Technologies for critical raw materials and strategic raw materials from end-of-life products (IA)

The main goal of this opportunity is to increase security of supply and access to secondary raw materials for key industrial sectors in the EU. It targets the development of advanced re-use and recycling processes for end-of-life products, such as waste electrical and electronic equipment, waste batteries, and vehicles, while avoiding downcycling. The focus is on improving recovery rates, cost-effectiveness, and efficiency of recycling technologies. Projects should also help bring new solutions to market and support circular business models for sustainable sourcing of raw materials. This grant is open to a wide range of countries, including EU Member States, associated countries, and others with relevant partnerships.

• Develop additive or cladding-based manufacturing solutions for repair or production of net-zero tech components.
• Apply advanced joining or forming techniques to enable lightweight, robust, and integrated clean tech systems.
• Deploy nano- or micromanufacturing processes to functionalise surfaces and enhance component performance.
• Integrate flexible automation and digital twins to accelerate production scale-up and optimise process efficiency.
• Implement metrology and inspection systems for first-time-right manufacturing of strategic components.
• Design circular manufacturing models that reduce critical raw material dependency and enable reuse, disassembly, or recycling.

Example Projects:

• A consortium developing a new process to recover critical metals from waste batteries, ready for industrial scale-up.
• A project piloting advanced recycling techniques for end-of-life vehicles to maximize material recovery and minimize waste.
• An initiative creating a circular business model for re-using components from discarded electronic devices in new products.

• Personnel costs
• Subcontracting
• Travel and subsistence
• Equipment (depreciation or rental)
• Consumables and materials
• Dissemination and communication
• Access to research infrastructure
• IPR and certification
• Audit costs
• Indirect costs (25% flat rate)
• Internally invoiced services.

• Budget for this Call: 42,000,000€ 
• Number of Grants attributed: 6
• Maximum value per project: 7,000,000€
• Minimum value per project: 5,000,000€

• Applicants must be legal entities established in eligible countries (EU Member States, associated countries, OECD countries, African Union Member States, MERCOSUR, CARIFORUM, Andean Community, and certain partner countries).
• Legal entities from China are not eligible to participate in Innovation Actions.
• Proposals must align with the objective of increasing EU resilience in raw materials supply chains and reducing dependency on a limited number of third countries.
• Applications must follow the required page limits and layout.
• Applicants must demonstrate both financial and operational capacity to execute the proposed project.
• Each proposal must include a business case and exploitation strategy, showing potential for industrialization and market deployment within the EU.