EU-Wide Advantages & Opportunities for HORIZON-CL6-2025-01-CIRCBIO-01 (Open Topic)

1. Single Market Access

• Direct route to 450+ million consumers and 23 million SMEs under one customs union and a harmonised regulatory space.

• Results (e.g. circular products, AI-enabled tools, DPP solutions) can be commercialised simultaneously in all 27 Member States without additional national certification, accelerating time-to-market by 6-18 months compared with a country-by-country roll-out.

• Facilitates rapid uptake of new business models (product-as-a-service, regenerative sourcing, etc.) that depend on network effects and wide demand.

2. Cross-Border Collaboration & Knowledge Exchange

• Consortium design can leverage complementary SME clusters – e.g. Nordic bio-material innovators + Central-European manufacturing + Southern eco-design studios – enabling full value-chain pilots impossible in a single country.

• Access to Enterprise Europe Network (EEN) nodes in all regions for partner search, matchmaking, joint IP management and post-grant commercialisation support.

• Shared piloting infrastructure (living labs, large-scale demonstrators) spreads CAPEX and de-risks investment; costs of pilot plants drop by up to 40 % when co-located across borders and jointly utilised.

3. Alignment with Flagship EU Policies

• European Green Deal, CEAP, Zero-Pollution Action Plan and EU Industrial Strategy provide a stable, long-term market pull for green and circular solutions.

• Regulatory drivers (CSRD, ESPR, DPP, EU Taxonomy) create mandatory demand — proposals can position SMEs as early movers and compliance solution providers.

• Synergies with the Digital Europe Programme allow integration of AI, blockchain and Twin-transition tools, boosting TRL and policy relevance.

4. Regulatory Harmonisation Benefits

• One set of eco-design, EPR and sustainability reporting rules reduces compliance cost per SME by an estimated 25–30 % compared with operating in fragmented non-EU markets.

• Uniform product standards and mutual recognition make it simpler to replicate pilots in new Member States (explicitly requested in the topic).

5. Access to the EU Innovation Ecosystem

• Eligibility for world-class RTOs and universities (Fraunhofer, VTT, TNO, CEA, etc.) plus European Data Spaces, providing latest research on circular metrics, LCA, AI and bio-based materials.

• Gateway to European Institute of Innovation & Technology (EIT) KICs (Manufacturing, RawMaterials, Climate), offering venture support and acceleration beyond the project life.

• Easier talent attraction through Erasmus+ mobility and Pact for Skills partnership — addressing the topic’s skills-development requirement.

6. Funding Synergies

• Can dovetail with regional ERDF/Interreg funds for physical demonstrators, Life Programme for specific environmental pilots, and InvestEU for scale-up finance.

• Blending with national Recovery & Resilience Facility (RRF) allocations can multiply CAPEX budgets and derisk first deployments.

• Seal of Excellence path for high-quality but unfunded proposals offers a second financing channel at national level.

7. Scale, Replicability & Impact

• Mandatory replication plan fits EU cohesion goals; success stories can be quickly transferred to other regions via Smart Specialisation Platforms.

• Potential to create EU-level circular procurement schemes, boosting SMEs’ order books and achieving measurable GHG, pollutant and resource-efficiency impacts across multiple Member States.

• Consortia meeting ‘large-scale operational environment’ requirement gain EU-wide visibility, improving market credibility and investment attractiveness.

8. Strategic Added Value for SMEs & Consortia

• Early engagement with policy-makers allows consortia to shape forthcoming delegated acts (e.g. ESPR product groups, Green Claims methodology).

• EU trademark protection and unified IP rules (Unitary Patent, Unified Patent Court) streamline exploitation planning.

• Participation strengthens ESG credentials, facilitating access to sustainable finance under EU taxonomy-aligned funds.

9. Key Take-Aways & Recommended Actions

• Build multidisciplinary, multi-country consortia including SME clusters, RTOs, NGOs and user-industries to maximise territorial and sectoral replication.

• Map complementarities with previous Horizon projects (2021-24) to avoid duplication and tap into existing data, pilots & communities.

• Include a clear strategy for leveraging ERDF/Interreg and InvestEU after TRL 8-9 to ensure EU-wide scale-up.

• Integrate CSRD/ESPR compliance modules into the solution to provide immediate commercial value for SMEs forced to comply from FY 2026 onward.

• Position policy-recommendation work package to feed directly into the 2027–2030 revision cycles of CEAP and ESPR, maximising impact beyond the grant.