To contribute to catalyzing the transition towards a sustainable, circular economCircSyst, presents a series of shared Demonstration Experiences of new technological and societal adaptations to a Circular Economy involving 8 European regions: Valencia (SP), Maribor (SI), Flanders (BE), Gotland (SW), Paijat-Hame-Lahti (FI), Castila la Mancha (SP), Central Macedonia (EL), and Central and East Hungary (HU). The project focuses on three of the priority value chains of the Circular Economy Plan: Water Management, Biowaste, and Plastics and Packaging, as well as in the potential synergies among them. 4 Demonstrators are proposed developing and validating solutions for Water Management: 1 Reuse of industrial treated wastewater through on-demand treatment. 2 Agricultural industry and utilities uses for reclaimed urban water. 3 Smart wastewater management as a structural solution to water scarcity and floods in urban contexts. 4 Validation of a set of Integrated tools and methodologies for smart management of water symbiosis. In the Biowaste field the project will implement 2 Demonstrators dealing with waste from different sources and extracting valuable substances directly applicable in the other addressed value chains: 5 Flexible and intelligent biorefinery for the recovery of materials and components. 6 Valorisation routes of Food Industry Biowastes. In the Plastics and Packaging field, the project tackles main aspects of plastic waste management, including eco-design, cost-effective segregation, and recyclability: 7 Mechanical recycling of mPET. 8 Consumers engagement in plastics segregation 9 Food Packaging value chain redesign towards the substitution of plastics Work Packages on Communication & Dissemination, Knowledge Transfer, and Results Exploitation and Impact, are designed to ensure that that the results adequately reach key stakeholders in governments, private organizations, and civil society with the cooperation of the CCRI Coordination and Support Office.

BIOntier offers innovative solutions to environmental challenges and establishes a holistic, integrated, and industrial-driven platform for the design, development, and scalable fabrication of the next generation of cost-effective, sustainable, lightweight, recyclable bio-based composites (BioC) with enhanced properties (e.g. thermal, mechanical, chemical), functionalities (e.g. corrosion, chemical and fire resistance, hardness and impact resistance, high temperature resistance, structural health monitoring). BIOntier will also advance manufacturing processes, enhancing synthesis and stability and reducing environmental impact. Such BioC and manufacturing capabilities will allow robust connections with end-users and thus develop and qualify the commercial propositions to high TRLs. BIOntier will develop, demonstrate, and validate the efficacy of BioC-enabled products (6 use cases) which will underlie future technologies for different sectors (e.g. automotive, aerospace, energy (hydrogen economy) and water treatment). BIOntier also supports the innovation output and industrialization efforts of the EU initiatives and strategies for circular bioeconomy, building a credible pathway for the newly accumulated knowledge to impact EU industry and society. BIOntier will support a strong EU value chain in translating technology advances from TRL4-5 into concrete innovation opportunities and production capabilities (TRL6-7), with first-mover market advantages of scale in the defined industrial sectors. The consortium consists of 25 partners from 12 countries, representing the full value chain, with leading OEMs, large industries, world-class research and education organisations, and innovative SMEs. BIOntier is designed to ensure maximum impact for the defined industries and society as a whole, significantly contributing to the evolving field of BioC.

The InnoMatSyn project (“Innovative Materials Ecosystem to Gain Synergies of regional, national and EU Initiatives”) will support the coordination of European, national and regional initiatives in the field of innovative advanced materials towards a materials ecosystem that cover any type of advanced materials (AdMa) and two-dimensional materials (2DM) to accelerate the development and scale up of the materials. The initiative will support the public authorities and funding research and innovation bodies by leveraging synergies between the different research communities and funding opportunities to facilitate the creation of one overarching materials ecosystem. The project will deliver 4 main outcomes: (i) a materials innovation knowledge repository tool capable to connect existing databases at EU, National and regional projects, and to identify possible needs and gaps; (ii) support to national regional funding agencies to create joint calls between funding agencies M-ERA.NET, FLAG-ERA, EUREKA, and EIT’s to facilitate the development and scale up of materials research. iii) an overarching, resilient European R&D&I ecosystem facilitating the cooperation within the different materials-related communities and funding agencies to monitor on-going research and to generate new projects, to run workshops in support of funding calls, and to challenge the knowledge generated in Europe, enabling future initiatives. iv) support EU, national, and regional initiatives with technology leakage risk assessment strategies, generating guidelines and common understanding at regional, national, and EU level to enhance EU sovereignty. Furthermore, InnoMatSyn will engage with all stakeholder groups including citizens, to gain awareness and attention to the potential of innovative materials. Emphasizes will be put on the empowerment by co-creation of skills, supporting and in collaboration with the Advanced Materials Academy, and related partnerships e.g. IAM4EU,‘AI, Data and Robotics'.

Scrap-based production of Steel using Electric Arc Furnace (EAF) with possibility of 100 % scrap charges, offers a Circular Economy-based solution to reduce CO2 emissions when compared to the integrated Blast Furnace (BF) + Basic Oxygen Furnace (BOF) route (1.81 tCO2/tsteel for BOF vs 0.23tCO2/tsteel for EAF). However, EAF production of sheet steel is currently not a reality due to the effect of undesired residual elements in the scrap. The aim of CiSMA is to introduce scrap-based EAF steel products into mass-market sheet metal consumer goods with high-quality requirements, currently served with BOF steel (96 % of the market). First, by generating fundamental knowledge on how residual elements, and Copper in particular, interact with sheet Steel and its performance. This will be done combining state-of-the-art methodologies with specialized resources, such as Synchrotron, to design Steel grades and determine safe residual thresholds. Next, scrap as a raw material will be studied together with methodologies to improve its quality and maximize the use of low-quality scrap, through the use of techniques that separate undesired inclusions from the main stream of steel. Finally, by generating a toolbox of enabling technologies to introduce recycled sheet metal in the industry: 1) fast characterization tests for quality control, 2) online test methodologies that can be applied in the press floor, and 3) the development of Machine Learning-enhanced Finite Element Modelling and Digital Twin that allow adapting production processes to feedstock with high variability. These developments will be showcased in applying four steel compositions into two pilot trials for mass-market applications: automotive and white goods. These trials will ensure that the material and production route developed can be readily accepted by the market, demonstrate the developed toolset of enabling technologies, and quantify the environmental improvements achieved compare to the current product.