As part of its mission to strengthen sustainability education and green entrepreneurship across partner universities, the Erasmus+ ECoGREEN Project successfully organized the Bootcamp on Circular Entrepreneurship in Hasselt, Belgium, from 2 to 6 September 2024. The bootcamp brought together 32 students and 12 lecturers from partner universities in Indonesia and Europe, creating a vibrant international learning environment focused on circular economy and sustainable entrepreneurship. 

Hosted by Hasselt University (UHasselt), the bootcamp was developed as an immersive educational experience combining lectures, workshops, interactive exercises, serious games, and hands-on business development activities. More than simply introducing theoretical concepts, the bootcamp encouraged students to actively explore how circular economy principles can be translated into innovative and viable entrepreneurial solutions.

The first day focused on building intercultural and interdisciplinary collaboration among participants. Through networking activities such as speed-dating sessions, circular bingo, and personality-based team formation, students from diverse academic and national backgrounds began forming collaborative teams that would work together throughout the week. This foundation of teamwork became central to the bootcamp’s learning approach.  

On the second day, participants were introduced to the concept of the Doughnut Economy, inspired by Kate Raworth’s framework for balancing human prosperity with ecological boundaries. Students then connected theory with practice through company case challenges presented by regional enterprises in Limburg—OKAZI, CTESO, and CRG—each sharing real sustainability issues faced in their business operations. These cases became the basis for student-led circular business solutions developed during the bootcamp.  

The third and fourth days deepened students’ understanding of circular entrepreneurship through sessions on the Flourishing Business Canvas, teamwork, design thinking for sustainability, innovation under uncertainty, and the importance of entrepreneurial role models. The collaborative nature of ECoGREEN was clearly reflected in the program delivery, with academic contributions from multiple consortium partners, including Wageningen University and Indonesian partner universities such as UNPAR and Trisakti University, which shared Indonesia’s innovative waste bank ecosystem as a model for sustainability-driven entrepreneurship.  

The final day culminated in student group presentations, where teams pitched their circular business solutions directly to company representatives and lecturers from participating universities. This pitching session not only challenged students to articulate their ideas convincingly but also provided valuable feedback from academics and industry practitioners, bridging educational learning with real-world entrepreneurial application.  

More than an academic exchange, the Bootcamp on Circular Entrepreneurship served as a living example of transdisciplinary collaboration across cultures, institutions, and industries. By combining sustainability theory, entrepreneurial practice, and international collaboration, the bootcamp strengthened ECoGREEN’s objective of preparing future innovators who are capable of creating sustainable impact through circular business thinking.

This initiative marks another important milestone in ECoGREEN’s journey toward fostering sustainability learning, green entrepreneurship, and collaborative innovation among universities and communities across Indonesia and Europe.