Deadline Date: March 16, 2026
The first ECIV Open Call invites companies, research organizations, public authorities, and civil society to collaborate on interregional circular economy projects, aiming to strengthen European value loops, reduce dependence on virgin raw materials, turn waste into new resources, and foster behavioral and business model change.
The call focuses on circular and sustainable new materials, new industrial processes, circular business models, industrial symbiosis and resource efficiency, waste reduction and circular design, business models and market innovation, and circular materials in strategic industrial sectors. With a total budget of €9,129,770, the ECIV Open Call supports large-scale innovation projects at Technology Readiness Levels 6 to 8. Funded initiatives are expected to address urgent circularity challenges by transforming waste into valuable resources, enhancing industrial collaboration across regions, and fostering behavioural and business model change. Projects must demonstrate relevance to at least one ECIV mission while contributing to interregional innovation and value loop integration.
Eligible projects may be developed across several sectors, including food and agro-food systems that minimise food waste, valorise by-products, and develop sustainable food products, textiles and fashion initiatives that reduce waste and pollution through sustainable fibres and repair, resale, rental, and recycling models, and circular and sustainable bioeconomy projects that use renewable biological resources to develop bio-based products. Additional sectors include electrical and electronic equipment with innovations in reuse, refurbishment, repair, recycling, remanufacturing, and modular design, circular and sustainable packaging solutions that reduce material use and increase recyclable, compostable, biobased, or reusable packaging, and energy systems focused on component reuse, improved industrial energy efficiency, and renewable energy linked to circular resource loops.
Projects may also address steel, metals, and mining through the valorisation of industrial by-products, urban mining, and increased use of secondary raw materials, water and wastewater management through reduced freshwater use, closed-loop systems, recirculation, and nutrient recovery, and construction and the built environment by applying circular and bio-based materials, design-for-disassembly approaches, material recovery strategies, and reductions in construction and demolition waste.
Applications must be submitted by consortiums of at least three partners, including at least one company and partners from a minimum of two different ECIV funding territories: Comunidad Foral de Navarra in Spain, Noord Nederland in the Netherlands, Norra Mellansverige in Sweden, Normandie in France, and Scotland in the United Kingdom. Eligible applicants include companies of all sizes, research institutes, universities, technological centres, public authorities, public administrations, and civil society organisations from EU Member States and the United Kingdom. Funding per project ranges from €500,000 to €3,000,000, with a maximum of €600,000 per beneficiary across all ECIV calls.
By fostering cross-sectoral and interregional collaboration, the ECIV 1st Open Call aims to deliver impactful circular economy solutions that support industrial transformation, resource efficiency, and long-term economic resilience across Europe and the United Kingdom.
For more information, visit ECIV.
