The Knowledge Alliance on Product-Service Development towards Circular Economy and Sustainability in Higher Education (KATCH_e) is a 3-year EU funded project that was launched in January 2017 and is part of the ERASMUS+ programme of Knowledge Alliances. KATCH_e brings together 11 partners from four EU countries to address the challenge of reinforcing the skills and competences in the field of product-service development for the circular economy and sustainability in the construction and furniture sectors.

We develop training materials for enabling Circular Economy in the construction and furniture sector. The contents address students and professionals in industry and specifically focus on the development of sustainable product-services.

We aim to:

Build a lasting knowledge alliance between Universities, businesses and knowledge centres.

We want to encourage multidisciplinary relationships and support the exchange of information, experiences and materials between the partnership and different stakeholders (see Stakeholder networks) through the creation of structures (see Knowledge Hub) to engage students, professors, researchers, companies and other stakeholders in a systematic and efficient way. The development of the training materials is a joint effort, its contents aligned to the companies’ needs.

Build competences in Circular Design and sustainability

We want to develop training materials that follow a problem-based, multidisciplinary learning approach, connecting designers, engineers and other relevant stakeholders. We involve university students, professors, researchers, companies and other stakeholders to integrate CE thinking in design and development education and define didactic recommendations for teaching. The materials should foster entrepreneurial skills leading to innovative products, services and business models.

Distribute and apply the training materials

We want to support and promote the dissemination of circular design and sustainability among higher education centres and companies, demonstrating the practicability of the materials, their benefits and innovation potential.