Partnership

Atmoterm SA is a Polish, medium-sized company effectively competing on the international market of intelligent solutions in the field of environmental protection and sustainable development. The company participates in a wide range of international projects and has a great experience in cooperating with international partners from different fields and specializations. It is characterized by professionalism and global approach to practical problems with a good understanding of its using environment. In the company are working around 130 workers with its head office in Opole and a small branch office in Warsaw. Atmoterm SA has been operating on the Polish and European market for over 40 years with a wide range of sustainable services, including development of environmental and sustainable software products and supplying environmental consultancy and training. Atmtoerm SA also delivers research project practical aid based on the daily contact with companies, policymakers and general public in thematic discussions and supports the implementation of research results into practice. The department involved in the project from Atmoterm SA is the research and development division of the company with highly experienced sustainable experts on local, regional, national and international level. Some of the experts have more than 20 years of experience in leading and organizing projects which is supported by expert knowledge and experiences from team members.

National Centre for Sustainable Production and Consumption is a spin-off of the UNIDO‘s National Cleaner Production Programme in Romania, acting as an Resource Efficiency and Cleaner Production (RECP) Centre. National Centre for Sustainable Production and Consumption is a member of the RECPnet, the international network of 72 similar centres worldwide and of the European Resource Efficiency Knowledge Center. National Centre for Sustainable Production and Consumption is acting to increase awareness, educate and support companies and institutions to apply resource efficiency, eco-innovation and circular economy methods.

Moreover, National Centre for Sustainable Production and Consumption is actively involved in policy change at local and national level and sustains strategies and programs that promote and enable sustainable consumption and production in Romania. National Centre for Sustainable Production and Consumption uses synergies with its founder members and benefits from the experiences gained during projects performed in cooperation with academia, industries and public institutions having proofed records in sustainability related topics that are matching the needs of the project, such as eco-innovation and eco-design at the process, product level and relation between the companies, suppliers and customers. National Centre for Sustainable Production and Consumption employs 3 paid staff to carry on regular activities of the organization, can use resources of its founding members – consultancy companies and experts, has several cooperation partners at local, national and European level.

ENVIROS, based in Prague, is one of the leading consulting companies providing assistance mainly in the field of energy, environmental and business consultancy in the Czech Republic, Central and Eastern Europe, but also other parts of the world. The majority stakeholder is the UK based ENVIROS GLOBAL LIMITED. The company has offices also in Ostrava (CZ), Bratislava (SK) and Belgrade (RS). ENVIROS entered the market in 1994 and currently employs 30 permanent, qualified experts of diversified experience in energy and environmental consultancy, including licensed energy auditors, certified managers of sustainable consumption and production, and authorised EIA experts.

ENVIROS provides services in a wide range of energy and environmental areas including resource and energy efficiency, renewable energy, sustainable consumption and production, cleaner production, waste management, circular economy, carbon neutrality, environmental and carbon footprint reporting. The types of services cover technical assistance as well as training and capacity building.

ENVIROS has been co-operating with various clients and partners at local, national and international level. Our clients involve international and multi-country institutions (such as UNDP, OECD, EC, EBRD, EIB, World Bank), institutions of the state administration (e.g. Ministry of Industry and Trade, Ministry of Environment, Ministry of Regional Development), several local and regional bodies, financial intermediaries and industrial enterprises. From the geographical point of view, the key areas of ENVIROS operation are the Czech and Slovak Republics and other central and Eastern European countries. The company track record, however, covers also several successful projects in the Balkan region, former Soviet Union, South-East Asia and Africa. At the same time, ENVIROS is an experienced project partner and WP leader within European Union programmes (e.g. HORIZON 2020, LIFE+, Interreg CENTRAL EUROPE, ERASMUS).

ENVIROS is a member of several professional bodies and associations, such as Czech Association of Circular Economy, Czech Business Council for Sustainable Development, Association of Energy Service Companies, Association of Energy Managers, Association of Energy Auditors, Czech Green Building Council, Association for Foreign Investment, Business Platform for Development Cooperation and British Chamber of Commerce.

