EU-wide Advantages and Opportunities under HORIZON-CL6-2025-01-CIRCBIO-02

1. Direct Access to the EU Single Market

• Reach all 27 Member States through a *single conformity route* once ESPR testing methods are validated within the project – dramatically lowering time-to-market for detergents, paints, chemicals, non-ferrous metals, home/interior textiles, footwear and toys.

• Exploit new *Green Public Procurement* (GPP) demand: over €2 trn/yr of public purchasing will increasingly require ESPR-compliant, circular products; early movers gain a decisive first-mover advantage.

• Tap into the upcoming *Digital Product Passport* (DPP) infrastructure to provide traceability and brand differentiation for 450 + million consumers seeking verifiable green claims.

2. Cross-Border Collaboration & Knowledge Exchange

• Mandatory multi-country consortia enable pooling of *testing facilities* (e.g. Fraunhofer, VTT, TNO), reducing individual CAPEX for method validation.

• Leverage *European networks* such as EIT RawMaterials, EIT Manufacturing, the Circular Cities & Regions Initiative (CCRI) and the New European Bauhaus (NEB) to pilot real-life use cases across diverse climatic and socio-economic contexts.

• Create *pan-EU datasets* on circularity parameters and consumer behaviour, filling critical evidence gaps for future ESPR preparatory studies and giving partners de-facto thought-leadership status.

3. Full Alignment with Flagship EU Policies

• Green Deal, Circular Economy Action Plan 2.0, Right-to-Repair initiative – the call is specifically designed as their science/innovation arm.

• Taxonomy Regulation & Sustainable Finance: the project’s validated metrics become *EU-recognised proof* of “substantial contribution” and “Do No Significant Harm”, unlocking cheaper green finance for partners.

• Digital Europe Programme synergies through integration of AI-based testing, digital twins and Blockchain-enabled DPPs.

4. Regulatory Harmonisation & Market Surveillance Benefits

• Co-creation with JRC and national market-surveillance authorities (MSAs) ensures *EU-wide acceptance* of the new testing methods, preventing divergent national rules and certification costs.

• Early participation shapes Annex I parameter definitions and avoids later *retro-fitting costs* for industry.

• Common templates for *extended warranties, repair scoring and VAT incentives* can be adopted simultaneously in multiple countries, lowering administrative burden for SMEs.

5. Plug-in to Europe’s Innovation Ecosystem

• Easy access to >3 500 Horizon Europe research infrastructures (ESFRI, KICs, DIHs) and world-class labs for accelerated prototyping and LCA modelling.

• Direct channels for *standardisation* via CEN/CENELEC Technical Committees working on EN455XX and new horizontal ESPR standards.

• Talent and skills: Erasmus+, Pact for Skills, Enterprise Europe Network (EEN) provide free or subsidised training modules—critical for the capacity-building work package.

6. Funding Synergies & Blended Finance

• Combine Horizon lump-sum with *Innovation Fund* (large-scale pilots for recycled content), *LIFE* (consumer awareness campaigns), *InvestEU* (guarantees for scale-up plants), and regional ERDF/Just Transition funding for demo sites in cohesion regions.

• CBE-JU and Cluster-4/5 projects offer ready-made use-cases (bio-based coatings, low-carbon non-ferrous metals) that can be integrated for TRL 7-8 exploitation, de-risking subsequent commercialisation rounds.

7. Pan-European Scale-up & Market Uptake

• Harmonised testing & DPP data enable *instant replication* across Member States—key for products sold via pan-EU e-commerce channels.

• The project can pilot *pay-per-use or product-as-a-service* circular business models simultaneously in multiple jurisdictions, validating scalability to EU-wide service platforms.

• Access to *Joint Procurement Agreements* (e.g. textiles for hospitals, toys for childcare facilities) magnifies initial market volumes.

8. Socio-Economic Cohesion & Skills Development

• Focus on SMEs in cohesion & peripheral regions fosters *just transition* and reduces regional innovation gaps.

• Multilingual, standardised training curricula created within the project can be rolled out via EEN hubs and VET providers, building *EU-wide repair and remanufacturing skills*.

• Gender-balanced and inclusive consortium design contributes to *European Pillar of Social Rights* targets and strengthens evaluation scores.

9. Competitive Edge for EU Industry & Global Influence

• Setting the benchmark for ESPR compliance turns partners into *rule-makers* rather than rule-takers, shaping global supply chains that wish to export to the EU.

• Joint IP & standardisation deliverables can be leveraged in *ISO/IEC* committees, exporting EU values and opening royalty revenue streams.

• Demonstrating >20 % material savings and >30 % recycled content in mainstream consumer goods underpins *strategic autonomy* in critical raw materials and supports the Net-Zero Industry Act.

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Actionable Next Steps for Applicants

1. Map consortium against *product groups

• ensuring coverage of at least two high-impact value chains (e.g. detergents + non-ferrous metals) to maximise horizontal learning.

2. Secure formal *letters of cooperation

• from JRC, MSAs and CEN/CENELEC before proposal submission to reinforce regulatory uptake.

3. Design a dedicated WP on *funding synergies*, assigning a partner to scout and align with LIFE/InvestEU opportunities by M12.

4. Embed a *Digital Product Passport sandbox

• that complies with the Data Act and Cyber-Resilience Act to future-proof results.

5. Allocate ≥5 % of budget to capacity-building materials in at least five EU languages to meet SME skills gap requirement and boost exploitation scores.