Meet the partners

The consortium consists of interesting partners working to create a self-sustaining European Community of Practice for Hubs for Circularity. Take a few minutes to look at these brief partner introductions.

COORDINATOR

CiaoTech (PNO Group)

CiaoTech PNO is the European largest public funding and innovation consultancy firm with +35 years of expertise and over 500 funding programmes in EU, annually raising approximately 1 Billion€ for its clients. PNO supports over 2,000 clients, annually develops over 250 European consortia. CTECH’s “Innovation Management” services supports SMEs & LEs, Universities, Research Institutes and clusters in the full cycle of the innovation, including: - Analyzing, defining and planning processes; - Building partnerships and projects; - Managing Projects and driving innovation.

CTECH assesses clients’ activities with insights into business opportunities, market demands, technology trends, government policies. CTECH has performed studies (Life Cycle Analysis, feasibility studies, business plans, technology intelligence, market analyses) for private clients and public bodies (such as the EC) in different sectors. The company has published papers on innovation management and developed a proprietary innovation management methodology based on the combined use of Open Innovation methodologies to support SMEs’ innovation processes.

EGEN B.V.

EGEN means “intrinsic” and that is exactly what sets us apart, whether it is energy transition, circular economy or sustainable mobility: our consultants are strongly driven to contribute to a better environment. This intrinsic motivation reveals itself in many ways and is not limited to just work. We do what we do best: help you accelerate your green innovation. Because every green innovation, no matter how big or small, pays for itself in a future-proof planet.

As EGEN, we offer decisiveness in projects and provide innovative solutions for sustainable results. Our services range from ideation to help you map insights and opportunities through development to turn your ideas into promising projects with partners and funding to realisation, such as project management and compliance. Besides our services focused on funding applications and project development, we have an Impact Assessment Center that provides insights in the environmental impact of your project.

ZEDO e.V., Dortmund

ZEDO e.V. is a not-for profit association for technology development and technology transfer, closely linked to TU Dortmund. in H4C Europe, ZEDO is responsible for the work packages 4 "Identification of best practices and innovative solutions for the advancement of IS/I-US/CE" and 6 "State of play analysis and roadmapping".

The project leader at ZEDO is Prof. Sebastian Engell, who led the Industrial Symbiosis and energy efficiency related EU-projects CPSoS (Support Action that developed a roadmap for Cyber-physical Systems of Systems), DYMASOS (Dynamic Management of Systems of Systems), MORE (Measurement and Optimization of Resource Efficiency in Processing Systems) and CoPro (Improved energy and resource efficiency by better coordination of production in the process industries) https://www.aspire2050.eu/copro. He also leads the workpackage "Integrated System Analysis and Design" of the EU-project Circular Foam on the chemical recycling of hard PUR foams https://circular-foam.eu/.

Circe

"We are a technology centre founded in 1993, seeking to provide innovative solutions for a SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT.​ Our research centre consists of a highly qualified and multidisciplinary team. We work towards improving the competitiveness of enterprises through generation of technology transfer by means of R+D activities and market-oriented training within the field of resource sustainability and effectiveness, energy grids and renewable energies."

Covestro

With 2020 sales of EUR 10.7 billion, Covestro is among the world's leading high-tech polymer producers. We are making every effort to implement the Circular Economy, the great social and economic transformation project to make the world climate-neutral and protect its shrinking resources. We are anchoring the principle of Circular Economy within the entire company.

At the same time, we want to become a driving force for circular thinking and action in business and society. In the interests of our customers, suppliers and consumers, with a view to politics, science and capital markets and, last but not least, for the benefit of our own employees. The main industries served are the automotives and transportation, construction, furniture and wood processing, as well as electrical, electronics, and household appliances industries. At the end of 2020, Covestro has 33 production sites worldwide and employs approximately 16,500 people (calculated as full-time equivalents).

DECHEMA Gesellschaft für Chemische Technik und Biotechnologie e.V.

DECHEMA (Society for Chemical Engineering and Biotechnology e.V.) is an interdisciplinary scientific society with more than 5,500 personal and institutional members (including about 500 SMEs), whose activities cover wide areas relevant to the process industries. DECHEMA is dedicated to the support of R&D progress and implementation in various fields of chemical engineering, including catalysis and reaction engineering. DECHEMA has main contributions on industrial symbiosis, including mapping and assessment of sources and in the project’s dissemination & communication activities.

Innovation Engineering

Innovation Engineering S.r.l. (INNEN) is a private company part of the PNO GROUP located in Rome, Naples, Milan (Italy) focused on the design and development of advanced IT solution to search, access and manage relevant knowledge within enterprises, on the web, and in structured databases, with specific focus on the technology innovation domain.

