SwitchMed Connect is finally back! The 2021 edition of this long-awaited event will take place on 19-20 October, both in Barcelona and online as this year, due to the pandemic context, its format will be hybrid. The ceremony of the WeMed Award will conclude this 2-day celebration.

SwitchMed Connect is the flagship event of the SwitchMed programme. This biennial gathering of Mediterranean stakeholders aims to build synergies, exchange knowledge and scale up eco and social innovations. It hosts leading start-ups and entrepreneurs, industry agents, initiatives, change agents, policy and financial institutions working on applications of productive, circular and sharing economies in the Mediterranean. At these regional events, both macro and micro level organisations come together for cross-country exchanges, knowledge sharing and the elaboration of solutions to challenges for scaling up eco-innovative business models.

In the first phase of the SwitchMed programme (2013-2018), three editions of the SwitchMed Connect were organized, namely in 2015, 2016 and 2018, each with more than 400 participants from diverse types of organisations. SwitchMed Steering Committee decided to postpone the 2020 edition of the SwitchMed Connect, due to the COVID-19 pandemic. SwitchMed Connect 2021 will therefore be the first edition of the second phase of the programme (2019-2023). In this sense, its role would be to introduce the new activities and partners of the programme.

On the 19th of October, SwitchMed will celebrate a closed-door event, mainly dedicated to the discussions of its Steering Committee to be held online and in the Sant Pau Art Nouveau Site, in Barcelona. The second day will be broadcast live and focus on the key objectives of the programme, the services it offers and the results achieved so far by all 4 thematic areas, namely Policy, Industry, Green Entrepreneurship and Networking facility. It will also host the WeMed Award Ceremony during which the winners of this innovative Mediterranean contest will be announced.