Menu
Empowering SMEs to scale up industrial circular investment
INCIRCULAR Cascade Funding Call Deadline Extended!
The deadline for the INCIRCULAR Cascade Funding Call has been extended to 30th November 2024. We encourage SMEs to take this opportunity to submit their applications and present innovative solutions that contribute to the transition towards a circular economy for plastics. Please note, the evaluation process and project start dates may be adjusted accordingly due to this extension. A technical annex has been published below including addressing some of the main Q&A questions.
INCIRCULAR supports innovation within its participating European regions through Financial Support for Third Parties (FSTP) to help local SMEs develop innovative solutions to overcome technological barriers to scaling up.
Given the innovative solutions that INCIRCULAR is developing, our pilot project on the re-use of plastic waste streams requires specialised technical expertise. This is why we are looking to tap into the exceptional skills of leading innovative SMEs across Europe by offering a funding opportunity of up to 60 000 EUR per SME.
Supported by the Interregional Innovation Investment (I3) Instrument, this funding opportunity aims to source digital and process technology solutions to tackle key challenges in the plastics industry.
With a total budget of 360 000 EUR (co-funded 30% by our consortium), 6 EU SMEs from the three INCIRCULAR regions will receive up to 60 000 EUR to develop innovation projects over a 12-month period (maximum) as part of a large-scale industrial pilot at the Gorenje IPC, focusing on overcoming technology-driven “upscaling” barriers.
The open call invites proposals under the main theme «Solutions to improve the circularity of plastics», focusing on two key subtopics:
Eligible applicants must have a clear, innovative idea that addresses one or both of the thematic areas outlined in the call. Six SMEs will be chosen based on the strength of their proposals and their potential to have a significant impact on the sector.
Participating in the INCIRCULAR SME Open Call presents a unique opportunity for SMEs to secure significant financial support for their innovative projects. However, this call is not just about funding—it is about empowering SMEs to take the lead in revolutionising the plastics industry.
Selected SMEs will benefit from:
Industrial collaboration: Successful applicants gain access to a network of industry leaders and experts, as well as mentoring and resources to help overcome challenges and increase project impact.
Enhance visibility and reputation: Being selected for funding boosts your SME’s profile as a forward-thinking innovator, attracting the attention of investors, customers, and partners.
Shape the future of plastics: Your SME has the chance to influence the future of the plastics industry, setting new standards for sustainability and innovation.
The INCIRCULAR Open Call is targeted at small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) engaged in research, innovation or technology related to plastics and meeting the following criteria:
Follow this step-by-step guide to apply:
Review the call documentation: Start by carefully reading the official call documentation to ensure your project aligns with the funding objectives and criteria.
Prepare your proposal: Develop a comprehensive proposal outlining your project, its objectives, innovative aspects, and potential impact on the plastics industry, ensuring it addresses at least one of the specified topics.
Complete the required documentation: Submit a full application package including:
INCIRCULAR Cascade Funding Call Deadline Extended!
The deadline for the INCIRCULAR Cascade Funding Call has been extended to 30th November 2024.
*Please note that an extension to the deadline has been announced. Therefore, the evaluation process and project start dates may be adjusted accordingly due to this extension.
Maximum project duration: 12 months (until 31 December 2025)
Regional Info Webinars
As a follow-up to the launch of the INICIRCULAR Open Call – Empowering SMEs to scale up industrial circular investment, the INCIRCULAR project is organising a webinar for SMEs based in Andalusia, Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes and Slovenia. These informative sessions will be held in your native language. You can register accesing the buttons below.
Legal entities with SME status and with their headquarters or branches in the following EU regions are eligible to apply:
Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (SMEs) refer to the official EC definition.
You can also check your SME status here.
The overall aim of the call is to increase the effectiveness and impact of INCIRCULAR by developing digital and process technology bricks meant to tackle its key challenges. These activities should focus on demonstration activities (TRL6+) and provide innovative solutions to overcome the above challenges.
