CirCLER: Identification and ranking of the key skills and competencies required for managers of companies involved in the furniture production chain in their transition to a circular economy

On June 26, 2024, the online workshop of the consortium of the project "CirCLER - Circular Economy Transition Manager: guiding companies of the furniture value chain to deploy their transition strategy for a more circular economy " funded by the European Union, took place. The meeting was organised by AMBIT: Interior Furnishing and Hotel Contract Cluster and Innovation Hub and the Ukrainian National Forestry University.

The main goal of the workshop was to validate the results of the survey on identifying the key types of skills and competencies that managers need for transitioning furniture manufacturing companies to a circular economy.

Experts of the partners of the CirCLER project consortium and ten external experts from leading European educational institutions and businesses participated in the discussion. The discussion was based on the previous work of the project teams and the results of a survey of education and business representatives from various countries in the European Union and Ukraine.

During the discussion, experts identified key gaps in the training of managers for transitioning to a circular economy. Using an online survey, seminar experts also expressed their thoughts and suggestions regarding previously obtained results.

The results of this meeting will be crucial in filling the existing gaps in the training of professionals for the woodworking and furniture industries, as well as in further project execution, allowing for the development of innovative approaches in training managers capable of organizing and leading the transition to a circular economy.