K-CCRI
Project
K-CCRI (Knowledge hub to leverage existing initiatives and projects to foster the adoption of Circular Economy in Cities and Regions in Europe) is a Horizon Europe Coordination & Support Action designed to increase the impact of the Circular Cities and Regions Initiative (CCRI). Acting as a Knowledge Hub, K-CCRI consolidates and systematises practical know-how on circular economy implementation, provides tailored mentoring to cities and regions based on their needs, and runs awareness-raising activities to make circularity more attractive and actionable. The project is structured around four dimensions: public engagement; innovation and technology; business models and financial support; and impact evaluation.
The Elephants
Involved
Our Role
- Public Funding
- European Consortium
- Strategic Consulting
- Research Development
The Challenge
Cities and regions across Europe are moving towards circular economy models at very different speeds. Many organisations face similar obstacles—fragmented information, limited access to actionable tools, and insufficient capacity to translate circularity concepts into scalable solutions and policies. K-CCRI addresses this by connecting existing initiatives and knowledge into a coherent, user-oriented support offer that helps public and ecosystem actors move from early-stage ambition to implementation.
The Outcome
K-CCRI strengthens CCRI by turning scattered resources into practical pathways for action: a structured knowledge base, curated tools and materials aligned with the four pillars, and a support model combining capacity building with mentoring. The project contributes evidence and learnings from across Europe, including the identification and analysis of a large portfolio of circular economy initiatives and the showcasing of good practices and lessons learned—so that cities and regions can replicate what works and avoid common pitfalls.
K-CCRI and
Inveniam
Inveniam is a core technical partner behind the project’s Knowledge Hub. We lead the development of the K-CCRI platform in two consecutive phases—first to build the foundations, and then to scale, validate and operationalise the platform as the backbone for services.
During the first period, Inveniam leads the platform development work to transform dispersed circular economy resources into an accessible, searchable and reusable digital repository. This includes: (i) a gap analysis of the current CCRI platform to identify improvement opportunities (content, UX, participation); (ii) specification of relevant data sources (“fat data”) to ensure breadth and relevance; (iii) data organisation, transformation and disambiguation to create scalable structured datasets; and (iv) UX/UI design to implement a user-centred experience. From the outset, the platform is designed for real integration—either through Inveniam’s INVESPLORA search engine or via an API connection to the CCRI repository—ensuring that results can be embedded into the ecosystem where cities and regions already engage.
During the second period, Inveniam continues leading platform development to ensure reliability and long-term usability. We validate the data and its structure, verifying linkages and patterns through data-science methods; we enable the platform to actively support capacity-building and the mentoring programme (e.g., hosting resources, courses and community interaction); and we further evolve the UX/UI based on user needs and operational feedback.
Beyond platform leadership, Inveniam also contributes to the generation of capacity-building materials—helping translate the project’s knowledge into practical guides, cases and multimedia resources that can be used directly by stakeholders.