The call supports projects proposing innovative solutions that are aligned with INCIRCULAR’s objectives and show a high Technology Readiness Level (TRL>6). Projects should focus on technology advancement, process improvement, or digital application development. Further details can be found in the guidelines for applicants of the Open Call.
The maximum project duration is 12 months, with no extensions allowed. Projects that exceed this duration will not be considered eligible.
The total budget allocated for the open call is 360 000 EUR. 6 EU SMEs from the three INCIRCULAR regions will receive up to 60 000 EUR to develop innovation projects.
The maximum grant amount is 60 000 EUR per legal entity. In the case of consortia, a project can receive up to 120 000 EUR (in case of 2 entities).
The project costs will be funded at 100% by the INCIRCULAR projects Financial Support to Third Parties.
There are no specific restrictions on cost categories; however, the proposed costs must be reasonable, not excessive, and in line with the project’s proposed activities. Grants will be provided on a lump sum basis, therefore applicants are not required to demonstrate the eligibility of costs.
Only 1 open call is foreseen.
Beneficiaries must submit mid-project and final technical reports detailing their progress, achievements, and any deviations from the initial action plan. Failure to achieve the expected results or to follow the action plan may affect the final payment. For any cost incurred, a reasonable explanation should be provided and evidence in form of invoices, bank transfers etc. should be provided with the final report.
Beneficiaries must comply with contractual obligations, including those relating to conflict of interest, confidentiality, ethics, visibility, and record-keeping, among others, and submit technical reports detailing progress and compliance with the action plan. Further details can be found in the Sub-Grant Agreement.
A reserve list will also be drawn for projects not funded due to budget constraints but with good evaluations. They will be contacted in case one of the selected projects cannot sign the Grant Agreement.
An Evaluation Summary Report (ESR): all applicants in the call (successful or not) will receive an unsigned version of the ESR, the consensus report of the evaluation of their application.
Please refer to the type of activites below and the missing digital and process technology bricks that have been identified by the Incircular consortium in the “guidance for applicants” (see section 4)
Challenge 1: Upgrading of plastic recycling lines for industrial side-stream/residues
Challenge 2: Digitalisation systems and advanced AI solutions
The overall aim of the call is to increase the effectiveness and impact of INCIRCULAR by developing digital and process technology solutions to address its key challenges. Activities should focus on demonstration efforts (TRL6+) and deliver innovative solutions to overcome these challenges. However, if the product/service is below TRL 6, there is no strict limitation, provided the proposal convincingly outlines the potential for demonstration during the project.
There is no condition regarding the “age” of the company; however, applicants must demonstrate their financial capacity. This includes the ability to cover project costs from their own cash flow (or other funding) during the period between selection and final payment, as agreed with the EC. To demonstrate this, applicants should provide their latest financial statements (balance sheet, income statement, and, if available, cash flow statement) for at least the last two years prior to submission.
If you have reviewed all the information but find something unclear and still need assistance, please contact us at:
Funded by the European Union. Views and opinions expressed are however those of the author(s) only and do not necessarily reflect those of the European Union or European Innovation Council and SMEs Executive Agency. Neither the European Union nor the granting authority can be held responsible for them.
At INCIRCULAR we take the protection of your personal data very seriously. Our purpose is to protect the privacy of the data you provide us and to comply with the current regulations on the protection of personal data.
In compliance with the Act 3/2018 of 5 December on the Protection of Personal Data and Guarantee of Digital Rights transposing Regulation (EU) 2016/679, we inform you of the following information about our privacy and data protection policy:
The organization responsible of your data is TECOS – Slovenian Tool and Die Development Centre. This is a Research and Technology Organisation located in Celje, Slovenia.
The legal basis for the treatment of your data is the consent of the data subject under article 6.1 a) of the Regulation, as well as the legitimate interest of the data controller under article 6.1 f) of the Regulation.
The data we request from you are adequate, relevant and strictly necessary and in no case are you obliged to provide them to us, but their non-communication may affect the purpose of the service or the impossibility of providing it.
