As Part of “Promoting Upcycling in Circular Economy through Innovation and Education for Creative Industries in Mediterranean Cities (INNOMED-UP)” project in collaboration with 7 European Union academic, research and professional institutions, in addition to Palestine, Jordan and Tunisia, represented by the cities of Hebron, Nablus, Amman and Tunisia and funded by the European Union, the training program for SMEs owners was launched on Tuesday, 8 June 2021 in the Hall of the Palestinian Engineering Association /Hebron Branch. Eighteen craftsmen participated in the training activity, bearing in mind that the SMEs training program will continue for 10 days, spread over four weeks.

The training program was opened by the project manager Dr. Shadi Ghadban and the project communication officer Dr. Mohammad Jawabreh, with the representatives of the project advisory committee that represented by Mr. Sami Abu Arqoup - Director of the Directorate of the Ministry of Tourism, Dr. Ghassan Dweik from the Hebron Polytechnic University, Architect Murad Tamimi from Hebron Municipality, Mr. Nader Tamimi and Khaled al fakhouri from the Federation of Craft Industries. As well as 18 of participating SMEs owners.

Dr. Shadi Ghadban has opened the meeting and welcomed the presence and stressed the importance of cooperation for the continuation of the project. He also gave an introduction to the project's activities and future activities. On the other hand, Dr. Mohammad Jawabreh has pointed out that the project pursued to realistically reflect products and implement the pilot ideas proposed by craftsmen in the development of urban spaces in the Old Town/Hebron as well as in Nablus.

The Director of the Directorate of Tourism - Mr. Sami Abu Arqoub, noted the importance of Palestinian craft products, which were characterized by manual labour and authenticity, and noted the interest of Palestinians in projects and the pursuit of success in any project they participated in. He also stressed the importance of protecting local handicrafts from imitation, and Mr. Nader Tamimi shared him the view of on the importance of this and its contribution to preserving the value and authenticity of the product.

Architect Murad Tamimi emphasized their full support for the success of the project and reported on the adverse effects of the Corona pandemic on SMEs, as well as the negative impact of the occupation, which had caused the closure of many small enterprises. Dr. Shadi Ghadban concluded the opening session and thanked everyone for attending.

Then, training activities began for the first meeting on the theme of circular innovation with the training team. The meeting sought to enable trainees to propose ideas that would reflect an appropriate value to the local environment, raise awareness of design thinking as a modern and important area of innovation and development, and guide trainees to adopt a circular economy concept in manufacturing new products.

For the activities published in the project to date, please visit INNOMED-UP Facebook official page!