Panjim, April 2022: Atal Incubation Centre Goa Institute of Management (AIC-GIM) has partnered with Maker’s Asylum, a space in Goa that allows collaborative ideation, has partnered on a unique Circular Economy Challenge.

An initiative by European Union Resource Efficiency Initiative (EU REI) India, the challenge will focus on creating a platform wherein participants will be able to pitch ideas, current projects and concepts based on a circular economy whose goal is to tackle global challenges like climate change, biodiversity loss, waste, and pollution.

In our current economy, we take materials from the Earth, make products from them and eventually throw them away as waste – the process is linear. In a circular economy, by contrast, we stop waste being produced in the first place. Open to participants aged 18 and above, the Make for Goa challenge will revolve around ideas that focus on any one of the 5 challenge statements – discarded fishing nets, alternatives to single use plastics, textile waste, circular design and sustainable construction.

Speaking about the collaboration, Snehal Galvanker, Operations Manager, AICGIM, said, “We at AICGIM are building and enabling an ecosystem for startups in the climate and environment sector. With various initiatives like Hub-CE@ Goa which is a dedicated centre for collaboration and entrepreneurship for startups in the climate and environment sector, ESG Startup Week, Climathon Panaji, the SUP Challenge are among other initiatives. We are happy to collaborate with Maker’s Asylum Goa for this unique Make for Goa Challenge and provide support to participants by offering them access to markets, finance, experts, and mentors.”

Ideas presented can be chosen for a potential pilot opportunity with EU REI and a full scholarship seat at the SDG School 2022 – a 2 weeks long experiential bootcamp to accelerate the idea with partners such EU, UNESCO, UNDP & UN Habitat.

The final pitches will be held on 23rd April, 2022 at Makers Asylum, Moira Goa.