exCITE Symposium 2024

In collaboration with the Center for Circular Economy of RWTH Aachen University, the RWTH Innovation GmbH and ITA Academy GmbH INSTec welcomed over 60 thought leaders in circularity innovation from Europe and beyond. This first edition of the „Exchange on Circularity Innovation & Transition Enablers (exCITE)“ Symposium was the Grande Finale of the EIT HEI funded project „CITE“ on entrepreneurship support in textile circularity as it gave the stage to the CITE partners and to many of the start-ups and scale-ups who were supported in the project.

The event was not only a success for the content presented – it was unique because of the positive atmosphere and the openness for exploring ways of collaboration which could be felt throughout the 1.5 days. Directors of multi-million € public private partnerships, investment organisations and regional development agencies met innovators, entrepreneurship educators, students and further supporters of international collaboration and innovation – and they engaged in discussions on eye level. A number of follow-up activities especially in collaboration with partners from Southeast Asia were drafted in the meantime. An exCITE Symposium 2025 is expected to be held in October.