Industrial symbiosis promotes sharing of physical resources (energy, water, residues and recycled materials, etc.) between different industrial processes, increasing business opportunities and creating new jobs while reducing environmental impacts. Neither self-organization nor the few government co-ordinated mechanisms have delivered mass implementation of Industrial Symbiosis. Given the great potential for triple-bottom line benefits this failure must be understood and addressed. SCALER aims to massively increase the implementation of industrial symbiosis, by developing mechanisms to retain the embedded value of European resources, thus, enabling the circular economy to achieve higher resource efficiency through systemic innovations led by intensified industrial symbiosis initiatives and enhanced by cross-sectorial collaboration and, to support the development of a roadmap to improve the adoption of industrial symbiosis in the European process industry at regional / national / European level. SCALER will use new and advanced practices in identifying value opportunities, use new methods to create a larger market for available resources, and use new methods to measure and manage the implementation and sustaining of new relationships. SCALER brings together qualitative and quantitative tools and methods to support self-organised initiatives on industrial symbiosis and to enhance facilitation processes and coordination actions. The creation of new spaces for interaction, collaboration and cooperation and the engagement of a broader set of stakeholders are crucial elements of the multiplier effect in industrial symbiosis implementation. SCALER provides a comprehensive solution for understanding, assessing and intensifying the potential of industrial symbiosis in Europe.

The overall aim of PROSPECT is to enable peer to peer learning in regional and local authorities in order to finance and implement sustainable energy plans. The learning will empower them to make use of best practices in developing financing for these plans. PROSPECT will address the needs of regional and local authorities through developing a complete peer to peer learning program addressing them. The learning process will be focused on how different sustainable energy projects and measures have been successfully financed. Peer to peer learning involves sharing information and experience from each other through mentoring activities, work shadowing, and study tours, among others. Primarily, the networks Eurocities, Energy Cities and FEDARENE will perform “needs assessment and gaps identifications” with public bodies for learning and match these needs with available best practices. Then PROSPECT will select public authorities and agencies and the roles of trainer and trainees will be assigned. The learning program will be divided into five modules that include development of financing for : i) public buildings, ii) private buildings, iii) public lighting, iv) transport (private and public), and v) cross sectional. The overall estimation is for PROSPECT to launch 5 modules per year (fifteen in total) with an average participation of 15 partners per module. This number can differ depending on the demand there is for each module, but as an average value this can be manageable in terms of teaching requirements. The added value of PROSPECT in comparison to other initiatives is that the learning program is not limited to a capacity building process. Instead, the learning curriculum will follow the project steps of energy efficiency finance from the first stages of its development to monitoring its sustainable operation. The learning program will ideally result to the launch of pilot business models and financing partnerships for implementing sustainable energy plans.