The Extraordinary Chair of Circular Economy in the Management of Public Markets (CECiM) is the result of a collaboration agreement between the Universidad Francisco de Vitoria and the City Council of Madrid, signed in December 2021 after the signature of the Chancellor of the UFV, Mr. Daniel Sada Castaño and the Delegate of the Government Area of Economy, Innovation and Employment of the City of Madrid, Mr. Miguel Ángel Redondo Rodríguez. The City Council endorses the agreement within its scope to encourage and promote trade and hospitality and the promotion of the public-private collaboration for the development of actions to revitalize municipal markets. The university, in turn, ratifies the agreement in line with its educational model, which includes a commitment to teaching and research oriented to the common good and the transfer of results.

Both institutions converge in their understanding that, on the one hand, public markets fulfill a social and economic function of special relevance that deserves to be supported and promoted and, on the other hand, that the commitment to sustainable and circular economic models is an ethical and legal imperative that essentially coincides with the nature of public markets, traditionally identified with healthy eating, sustainable food, small-scale economy and local and neighborhood ecosystems. Despite this, the adaptation to the regulations is not easy for small traders and this chair is created with the aim of helping market businesses to successfully adapt to the new legal requirements

Define and design a circular management model in the public markets of the city of Madrid, based on a model that is scalable and replicable to the entire network of public markets.

Develop communication, awareness and sensitization tools for public market traders to facilitate the transition to the circular economy.

Provide training resources for market managers and traders, related to circular management in all phases of the business.

Develop competitive research and innovation projects aimed at consolidating the Chair as an academic point of reference, including the dissemination of results, both in the business, municipal and academic fields

Research axis: research projects and participation in academic forums related to the circular economy, public markets and urban and citizen regeneration. These projects will seek alliances between the public and private sectors.

Transfer axis: transfer and deployment of knowledge through actions and strategies of sustainability and circular economy, resulting from the research work of the Chair, to the companies integrated in the markets and their management bodies

Training axis: training courses and advice to current and potential traders, as well as to managers of public markets, to facilitate the transition to the circular economy. This includes the definition of the figure of the circular manager and the creation and stimulation of a circular community in the public markets of the city of Madrid, including repositories of regulations, subsidies and good practices.

Awareness and dissemination axis: information and communication strategy on the transition to the circular economy of public markets that includes information on regulations and the economic impact of circularity, awareness of the impact of the circular transition and communication of the practices implemented