CITET, le Centre International des Technologies de l'Environnement de Tunis STAND Up! partner from Tunisia, organised on 18 October 2022 an online information session entitled "Open innovation programme in the textile, clothing and fashion sector" to illustrate The Switchers Open Eco-Innovation Platform developed by Medwaves, the UNEP/MAP Regional Activity Centre for SCP within the framework of SwitchMed, a programme funded by the European Union.

The objective of the awareness-raising workshop was to promote an open innovation approach among key actors of the textile sector and the entrepreneurship and innovation ecosystem in Tunisia (private and public companies, universities, technoparks, incubators, R&D centres, etc.) and to mobilise them to join the OI programme within the framework of the STAND Up! project.

Attended by 15 stakeholders representatives, the event covered different topics such as the waste and water management as well as the energy handling and chemical controls, attracting the interest of two of the companies present at the webinar to join the open innovation activity programme and launching environmental challenges for eco-innovative companies.

Primary objective of the challenges expressed by Tunisian textile companies will be to intercept the cutting-edge solutions offered by sustainable start-ups in the textile and clothing sector and to deliver technical and acceleration support via a vouchers scheme of €20,000 each for best proposals following a call for projects and selection process.

During the event, participants also had the opportunity to discuss the local opportunities and solutions that can be adopted to support the transition of the textile and clothing industry towards an ecologically and socially responsible circular model.

At the close of the online information session, it was announced to organise 2 face-to-face workshops to collect and identify the eco innovative textile challenges, scheduled on 26 October 2022 at CITET in Tunis and on 28 October 2022 in Monastir (half days from 9:00 to 12:30).