects, whose combined budget was EUR 120 000 000. Some of these projects are national, other are international, and have funding from Horizon and Interreg programmes. The main funding source however has been the European Regional Development Fund.
The most important programme today is our new regional programme called Well Ahead, approved in December 2021. In this programme, we set a goal to be leaders in the transition to sustainable CE in Finland and Europe. The programme gives a strategic base for developing the Helsinki- Uusimaa Circular Valley with our stakeholders.
Link to Circular Systemic Solution
The Helsinki-Uusimaa Circular Valley is a collaborative network that brings together experts, forward-thinking companies and dynamic organisations from different fields and municipalities. The Circular Valley’s mission is to bring these diverse stakeholders together to exchange ideas, knowledge and networks, all with a single goal in mind: co-creating new value chains.
Helsinki-Uusimaa Circular Valley aspires to be the driving force behind unleashing the innovative potential of SMEs and other essential players. The pilot’s ultimate aim is to champion the transition to a circular economy. Its plan to achieve this is primarily by developing pilot projects and scaling up solutions, creating opportunities for green businesses to thrive.
Circular economy good practices
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Key publications, policies, legislations and initiatives
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Support from CSO
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Resource use, flows and materials
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