Circular innovative advanced materials: facilitating the transition from design to markets (RIA) (Innovative Advanced Materials for the EU and Made in Europe partnerships)

This Destination brings together the research and innovation for a globally competitive European industry through the twin green and digital transition, and the availability, development, use, reuse and disposal of chemicals, advanced materials and critical raw materials.

The Competitiveness Compass announces initiatives that should be served directly by industry-linked activities in Cluster 4, through new, focused R&I activities, but also through the activities supported up to now:

• Clean Industrial Deal adopted in February 2025;
• Critical Raw Materials Act;
• Advanced Materials Communication and future Advanced Materials Act planned for 2026;
• Future Circular Economy Act planned for 2026;
• Steel and Metals Action Plan adopted in March 2025;
• European Chemicals Industry Action Plan adopted in July 2025;
• Industrial action plan for the European automotive sector adopted in March 2025; and
• Strategy on research and technology infrastructures, with regard to technology infrastructures and the valorisation of knowledge.

In order to better translate these policy priorities into actions, to integrate the latest inputs from the partnerships, and to achieve synergies, this Work Programme part adopts a more integrated approach. The headings used under the two industry-focused destinations in previous work programmes, reflecting different partnerships and industrial sectors, are replaced by new headings making strongly interconnected contributions to the corresponding expected impacts in the Strategic Plan 2025-27, on green and digital transition and on autonomy in raw and advanced materials.

The new approach takes into account R&I investments under previous work programmes and intends to introduce more synergies with other pillars (notably the European Innovation Council under Pillar III) as well as with Cluster 5. Topics in this Work Programme increasingly combine the priorities of different partnerships to enable synergies, e.g. with the Investment fund, while continuing to address the particularities of each partnership. The development of new and cross-cutting technologies will help transform existing value chains and create new ones.

In addition to this Work Programme part, Cluster 4 participates in a horizontal Clean Industrial Deal Call, aiming to increase the competitiveness and decarbonisation of industry. The initiative will allow Horizon Europe beneficiaries to feed the EU deployment pipeline with R&I solutions close to market uptake and deployment, whilst also supporting the development by 2035 of a new batch of industry-led demonstrators designed for higher market readiness.

In addition to decarbonisation, manufacturing and energy-intensive industries need to embrace the circular economy as a key pillar in the design of their value chains. This will be fundamental to their resource efficiency (in terms of materials, energy and water). Particularly important in this context is the upcycling of secondary raw materials and waste; de- and re-manufacturing; and the development of sustainable and resource-efficient industrial processes

This Work Programme continues to promote across the calls the application of Safe and Sustainable by Design approach incorporating early and parallel considerations of innovation design choices on impacts on health, environment, climate and other sustainability parameters as a way of achieving stated policy objectives and fostering quick market uptake.

Where projects are asked to contribute to the development of safe and sustainable products, projects should take into account safety concerns for consumers as well as the organisational health and safety aspects for industrial workers.

Finally, to support start-ups and scale-ups, this Work Programme includes support for technology infrastructures and valorisation of knowledge.

Business cases and exploitation strategies for industrialisation:

This section applies only to those topics in this Destination, for which proposals should demonstrate the expected outcomes by including a business case and exploitation strategy for industrialisation.

A business case and a credible initial exploitation strategy are essential components in the ultimate success of an industry-based project, as well as its prospects to attract further investments for deployment. They will both be decisive factors under the impact criterion, and proposers are encouraged to use the extended page limit to present a carefully considered business case and exploitation strategy, backed by the management of the companies involved.

The business case should demonstrate the expected impact of the proposal in terms of enhanced market opportunities for the participants and deployment in the EU, in the short to medium term. It should describe the targeted market(s); estimated market size in the EU and globally; user and customer needs; and demonstrate that the solutions will match the market and user needs in a cost-effective manner; and describe the expected market position and competitive advantage.

The exploitation strategy should identify obstacles, requirements and necessary actions involved in reaching higher TRLs (Technology Readiness Levels), for example: securing the required investments, including through possible synergies with other programmes; accessing the required skills; matching value chains; enhancing product robustness; securing industrial integrators; and user acceptance.

