The Public University of Navarra (UPNA) and the regional public company Orekan signed an agreement on 20 July creating the Cátedra Economía Zirkular y Sostenibilidad, a university chair dedicated to circular economy and sustainability. The agreement was signed at the Arrosadia campus by UPNA rector Ramón Gonzalo, the regional minister for rural development and environment José María Aierdi, and Orekan managing director Itziar Gómez.
The chair concentrates on three areas identified as priorities for the regional economy: ecodesign, industrial symbiosis and life cycle assessment. Within these areas it will support applied research, develop methods and tools, and run pilot projects aimed at improving resource efficiency and bringing environmental criteria into business and administrative decisions. Orekan contributes 20,000 euros a year to the structure.
The agreement names RECEBA as one of the frames the chair will work through. UPNA and Orekan are both RECEBA partners, together with CEIN and the Zona Media business association AEZMNA, and the chair will connect its own programme to the training work the project is taking forward: microcredentials in circular economy, learning communities for teaching staff, and practical workshops for companies looking to bring circular strategies into their processes and products.
Applied training runs through the rest of the programme. Bachelor and master theses will address questions raised by companies and public bodies, including end-of-waste status and by-product valorisation, circular public procurement, environmental taxation, material flow analysis and life cycle assessment of products and processes. The chair will also organise seminars, postgraduate courses, student placements in associated companies, and hackathons on circular business models and resource efficiency.
Outreach activity will be linked to instruments already operating in Navarra, among them the regional circular economy agenda ECNA 2023, the Navarra Zirkular initiative and the regional waste prevention office OPREC.
Source: https://www.unavarra.es/sites/actualidad/contents/noticias/2026/07/20/catedra_orekan.html