OC2: Building Novel Circular Value Chain Demonstrators

Description

Objective: Engage industry actors to create new circular supply chains, integrating refurbishing, remanufacturing, repurposing, and recycling strategies. How it works: Consortia (2-4 entities) will develop circular solutions that: ●Extend product life cycles by implementing R-strategies (reuse, refurbish, recycle, etc.). ●Integrate digital tools from CIRCULOOS to track material flows and optimize value chain operations. ●Develop new digital, IT, robotic or other combined tools if necessary to support the new R-Strategy. ●Validate sustainability impact through Life cycle Assessment (LCA) and supply chain data sharing. ●Develop novel products & business models, reducing reliance on virgin materials. The concepts and technology will be tested in up to 16 demonstrators (as many as the budget for OC2 allows), selected through the Open Calls, to advance sustainable manufacturing. Open Call #2 will only accept consortiums of 2-4 entities and will fund each entity with a maximum of€60K(see below). The applicable funding rate for every project will be 60% of the eligible costs for profit makingentities, or 100% for non-profit or academic organisations. An estimated number of 16 consortia will be funded up to the total of the available budget of 2,880,000€. Therefore, the open call will provide a maximumof €240,000 (total lump sum) grant (total cost ofmaximum 400K). Funds will be disbursed based upon the successful delivery and approval by theCIRCULOOS project, of the submitted technical and business reports and demonstrators, along the 12-month implementation program, scheduled to launch with the contract signature of the winning consortia.IMPORTANT NOTE:Applicants should be aware that to receive the 60% funding from CIRCULOOSOpen Call #2, they must contribute 40% of their own funds OC2 aims to engage new actors from manufacturing industries—such as metal, electrical, furniture, leather, machinery, vehicles, wood, and plastic—interested in adopting circular business models. These circular supply chains, typically formed by 2-4 entities, will implement R-strategies like refurbishing, remanufacturing, repurposing, recycling, and recovering materials. Through regional collaboration, they will enhance process efficiency, reduce waste, and develop new or improved products with measurable sustainability benefits. The objective is to implement and demonstrate circular strategies, ensuring that materials, components, and products are reintegrated into the market whenever possible. This involves orchestrating supply chain operations, optimizing material flows, and enabling real-time monitoring of sustainability and circularity indices. Collaboration with recyclers, upcyclers, and end-of-life collectors will be essential in closing the loop and extending product lifecycles. The successful applications will document and showcase the formation of new value chains, illustrating how circularity transforms traditional, linear production models. This process includes identifying gaps in the supply chain, integrating new production techniques, and, where needed, re-engineering manufacturing lines to support R-strategies. Examples of such improvements include robotic sorting, automated disassembly, product redesign, advanced material processing, and software-driven optimization. Additionally, participants will capture and share data to measure Lifecycle Assessments (LCA) and optimize production orchestration. Key Activities Required for OC2 Experiments: The CIRCULOOS experiments resulting from the Open Call #2 should: (describe at the proposal level to be successful and demonstrate during the experiment): ●A novel value chain which is relevant for a specific product/ or its parts, which will extend its (linear) life and/or get a new life tailored to the needs of specific target groups (with real need, eg. a charity would make available the reclaimed carpet in a lower price or for free), ●Present a scenario/use case, to show how the platform tools, and products/suppliers’ information on RAMP and data platform, can be used to formulate this new value chain. ●Present the new needed modifications or re-engineered processes that will be incorporated to implement the above with improved LCA indicators, in comparison to the (linear) production process across the supply chain actors. When necessary extend, adapt or develop technical tools/ to enable the proposed scenario, ●Document the above changes for each of the product lines of each actor of the value chain in BPMN; more specifically provide BPM diagrams identifying the input and output for each process, recording the expenditure in terms of materials and energy resources (consider at most the two primary materials used and energy factors) ●Describe the means (existing or new technical means that will need to be installed) to measure the material and energy consumption for at least two of the previously documented processes; these measurements will be used to ‘calibrate’ (understand the deviations from theoretical estimations) the calculation of the LCA improvement (see below). ●Document and illustrate the role of each CIRCULOOS tool (all mandatory and each optional chosen as part of your experiment) to be used and any new feature /tool to be brought in to support the implementation of the use case. ●Demonstrate the scenario implementation by appropriate interaction/ communication/ coordination among the involved entities, by exchanging data within CIRCULOOS supply chain orchestrator and real production environment, ●Measure the LCA improvement in the LifeCycle Assessment tool (GRETA). ●Improved sustainability indices across the value chain Supporting roles -project and financial management, -dissemination and exploitation, -technology upgrade activity, which may be in form of IT integration, hardware upgrade, robotics or other technology installation. These can be combined and offered by one entity of the value chain, or another relevant organisation, with interest in the value chain, for example, one DIH can take the activity of project management and dissemination and provision of robotic tasks with the view to become a circularity hub and foster new activities in its region, alternative, an MSME can take the role of both the producer (manufacturing process) and the recycler/ upcycler. The new experiments will work closely with the CIRCULOOS team to implement the above value chain, to develop the scenario, starting from the analysis of requirements, detailing the technical specifications, demonstrating its execution, receiving mentoring and guidance in adopting the CIRCULOOS tools. A mentor will be assigned to each team with the support of a technical team as appropriate. Overall, the experiments should result in new business practices, models and products that improve circularity indexes. The selected supply chains should adopt and validate the series of tools offered by the CIRCULOOS project and enhance them as necessary with reusable components. These components should also be useful for other circular supply chains and will be integrated into the RAMP platform. Information clarifications regarding the concept of circular supply chains: ●The circular supply chains should be innovative and enabled by the project, not already existing. ●The circular supply chains should foster the exchange of data and digital cooperation of the chain nodes (businesses) or promote the optimization of internal businesses (the use of data remains critical). ●The circular supply chains should result in novel market offerings and measurable improvements in sustainability and circularity indices across the value chain. ●The challenge to be addressed should be clearly described and shared among the value chain nodes. ●The business composing the value chain should show the circular process by moving products, materials and upgrading waste. ●The value chains should be regional to demonstrate that the sustainability indices are improved (e.g. avoiding extra CO2 emissions) and that they make ‘commercial sense’ (e.g. transportation costs of reclaimed products and materials are minimum).

