Pracsis pivots to Asia

Pracsis was in Seoul, South Korea last month for the latest edition of the Forum on Eco-Innovation, a biannual event that the company has organized for the European Commission since 2007. This was the second time that the forum was held outside the EU—the first was in Hanoi, Vietnam in 2013.

Delegates from business, government and civil society exchanged examples of eco-innovation, compared sustainable consumption and production policies, and came together around the Sustainable Development Goals agreed in New York in September this year.

A main concern at the forum was how to assist SMEs in transitioning to a circular economy. SMEs need better data on chemicals in products, but they also need financial and other forms of support, such as help in understanding legislation (in this case, how the EU and Korean REACH systems compare).

Pracsis web-streamed the event live in both English and Korean. Recordings of the event can be viewed in both languages here. The event was broadcast at blazingly fast internet speeds—the world’s most wired country boasts internet speeds upwards of 700 megabits per second!

COEX Convention and Exhibition Center

The forum coincided with Korea’s most important environmental trade fair, the Korea Eco-Expo. Policy officers from the Commission’s DG Environment were present at the expo to answer visitors’ questions about the environmental programmes of the EU, and what they need to know to do business in Europe.

In coordination with Enterprise Europe Network Korea, Pracsis also organized a B2B matchmaking session. Business representatives from the EU and Korea met to discuss opportunities for cooperation and commercial expansion in each other’s countries.

Both the forum and the Eco-Expo took place in the COEX Convention and Exhibition Center, an impressive facility in the heart of Gangnam District which, unless you’ve lived under a rock for the past three years, you know as the inspiration for a certain K-pop music video sensation.