Your data will be kept for the time required for the proper provision of the service offered, as well as to meet the responsibilities that may arise from it and any other legal requirement.
While processing your data, TECOS may share your data with:
On Projects Advising SL, as web management and maintenance service providers.
The controller retains the right to restrict the rights set forth in Article 23 of the EU Regulation, if such restriction is provided to safeguard, in particular fundamental rights and freedoms and is a necessary and proportionate measure.
If any interested party considers that their data are not being treated correctly, they can send their complaints to the following e-mail address; info@tecos.si.
The data subject declares to have acquired all this information.
A cookie is a file that is downloaded and executed on your computer, phone, or mobile device when you access certain web pages. Cookies allow a website, among other things, to store and retrieve information about user’s browsing habits and recognize the user depending on the information they contain and the way they use their computer.
Cookies do not harm your computer and are necessary to facilitate navigation.
Cookies are necessary for our website to work properly. The purpose of our cookies is to improve the user’s browsing experience. They can be used to remember your preferences (language, country, etc.) during navigation and on future visits.
The information collected in the Cookies also allows us to improve the website and adapt it to the individual interests of users, speed up searches, etc.
Analysis Cookies: These, if they are used properly by us or by third parties, allow us to quantify the number of users and thus perform the measurement and statistical analysis regarding the users’ usage of our service.
Advertising Cookies: These, if they are used properly by us or by third parties, allow us to manage as effectively as possible the supply of advertising space on the website, adapting the content of the advertisement to the content of the service requested or to the use you make of our website.
Our cookies do not store information about your personal identification, address, password, credit or debit card details, etc.
The information stored in the website’s cookies is used exclusively by us, apart from those identified below as “third party cookies”, which are used and managed by external entities to provide us with services to improve our own services and the user’s experience when browsing our website.
Third party cookies are mainly used to obtain statistics and to guarantee the payment operations are carried out.
Yes, firstly, you must disable cookies in your browser and, secondly, delete the cookies stored in your browser associated with this website.
You can restrict, block, or delete cookies from this website at any time by modifying your browser settings. This setting is different for each browser. For more details on the configuration of cookies in your browser, please consult your browser’s “Help” menu.
It is possible that some of the website’s features may no longer work if you disable cookies.
These Cookies are used to identify the user during the session, prevent the user from having to repeat authentication processes on the website, speed up some website processes, remember selections made during the session or on subsequent accesses, remember pages already visited, etc.
| COOKIES | PURPOSE | DURATION | MANAGEMENT |
|---|---|---|---|
|
User identification |
They are used to identify and authenticate the user. They also contain technical data from the user session, such as connection timeout, session identifier, etc. |
Session |
INCIRCULAR |
|
Session identification |
They identify the user’s http session. They are common in all web applications to identify requests from a user’s session. |
Session |
INCIRCULAR |
|
Navigation status |
They help identify the user’s browsing status (login, first page, first access, scroll status, voting status, etc.). |
Session |
INCIRCULAR |
These Cookies obtain generic information about users’ accesses to the website (not the content of the same) to subsequently provide us with information about these accesses for statistical purposes.
| COOKIES | PURPOSE | DURATION | MANAGEMENT |
|---|---|---|---|
|
Google Analytics (__utma, __utmb, __utmc, __utmd, __utmv, __utmz, _ga…) |
They allow website statistic’s tracking through the Google Analytics tool, which is a service provided by Google to obtain information about user access to websites. Some of the data stored is: number of times a user visits the website, dates of the user’s first and last visit, duration of visits, from which page the user accessed the website, which search engine was used or which link was clicked, from which part of the world the user accessed the website, etc. The information generated by the cookie about your use of the website will be directly transmitted and stored by Google Inc (a company located in United States). The configuration of these cookies is predetermined by the service offered by Google, so we suggest you consult the Google Analytics privacy page, for more information on the cookies it uses and how to disable them (keep in mind that we are not responsible for the content and accuracy of third-party websites). |
Persistent |
Third Parties |