The Development of the Circular Economy Manager profile and Curriculum

In the last months, we worked extensively within the CEMforSMEs project to develop a joint view on the profile and curriculum that an efficient Circular Economy Manager should have, especially when active in SMEs from the agrifood sector, with a specific focus on the countries involved in our project: Portugal, Greece, Cyprus, Italy, Spain and Belgium.

To do so, we developed different intellectual products, created by the joint efforts and points of view of the partners of the project, all contributing to have a better understanding of the role, profile and assets that the CEM should have:

The Circular Economy Management Framework

The Circular Economy Manager Profile

The CEM Curriculum design and development

The designing of the Circular Economy Management Framework defines the set of necessary skills and competences for Circular Economy Managers. It starts from the analysis done in the previous steps of the project, and compares the set of competencies identified to the EntreComp framework model, providing also models for the progression of core competencies and training needs in the area. The publication contains also a series of country-related information to keep in mind when reading the CEM Framework.

The Circular Economy Manager Profile outlines and compare how a CEM is defined in different countries, including the existing policies concerning Circular Economy Management for SMEs, courses and curricula needed to become Managers, and relevant skills. The CEM Profile collects views and data on:

Functions, activities and tasks of the CEM

Needed knowledge and competences to be a CEM

Educational paths and accreditation requirements for CEM

The CEM Curriculum design and development is a training compendium to support the development of new Circular Economy Managers. It contains 6 different modules with expected learning outcomes, goals, educational activities, and implementation guidelines and evaluation of the results. The topics developed in the modules are as follows:

1. Introduction to Circular Economy

2. Circular Economy Business Models

3. Circular Design and Innovation in the agrifood sector

4. Circular Supply and Chain Management in the agrifood sector

5. Waste Reduction and Resource Optimization

6. Circular Economy Case Studies in the Agrifood sector

The overall development of the Circular Economy Manager profile and Curriculum sets an important standard and a milestone to proceed with the upcoming tasks of the project and develop the new products.