Beneficiary & submission

Entities interested in applying to CIRCULOOS Open Call 2 must register on the F6S platform, which will serve as the main interface for managing the submission and evaluation process. The official application portal will be available at: Steps for Submission Applicants must follow these steps when preparing their proposal: ●Create an F6S account (or log in if they already have one). ●Navigate to the CIRCULOOS Open Call 2 page and review all provided information: Open Call 2: https://circuloos.eu/open-calls/ ● Complete the online application form on the F6S platform and provide all mandatory information. ●Attach all required documentation, ensuring: ○ For OC2 applicants: Submit Annex II (Application Form for OC2) in PDF format with the following naming: [Lead_Applicant_Name]_OC2_Application.pdf. ●Review contractual obligations in advance: Applicants are strongly advised to review Annex IV (Sub-Grant Agreement) and the relevant Declarations of Honour before submission, as they will be mandatory for selected applicants. ●Ensure timely submission: It is highly recommended that applicants submit their proposal well before the deadline to avoid last-minute issues. Late submissions will not be accepted under any circumstances. ●Resubmission requests: If an error is discovered before the deadline, applicants may contact the CIRCULOOS team via [support email] to request a correction. However, resubmissions may not be possible if requested within 48 hours of the deadline. ●Deadline extensions: Extensions will only be granted in the case of significant technical issues affecting the F6S platform. If an extension is applied, all applicants will be notified accordingly. Failure to submit a complete proposal before the deadline will result in automatic disqualification from the Open Call. F6S Platform The F6S platform allows applicants to edit and save drafts before final submission. However, once submitted, applications cannot be modified. Applicants are strongly advised to review their entries carefully before clicking submit. ●Detailed information about the Open Call application process and all relevant documentation can be found at the CIRCULOOS Open Call page on the CIRCULOOS website. ●Applicants are required to apply online by filling in the CIRCULOOS online application form on the F6S Platform and to answer all mandatory questions with no exception. This is the only way of applying to the CIRCULOOS Open Call. ●Only submissions before the deadline will be accepted. After the official CIRCULOOS Open Call closure (May 28, 2025, at 17:00 CET.), no additions or changes to the submitted application form will be considered. ●Requests or inquiries about the submission process or the Open Call itself, received after the closure of the Open Call will neither be considered nor answered. ●It is strongly recommended not to wait until the last minute to fill in and submit your application form. ●Be specific and concise when answering the questions – they have character limitations. ●Applicants that do not accept the CIRCULOOS Open Call terms and conditions listed in the online application form will be declared non-eligible. ●The CIRCULOOS application form is self-contained. Additional materials and/or hyperlinks to additional information, which have not been specifically requested in the online application form, will not be considered by the evaluators. ●Please do not consider the limit of the characters under each section as a target! It is in your interest to keep your text as concise as possible since evaluators rarely view unnecessarily long applications in a positive light. ●If the applicant discovers an error in the application form, and if the Open Call deadline has not passed, the applicant may request support to open again, and/ or re-submit the proposal at: support@f6s.com ●The platform also enables applicants to receive notifications and updates regarding their application status. ●For any other inquiries related to the Open Call, the applicants can send email at: circuloos.eu@gmail.com All applications must be submitted before the deadline on May 28, 2025, at 17:00 CET. Late submissions, incomplete applications, or non-compliant proposals will be automatically disqualified.

Further information

https://circuloos.eu/open-calls/ support@f6s.com circuloos.eu@gmail.com