Berytech is the Lebanese partner of the ENI CBC Med funded STAND Up! project, a project that aims to enhance scalable, replicable and inclusive circular economy textile ventures in the Mediterranean by developing an ecosystem of business support, innovation, and technology transfer that will lead to sustainable job creation for youth and women. The project is implemented in Egypt, Italy, Lebanon, Tunisia and Spain by national partners.
In order to better protect eco-innovation within the clothing and textiles sector in Lebanon, Berytech launched a consultancy mission to develop a report on the state of play and the current Lebanese landscape regarding Intellectual Property Rights (IPR) of eco-innovation in textile enterprises.
The objective of this consultancy is to develop a report on the state of play and the current landscape regarding Intellectual Property Rights (IPR) related to eco-innovation in Lebanon and elaborate practical recommendations to develop an enabling environment to grow IP innovations and technologies competitiveness in the textile sector and develop academic and industry spin offs in the sector.
The report that was developed by Dr. Dominique Saleme, focuses on the textile and clothing sector and on circular economy related innovations and includes due diligence, state of play, policy and ecosystem gap analysis, regulatory framework to consider on a regional scale, trends and emerging opportunities across the industry value chain and practical recommendations to foster an enabling environment to develop, protect and commercialize IP based innovations in the textile sector and grow this sector on a local and regional scale.
The report will be used in a comparative study of innovation system performance indicators and intellectual property rights system in the textile and clothing sector between concerned southern and northern Mediterranean partner countries of the STAND Up! project. Based on this benchmarking, an action plan will be put in place to enhance the role of intellectual property rights in the innovation ecosystem and the circular economy market in the textile and clothing sector.
The Report
Dr. Saleme developed an action research and a practical report covering:
National diagnosis, mapping of the IPR’s system in the textile sector and particularly in relation with eco-innovation and the circular economy and gaps definition:
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- The national policy for the promotion of intellectual property rights in textile (e.g. public policies, regulation) & regulatory framework to consider on a regional scale to be compliant with market and environment requirements.
- Organizational framework on the level of IPR system adapted for textile: certification bodies, model of innovation, training, research and development considering academia and industry.
- Support tools, programs and mechanisms: ex: Mechanisms for promoting IPR market development: grants for patenting inventions, collaborative research, prototyping, hosting, funding, marketing of research results and work, research-business collaboration.
- Ecosystem and partners mapping in the textile sector.
Diagnosis of the innovation market and the role of IPs:
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- Analysis of the circular economy innovation market in the textile and clothing industry (ex: turnover coming from IPR integration at the value chain, contribution to economic growth rate of the sector/export growth rate, main subsectors concerned by IPR commercialization activities)
- Study of the level of integration of innovation based on intellectual property rights in the market (ex: contribution of IP based circular innovation to the economic growth of the TCI sector, creation of start-ups, youth employment, investments, pollution reduction, waste recovery, etc.)
- Regional and international benchmarking: Trends and emerging opportunities in the textile that respond to circular economy and can serve to guide the development of academic and industry spin offs in the sector and enable the development of IP-based innovations and technologies that are commercially viable.
Practical recommendations to foster an enabling environment to develop, protect and commercialize IP based innovations in the textile sector and grow this sector on a local and regional scale.
The report compiles some statistics such as number of TCI patents, in TCI environmental technologies, number of projects created, investments, division by type of projects, share of the IP market in the TCI market.
Dr. Saleme developed the guidebook by gathering the information through desk work, interviews and organizing focus group meetings with relevant stakeholders in Lebanon and the Mediterranean region.
About STAND Up!
STAND Up! was successfully launched in July 2020 to meet the need for a transition into an environmentally and socially responsible circular model in the textile sector, a traditional key industry in the Mediterranean. It aims at enhancing replicable and inclusive circular economy ventures in the region by developing an ecosystem of business support, innovation, and technology transfer that will lead to sustainable job creation for youth and women.
Partnership
- Catalan Waste Agency – SCP/RAC (project leader, Spain)
- Textile Industry Confederation, TEXFOR (Spain)
- Berytech Foundation (Lebanon)
- SEKEM Development Foundation (Egypt)
- Textile Technical Centre (Tunisia)
- Fondazione Museo del Tessuto (Textile Museum Foundation) in Prato (Italy)
- Tunis International Centre for Environnemental Technologies (Tunisia)
Budget
- Total Budget: Euro 3,693,986.68
- EU contribution: Euro 3,324,588.68 (90% of the total budget)
- Main financing source: European Union (ENI CBC Med Programme)
Project Duration
- 41 months (July 2020 – December 2023)
