Navarra-based organisations coordinate every initiative approved by the European Circular Innovation Valley, which will mobilise €6 million to develop circular solutions in strategic sectors such as agri-food, water, packaging and waste recovery.
Navarra is consolidating its position as one of Europe’s leading hubs for circular innovation. The four projects selected in the first funding call of the European Circular Innovation Valley (ECIV), the European initiative co-led by the Government of Navarra and Sodena, are coordinated by Navarra-based organisations and will be carried out with partners from France, the Netherlands, Sweden and Scotland.
The projects have a combined budget of €6 million and approved funding of €4.83 million, more than half of the €9.13 million available in the call, which attracted 21 proposals from 117 European organisations.
An ecosystem able to lead European consortia
Organisations from Navarra took part in 13 of the proposals submitted, achieving a success rate of nearly 31%. Of the approved funding, €2.48 million will go to partners from Navarra.
According to Mikel Irujo, Minister for Industry and for Green and Digital Business Transition, this result “reflects the strength and maturity of our innovation ecosystem and its ability to turn opportunities into funded projects”. He also stressed that the circular economy is “an opportunity to create new competitive advantages, drive new technologies and open up business opportunities”.
Solutions for strategic value chains
The four projects address key challenges for European industry. C2BIOTICS, coordinated by CENER, will turn agri-food by-products into high-value biotic ingredients. HYDROSTARCH, led by URTECH WATER (URAPHEX), will enable food manufacturers to regenerate process water and recover starch through closed-loop systems.
Meanwhile, SABOR, coordinated by the National Centre for Food Technology and Safety (CNTA), will develop traceability and recycling solutions for safe food packaging, and REVALUE, led by the Koine Aequalitas Foundation, will create a circular model to reuse, repair and recover electronic waste and plastics using digital traceability tools.
The projects will run until December 2028 with the aim of validating solutions with the potential to scale up in the market.
New call in November
In November, ECIV will open a second call worth around €10 million, together with a call for early-stage experimentation projects. These are new opportunities for companies and technology centres to develop circular innovation projects with a European reach in Navarra.
Source: navarra.es