For its second edition in Toulouse from 27 to 31 May, the ENGAGE.EU Expedition deliberately focused on a broad and essential subject: what kind of sustainable world can we imagine in the face of undeniable climate change?
To clarify the issues and identify the key challenges, the ENGAGE.EU team approached the  Toulouse Métropole teams in charge of transitions and innovation within the Economic Development Department.

Three topics were put forward, all of which have strong local roots:
 

•  greening cities to tackle global warming: sharing responsibilities
•  optimising the circular economy in the digital sector
•  the role of the social economy in the reuse/recycling sector

 

What is an Expedition ?

An Expedition is a learning-by-doing format:

    -short and intensive over 5 days
    -intercultural and interdisciplinary: around thirty students from the nine ENGAGE.EU universities and from all disciplines (law, economics, management, etc.).
    -working in multidisciplinary teams
    -stimulating with the design thinking and collective intelligence approach,
    -but also fun: the students didn't miss the happy hours in la ville rose! (after the effort: the comfort).

The students really immersed themselves in the Toulouse context, interviewing a number of stakeholders and putting themselves in the shoes of users and the city.
 

The results

On Friday 31 May, they pitched their solutions to a panel of experts (AD'OCC, Les Imaginations fertiles, the Norwegian Climate Foundation and a TSM research professor). It's not so much the competition between the teams that interests us as the cross-view of these professionals with complementary profiles. They examine the reasoning, the feasibility of the solution, the innovation, the respect for the fundamental values of ENGAGE.EU: ethics, inclusion, equality, impact on the environment, and the pitch: 7 minutes to convince!

The project selected by the jury was that of the Excellence team on the subject of the place of the Social Solidarity Economy (SSE) in the circular economy and its synergies with the traditional economy. They focused on the textile industry, proposing to bring together players on a platform to increase upstream donation and downstream production from recycled clothing. They drew inspiration from the construction industry, whose circular economy model works very well in Toulouse.

Many thanks to all the students, speakers, mentors and members of the jury, without whom this event would not have been possible.

They talked about it !

Raphael, @WU

I am delighted to share that my team won this case competition about the cooperations of social and traditional market actors in the circular textile economy of Toulouse metropole. Bridging gaps between stakeholders with social, environmental, and financial interests is crucial – not just in Toulouse, and not just in the textile industry.

Besides the consulting part of the week, the European spirit within our group was overwhelming. One of my favorite topics, sustainable transport, was especially important before and after the week when traveling for four days by train!

Mokhinur, @UMA

Last week, I was privileged to embark on a learning journey with 30 bright minds from 9 European universities in Toulouse, France. Within this incredible Expedition week, we dived into the topics of Social and Solidarity Economy and Textile industry, Sustainable IT and Green spaces management. Despite the complexities of the new dimensions of the Circular Economy, we managed to learn from the successful examples implemented in the Toulouse Metropole and apply our vision and bring optimised solutions.
I am immensely grateful for this opportunity that brought us intercultural exchange and enlightenment on innovative topics. Thanks to my team, working with you in such uncertainty was a big pleasure, I learned from you a lot! =)
Kudos to the dream team of Toulouse University Capitole who created the most comfortable and supportive environment for our journey