Europe is firmly committed to climate neutrality, sustainability and caring for the environment as strategic lines for its economic and social development. The European Green Deal is the regulatory framework that brings together the EU's efforts in this respect, and proposes a framework of “collective action” that requires agreement, collaboration and shared action between people, sectors and organisations that normally do not collaborate and which, without a doubt, poses a challenge.
In this context, the objective of the Ereiaroa project promoted by Aclima, the Basque Environment Cluster, Gipuzkoa Provincial Council and Tabakalera is to facilitate a co-creation process between environmental, cultural and creative sector agents, based on their capacities and which makes it possible to identify spheres of business cooperation, innovation and diversification that respond to the challenges of the ecological transition. A commitment to sustainable and creative transformation processes, more linked to the territory and its agents. An opportunity to generate proposals and solutions that can mature and result in new services, products, materials or activities that are more sustainable, healthy, circular and co-responsible.
EREIAROA
The EREIAROA project seeks to lay the foundations for inter-sectoral collaboration between the fields of the environment and culture and creativity; two sectors that have become strategic and which are levers for Europe's economic recovery. The development of the project focuses on thematic spheres such as: 360° urban regeneration and resilient territories; nature-based solutions, integrated in the urban, periurban and rural environment; circular economy; efficient management of resources and eco-efficient and quality-of-life cycles; improvement of environmental and health quality.
These fields of work are given priority status within a strategic framework that links to global with the local, from the UN’s 2030 Agenda or the EU's New European Bauhaus, to the KLIMA 2050 Climate Change Strategy or the BULTZATU 2050 Urban Agenda in the Basque Country.
In order to seek this hybridisation between sectors, four interrelated meeting and collective work sessions will be held. And given that it is mainly based on relationships and shared work, it will be aimed at companies, organisations and professionals in Gipuzkoa who work in the fields of eco-industry and the environment or in culture and creativity, understood in a broad and transdisciplinary way. During these sessions, in addition to identifying potential scopes and the search for collaboration between participants, draft projects will be defined based on scenarios of opportunity and their subsequent development will be used for: the search for partners, presentation to calls, etc.
The EREIAROA projects is 80% financed by the Department of Economic Promotion, Tourism and Rural Environment of Gipuzkoa Provincial Council, through the programme to "Promote the generation of opportunities, differential value and the sustainability of Gipuzkoa's business fabric", in the EKONOMIA SORTZAILEA department. EREIAROA is focused on improving the competitiveness of two sectors with broad representation in Gipuzkoa in terms of contribution to the economy and to local employment.
THE CALL FOR PROPOSALS
From today until next 28 February the call for proposals by EREIAROA will open, aimed at companies, organisations and professionals in Gipuzkoa who work in the fields of eco-industry and the environment or in culture and creativity, understood in a broad and transdisciplinary way. The terms and conditions of the call are available on the websites of both Tabakalera and Aclima.
CONSORTIUM
EREIAROA is developed jointly between Aclima, the Basque Environment Cluster as the representative of the environmental sector and Tabakalera, International Centre for Contemporary Culture, which is also a hub of the New European Bauhaus. This project is funded by the Ekonomia Sortzailea programme of the Department of Economic Promotion, Tourism and Rural Environment of Gipuzkoa Provincial Council.
Aclima: More than 26 years of work, experience and knowledge acquired make Aclima-Basque Environment Cluster, the reference and binder of the Basque environmental sector. It represents the private sector (industries and services), the knowledge sector (universities and technology centres) and the public sector. It currently has 107 partners, 78 of which are companies. And it represents the next 6 value chains: waste, full water cycle, contaminated land, air, ecosystems and eco-design.
Tabakalera: It is an international centre for contemporary culture located in Donostia/San Sebastián, which welcomes and encourages collaborations between different cultural institutions and projects. Its mission is to support the cultural and creative sector, contribute to developing Basque society’s creative and critical abilities, and foster the availability and enjoyment of culture. As a centre for creation, Tabakalera has the key goal of encouraging talent, raising awareness on contemporary creation, and promoting what the creative and cultural sector brings to the table for all other sectors and society at large.
In addition, as a cultural institution, Tabakalera must assume a responsibility regarding sustainability, and can also help to rethink and establish the role that the arts and citizen innovation can contribute to it, be it through design at the service of the circular economy, or thinking about more sustainable cities and forms of coexistence. The conjunction of cultural and creative sector players, along with the space for citizen creation that is Medialab, and the space for meeting, reflection and debate that this centre offers, have a unique potential to contribute towards the necessary change.
The EREIAROA project promoted by Aclima, Basque Environment Cluster, Gipuzkoa Provincial Council and Tabakalera seeks to lay the foundation for inter-sectoral collaboration between the fields of the environment and culture and creativity in Gipuzkoa.