During the European Week of Regions and Cities, ICLEI Europe, together with the International Federation of Organic Agriculture Movements, the European Committe of the Regions, and the Turkish Association of Social Democratic Municipalities, will co-organise the session "Promoting social innovation through public canteens". The event will highlight the power of public procurement and thereby call for a better use of public money to help Europe transition to a healthier, more resilient and equitable food system.

The workshop will advocate for the implementation of healthy and sustainable school meals and food education for every child in Europe. The goal is to achieve more resilient food regions and communities. The sustainable food systems law and the revision of the EU school scheme this year are decisive opportunities. This session will show the power of the public plate combined with social innovation as a way to improve the welfare and well-being of individuals and communities in Europe.

The session is the culmination of several previous joint sessions, projects and initiatives advocating for transformative and concrete minimum standards in public canteens through the EU, building on the shared goal of creating more socially just and resilient food regions and communities.

To register (EU Login required), and get more information on the programme and the speakers, click here

The EU Urban Agenda Partnership on Innovative and Responsible Public Procurement, together with URBACT, EIC and ICLEI will present a workshop session during the European Week of Regions and Cities in Brussels. The in-person workshop will take place on 11 October (16:30 - 17:30 CET) and integrate the EU funded projects PROCEDIN, PROTECT and LIFE Future Proof Artificial Sport Pitches in the presentation.

The EU Urban Agenda, the EIC, URBACT, PROTECT and PROCEDIN all explore synergies for the benefit of both cities and regions and use innovation procurement as a strategic tool. During the workshop they will present how cities and regions across Europe could use innovation procurement in practice.

The workshop will feature present concrete examples, e.g. of how the challenges faced by local and regional stakeholders could attract the interest of top-notch European innovators, and promote developed tools and training. Among the speakers will be Mara Inzaina (ICLEI), Vasilis Tsanidis (EIC) and Jenny Koutsomarkou (URBACT).

Register here for the workshop (EU Login required). The registration deadline is 28 September - please note that the availability of seats during the workshop is limited to 91.

On 17 October Bus-GoCircular will organise its first of four webinars on how different stakeholders can join forces to reskill and upskill the building sector workforce with circular skills. This first webinar will present the guidance for policymakers as well as training materials that the BUS-GoCircular project developed.

The webinar will also highlight how public authorities can use the Fundamentals Training Packs for SMEs in their requirements in tenders. Furthermore, Toulouse Metropolis will explain how they have stimulated circular skills in the construction sector at the local scale, by showcasing the tools and innovative training materials, such as hackathons and escape rooms, they developed in the context of the Life Waste 2 Build project.

Public authorities have an important role to play in the transition towards a more circular built environment and have a range of policy levers at their disposal to stimulate demand for circular skills. Using circular strategies in the built environment can help to reduce the embodied emissions of building materials by 50%. This interactive webinar is aimed at public authorities and will present how they can train their own staff, but also how they can collaborate with stakeholders to train the whole value chain to promote circularity.

The webinar will be led by Helena O'Rourke Potocki (procurement expert at ICLEI Europe) and Leslie Petitjean (senior circular economy expert at ICLEI Europe). The full programme can be found here. Click here to register.