On the morning of April 28, ICED had a meeting in HCMC with Mr. Steven Starmans (Kim Delta) on strengthening the Circular Economy collaboration between the two parties.
Assoc. Prof. Dr. Nguyen Hong Quan (director of ICED) and Ir. Steven Starmans (director of Kim Delta) participated in the meeting.
Dr. Quan and Mr. Steven have known and worked together since 2017 and were both at the early start of the Circular Economy in Vietnam. In 2020 ICED and Kim Delta signed a Memorandum of Understanding to investigate mutual interests. Both parties now feel it is time to take a step further and come to a more concrete and tangible collaboration toward long term partnership. Kim Delta shares ICED´s vision of making the Circular Economy happen on every level of the society and cross-sectoral, with an emphasis on inclusive community participation.
ICED has academically trained staff and access to a high level network, both in government and business. Kim Delta is working with their feet in the mud, small scale and aims for directly applicable solutions.
Both parties will continue cooperating in the quest for funded projects, like Circular Solar Farm (Kim Delta) and Creating a more sustainable Con Dao island (ICED).
Mr. Starmans is a Sustainable Agribusiness Expert. Mr. Steven holds a Master degree from Wageningen University in the Netherlands for Tropical Agronomy. He has worked as an agronomist and project manager in many countries in Europe, Asia and Africa. He has founded and shared several companies and was a fruit farmer in France. Before permanently moving to Vietnam, he worked as a research program manager for Van Hall Larenstein University of Applied Sciences. He has been involved in Circular Economy activities since 2014.
Kim Delta is a company, based in Can Tho, training and consulting farmers and companies and participating in projects in Sustainable Food Production. It’s staff has master degrees in Tropical Agronomy, Agriculture Chain Management and Biological Science and Technology.
Assoc. Prof. Dr. Nguyen Hong Quan discussed with Ir. Steven Starmans on preparing the program Agriculture and Circular Economy in the Mekong Delta on October 2021
Assoc. Prof. Dr. Nguyen Hong Quan and Ir. Steven Starmans joined the webinar “Agriculture and Circular Economy in the Mekong Delta” organized by the Dutch Embassy in November 2021