The company (ISO-9001 and ISO-27001 certified) focuses on robust methodologies and IT solutions based on Java language and Open Source, to drive innovation through the search, manage and analyses of information that should be translated into valuable knowledge. Innovation Engineering is involved in several Research and Development projects financed internally or co-financed by European Commission funds or Regional Funds. Innovation Engineering focuses its research and development activities on Information Retrieval and Extraction, Natural Language Processing (NLP), big data, and User Experiences, the latter with a specific focus on mobile applications. Innovation Engineering’s clients include private companies as well as large governmental bodies where a full set of knowledge management tools needs to be developed.Innovation Engineering S.r.l. (INNEN) is a private company part of the PNO GROUP located in Rome, Naples, Milan (Italy) focused on the design and development of advanced IT solution to search, access and manage relevant knowledge within enterprises, on the web, and in structured databases, with specific focus on the technology innovation domain. The company (ISO-9001 and ISO-27001 certified) focuses on robust methodologies and IT solutions based on Java language and Open Source, to drive innovation through the search, manage and analyses of information that should be translated into valuable knowledge. Innovation Engineering is involved in several Research and Development projects financed internally or co-financed by European Commission funds or Regional Funds. Innovation Engineering focuses its research and development activities on Information Retrieval and Extraction, Natural Language Processing (NLP), big data, and User Experiences, the latter with a specific focus on mobile applications. Innovation Engineering’s clients include private companies as well as large governmental bodies where a full set of knowledge management tools needs to be developed.

Vito

VITO is a leading global actor in Cleantech (Energy-Materials-Chemistry) and health technology, and is a key knowledge centre within the Land Use research domain. We explore new possibilities from our unique perspective on transition and sustainability.

Sustainable energy supply, (re)use of raw materials, food security, and quality of life: VITO has the right expertise to tackle these global social challenges. We believe in the power of technology, economic dynamics and the creativity of people to leverage things. This allows us to build a sustainable future for everybody. VITO advises governments and companies on sustainable materials management, product life cycles and circular economy. We help companies to close loops and develop and evaluate technologies. So higher-quality products can be made using fewer resources. And waste streams can be better valorised.

SINTEF Industy

SINTEF is a broad, multidisciplinary research organisation with international top-level expertise in the fields of technology, the natural sciences, medicine and the social sciences. We conduct contract R&D as a partner for the private and public sectors, and we are one of the largest contract research institutions in Europe. We contribute to value creation and increased competitiveness within the public and private sectors.

We offer world-leading laboratory and test facilities in a wide range of technological fields. Our advanced laboratories range from microelectronics and nanoscale technologies, to the world's largest laboratory for the multiphase transport of oil and gas, and the world's largest marine laboratory. SINTEF Industry is one of six institutes within SINTEF, with competence within chemistry, biology and material science. Our vision is Technology for a Better Society.

SINTEF Helgeland AS

SINTEF Helgeland has long experience in studying circularity, including materials flow, circular economy, competence building and regional development, relating to IS/I-US/C. SINTEF Helgeland is currently engaged with projects on institutionalization of circular practices and assessing the collective environmental footprint of industrial parks. Additionally, SINTEF Helgeland has wide experience in leading projects and work packages on stakeholder involvement, co-production of knowledge and science-policy interface, which is central to delivering useful KPIs for circularity in IS/I-US/C.

TNO

TNO is an independent research institute working on innovations that contribute to a more sustainable, healthier and safer environment.

Water Europe

Water Europe is the recognized voice and promoter of water-related RTD and innovation in Europe. It strives to increase coordination and collaboration, to enhance the performance of the water service providers, water users, and technology providers, in a sustainable and inclusive way, and to contribute to solving water-related societal challenges. 

Water Europe envisions a Water-Smart society, in which the true value of water is recognised and realised, and all available water sources are managed in such a way that water scarcity and pollution of groundwater are avoided. The strategy of Water Europe is driven by the ambition to realise the value of water for our society and our economy, and achieve a European Water-Smart Society, while providing excellent services to members. Its activities are organised in the following programmes: Collaboration, Advocacy and Implementation Programme, while they are supported by the Membership and Communications Pillar.

EIT RawMaterials

EIT RawMaterials, initiated and funded by the EIT is the largest consortium in the raw materials sector worldwide. Founded in 2015, it has developed more than 130 innovation projects with a funding support of 160 million EUR. It has supported over 100 start-ups and helped to raise more than 80 million EUR of external investment.

EIT RawMaterials also reached out to more than 7,000 students and pupils to educate them on the importance of raw materials for the future of Europe. EIT RawMaterials unites more than 300 partners from leading industries, universities, research and technology organizations from more than 20 EU countries. The mission of EIT RawMaterials is to enable sustainable competitiveness of the European minerals, metals and materials sector along the value chain by driving innovation, education and entrepreneurship. EIT RawMaterials vision is to develop raw materials into a major strength for Europe.

ACR+

ACR+ supports its members in accelerating the transition towards a circular economy at local and regional level, through capacity-building and practical action.