Prospektiker, established in 1987, is an independent company, specialized on foresight and strategic studies for the public and private sector. The company’s main purpose is to explore the possible futures, which may emerge from the present situation. Prospektiker’s main objectives are:

• To detect the innovations, ideas and facts that may be considered portends of the future.
• To discover strong tendencies, both current and potential, which determine the range of possible futures.
• To evaluate possible inflections, impacts whose effects penetrate every level of society and the commitments that must be made in response to these phenomena.
• To take on the role of sentry over the many economic, environmental, technological, social and cultural factors that can have an influence over long and medium term change, identifying key problems for the future, as well as examining those strategies that may be adopted to confront these problems.

Prospektiker counts on a professional human team specialized in different disciplines, with degrees in business administration and management, engineering, sociology and law, as well as with postgrads in sustainability and environmental studies, trade and marketing, team management, equality and e-business. This expert team has a broad experience in the implementation of consultancy projects, as for strategic and prospective planning areas, as well as for other kinds of firm and organization advising projects. We can highlight the following specialty areas:

• Sustainability, environment, energy and urban planning.
• Corporate Sustainability Reporting and social economy.
• Training and employment.
• Economics and financial area.
• Innovation and technology monitoring.
• Trade and marketing.

The knowledge and experience acquired during all these years, along with the innovative, cooperative, committed and eager character of Prospektiker’s staff, help to face and get ahead of all the challenges that the current changing and uncertain world brings. The market requirements of a permanent improvement of the services offered by Prospektiker, along with the increasing necessity of respecting our environment, has driven us to establish an integrated quality and environment, certified by AENOR, which guarantees a better service to our clients and allows our organization to obtain better results (UNE-EN ISO 9001 and UNE-EN ISO 14001).

Throughout 33 years of existence, Prospektiker has developed different areas of knowledge based on our experience in numerous studies of regional and local strategic foresight and prospective sector, management consulting, implementation and evaluation of public and private policies. Prospektiker has a close knowledge in the field of sustainability and environment, because of our constant work with local and regional government departments and other private and public entities in the field, as well as through our active participation in European Union programs and networks, as for instance, the PREPARE Network (European Network of experts in sustainable consumption and production). Prospektiker is part of Mondragon Corporation.

The University of Maribor is the second largest and the second oldest university in Slovenia, with around 15000 students, 2000 employees and turnover around 100 million EUR. The University of Maribor is among the 1000 best universities in the World and ranks the second of Slovenian universities according to the Academic Ranking of World Universities and The Times ranking, due to excellence in research and teaching. The University of Maribor offers courses on all 3 levels of the Bologna studies and higher education programmes. The University of Maribor is self-declared as sustainable and socially responsible university. In this project researchers and professors from several departments will be collaborating, since Corporate Sustainability Reporting is a very interdisciplinary, e.g. at Faculty of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Faculty of Logistics, Faculty of Economics and Business. Faculty of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering is delivering theoretical and applied courses and performs research, technological development and innovations.

The main topics of the investigations and teaching of the involved departments or faculties are: circular economy, sustainable consumption and production, local and global supply networks, supply chain management, development and use of advanced methods of process system engineering in the design of sustainable production technologies for the extraction of chemicals and energy, the transition from fossil fuels and petroleum resources to renewable sources, the closure of water and carbon dioxide circuits, the increase in material and energy efficiency, the development of new materials and products, development of reaction and bio-reaction techniques, environmental protection and sustainable development, modelling, simulation, design, retrofit and optimisation of processes and services, including resource usage and reduction of environmental impacts, energy integration of processes, process economics, cost estimation and optimum plant design, simultaneous optimisation of material, energy, and cost flows, process and utilities design, waste and water minimization, cleaner production and processes, resource efficiency, energy efficiency and renewable sources, life cycle assessment, sustainability indicators, education for sustainable development. The University of Maribor participates in National Strategic Development and Innovation network, in Networks for the transition to a circular economy, established on the Slovenian Smart Specialization Strategy, accepted by the Slovenian Government and supported by the European Commission.