For TRLs 6 and 7, a credible strategy to achieve future full-scale deployment in the EU is expected, indicating the intentions of the industrial partners after the end of the project.

Where relevant, in the context of skills, it is recommended to develop training material to endow workers with the right skillset in order to support the uptake and deployment of new innovative products, services, and processes developed in the different projects. This material should be tested and be scalable, and can potentially be up-scaled through the European Social Fund Plus (ESF+). This will help the European labour force to close the skill gaps in the relevant sectors and occupational groups and improve employment and social levels across the EU and associated countries.

Where projects are asked to contribute to the development of safe and sustainable products, projects should take into account safety concerns for consumers and the organisational health and safety aspects for industrial workers.

For topics in this destination, consortia (if selected for funding) will be called upon to cooperate with the relevant parts of the Joint Research Centre (JRC), in order to inform the next stages of EU technology and innovation policies.

• INnovation Centre for Industrial Transformation and Emissions (INCITE) (https://innovation-centre-for-industrial-transformation.ec.europa.eu/).
• The Energy and Industry Geography Lab: EIGL (https://energy-industry-geolab.jrc.ec.europa.eu/).

Legal entities established in China are not eligible to participate in both Research and Innovation Actions (RIAs) and Innovation Actions (IAs) falling under this destination. For additional information please see “Restrictions on the participation of legal entities established in China” found in General Annex B of the General Annexes.

Expected Outcome:

• Innovative advanced materials designed for circularity are adopted in products faster, through accelerated production and technology uptake;
• Business models become available to enhance the use of circular advanced materials in strategic value chains; and
• Resource efficiency (materials and energy) is increased significantly through a focus on circular advanced materials.
• Quality standards, harmonisation and regulatory requirements are addressed facilitating simplified market transition.

Scope:

The focus of this topic is on enabling circularity and resilient supply networks through R&I in advanced materials, in particular recyclable polymers and composites, magnets and metal (alloys) for additive manufacturing, and on accelerating their pathway to market. Proposals should develop new innovative advanced materials (IAMs) with superior or novel functionalities designed for circularity. The scope includes necessary developments of related processes and technologies to ensure integration in industrial manufacturing facilitating uptake of the developed solutions. Proposals should also develop circular business models considering the cost of changes needed along the life cycle of these new materials to facilitate their uptake.

The scope covers the full innovation cycle from the design for circularity and functional integration (new materials designs), development and scaleup (including scalable recovery, recycling and valorisation at end of life), to demonstration of industrial uptake and integration into products. The transformative potential of the developed solutions is to be showcased by demonstrators and industrial use cases. Projects should also explore possibilities to transfer developed solutions to other applications or sectors.

The SSbD framework^[1] should guide the innovation process towards safer and more sustainable chemicals and advanced materials. Where relevant data generated within the proposal may be shared with the Common Data Platform for Chemicals. The new alternatives to be developed should meet the technical functions required in the specific applications while aligning their innovation process decision making with such framework.

Best use of digital tools and FAIR data, including AI and data-driven approaches throughout the innovation process should support the circular transition for industry and circular product design. This includes sharing FAIR and interoperable data and tools across supply networks and value chains, to foster circularity, including data needed for materials and component development, production and circular product design.

The approach should foster collaboration among stakeholders along the innovation chain and industrial value networks to accelerate the development and adoption of new circular solutions.

Projects should build on, or seek collaboration with, existing projects in EU Member States and Associated Countries and develop synergies with other relevant European, national or regional initiatives, funding programmes and platforms, in particular with the Materials Commons for Europe.

Proposals should support strategic value chains in the fields of energy and construction. The portfolio approach will be used to fund at least one proposal from each of these two. Proposers should declare in their proposal the main application area of their proposal (i.e., energy or construction).

Proposals should include a business case and exploitation strategy, as outlined in the introduction to this Destination.

This topic implements the co-programmed European Partnerships Innovative Advanced Materials for the EU (IAM4EU) and Made in Europe (MiE).

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[1] See documents defining the SSbD framework and criteria on: https://ec.europa.eu/info/research-and-innovation/research-area/industrial-research-and-innovation/key-enabling-technologies/advanced-materials-and-chemicals_en