We cannot believe we’re writing this, but there you go: REDOL is now in its last months of the project. After three and a half years of working relentlessly to make Europe’s cities more liveable and protect the environment in the process, we are now starting to wrap up our tasks and focus on the uptake of our results: be they the robots we developed, the research we conducted, or the circular hubs we set up. Not to worry though – we are not resting on our laurels, but we are trying to give our best in the months to come. And the General Assembly meeting in Athens (6-7 May 2026) was the perfect opportunity to take stock of what we’ve achieved and plan ahead.
We were kindly welcomed at the ICCS-NTUA premises on a typical warm, sunny spring day, where we went on to discuss the progress of the tasks as per each Work Package. Highly efficient, but also super-productive – and occassionally powered by the already legendary Greek food (not complaining!). Then, our colleagues Fotios and Christina led a guided tour of the labs, where we got to see live demonstrations of the smart sorting bins we developed in the project, and test it ourselves with different types of litter. The day ended in a good mood as we celebrated our coordinator’s birthday and got to taste even more traditional food.
The second day of the event was also special. We joined forces with our sister project Theseus, with whom we’ve already met in the past (we attended their kick-off meeting that also took place in Athens) for two joint sessions. The first one was a Circular Project hybrid session, where we were joined by other sister projects: United Circles, IS2H4C, SYMSITES, and PLASTICE. Each project had a chance to introduce their work, activities, and results, boosting their visibility and paving the way for future collaborations. This was followed by a panel discussion on Industrial-Urban Symbiosis (I-US) and the establishment of circular hubs moderated by Diego Redondo Taberner, our coordinator, with Kostas Chatziioannou, Marianna Lena Kambanou, Dušan Jakovljević, and Chiara Coluccia as speakers. The discussion revealed a need for better cooperation between industry and municipalities, as they are two different actors with different perspectives and interests, which is what I-US is all about, and sharing experiences and success stories to support the creation of circular hubs across Europe.
We couldn’t have come up with a better way to spend these two days in the Greek capital and we’re looking at the next months with anticipation and joy.
