The European Commission has published an Industrial Technology Roadmap focused on highlighting aspects of the textile, construction and energy-intensive industries in the EU Member States and Horizon Europe Associated Countries that have the potential to become a more circular economy.
This detailed report is relevant to UKRO subscribers’ effective participation in Horizon Europe funding opportunities because it is aligned with the European Research Area’s Policy Agenda. These policies are likely to feed into the scope and expected impacts that applicants will have to address in current or forthcoming calls, particularly those in the thematic clusters of Pillar 2: Global Challenges and European Industrial Competitiveness.
Quick summary of key findings in this Industrial Technology Roadmap policy document
- A life-cycle approach is necessary to fully tap into the potential of circular technologies. This will trigger more systemic change and will affect not only the life of materials but the entire product-service value chain.
- End-of-life technologies (for example pre-recycling technologies involving collection, sorting or disassembly) need further efforts to be deployed in the market. Data on products and materials are needed all along the chain, from production through to usage.
- New product design and advanced materials will trigger more systemic change across the entire value chain.
- Digital technologies have a key role in industrial circularity, across productsâ life cycles. Their use and impact often depend on their specific role and state of development in the phases of design, production, and sorting/recycling.
- Regulation plays a key role in the development of the circular economy in the EU Single Market. The Green Deal has further accelerated this development since the action plan for a Circular Economy was adopted.
- Proposals for new legislation aim to cover all phases of the lifecycle of relevant products more comprehensively, therefore the need for innovative industrial technologies and business models is increasing in order to meet the upcoming eco-design and circularity requirements.
Parts of the report are dedicated to funding and investments for research and innovation.
The section, titled ‘Investments in R&D and innovation’, indicates aspects of research that can help researchers to position themselves in their research field and build networks for developing funding applications that will address top-down calls in Horizon Europe.
For instance, this section discusses which Technology Readiness Levels (TRL) are deemed necessary for different areas. It also collates existing R&I investment recommendations made by the Textile European Technology Platform (ETP), the Built4People Strategic Research and Innovation Agenda and the Processes4Planet Partnership’s Strategic Research and Innovation Agenda.
The Industrial Technology Roadmap directly refers to Horizon Europe with the following guidance on page 122:
In Horizon Europe (2021-2027), circularity in industry is funded mainly under the following clusters within Pillar II: Global challenges & European industrial competitiveness: Cluster 4 (Digital, Industry and Space), Cluster 5 (Climate, Energy and Mobility) and Cluster 6 (Food, Bioeconomy, Natural Resources, Agriculture and Environment).
Horizon Europe is starting to fund projects that are relevant to this roadmap such as CISUTAC, which will support the transition to a circular and sustainable textile sector.
What are Industrial Technology Roadmaps?
An Industrial Technology Roadmap is a form of European R&I policy that links activities and objectives of the European Research Area Policy Agenda to the needs and potential of key European industry sectors. Their main purpose is to point out gaps between the current overall R&I investments in those sectors and, with analysis and evidence, recommend the amount needed to reach EU Green Deal targets for 2030 and 2050.
UKRO has previously reported on another EU Industrial Technology Roadmap for low-carbon technologies.