Several products embed different types of electronic components, and they are even more fundamental in some of the European strategic markets (e.g. automotive). However, reference producers come from extra-EU countries in the far-east side of the world (e.g. China and Taiwan). Trying to cope with all these challenges and the current semiconductors crisis, the European Commission (EC) published (and in some cases is still working on) specific EU strategies/directives for automotive, e-waste (e.g. Digital Product Passport) and, specifically, semiconductors (e.g. European Chips Act). However, trying to make these sectors more sustainable, circular and resilient, it is mandatory to boost both EoL strategies (e.g. sorting, reuse, remanufacturing and recycling) and intra-EU production through innovations and investments. The current international scenario represents a good chance to decouple the European economy from both natural resource depletion (e.g. Critical Raw Materials - CRMs) and dependency from extra-EU supplies of strategic products. In order to better prove what the benefits are of a joined circular/resilient use of secondary resources, the automotive and mass electronics sectors have been identified as the reference contexts for establishing a set of innovative solutions. To this aim, the CIRC-UITS project will focus on demonstrate the improvement to the circularity of automotive and mass electronics sectors by reuse of semiconductors from different sources, as well as support the reuse & remanufacturing of semiconductors into new (high added-value) components and products in these sectors.

The overall objective of the EcoPlast project is to develop comprehensive digital solutions to enhance circularity in the automotive plastic value chain. These solutions will help ensure high quality, non-toxicity and durability of secondary materials. Share of secondary materials will be increased in new products. Recovery, recycling and upcycling rates will be increased and uptake of secondary materials for high value applications will be proliferated. We will develop EcoPlast platform which will consist of secured and privacy protected collaborative space, ecoDesign tool assisting circular product design, LCA (Life Cycle Assessment) tool for increasing sustainability, CI (Circularity Index) calculator for measuring circularity, Digital Twins (DTs) for process optimisation for extrusion and injection moulding processes as well as upcycling and recycling processes. AI and robotics will be integrated for End-of-life Vehicle (ELV) management processes consisting detection, sorting, and dismantling. Blockchain based Digital Product Passport (DPP) will be employed for automotive plastic products’ traceability to increase trust among the value chain partners. DPP will also help achieving 100% sorting efficiency. A circular marketplace in the platform will help trading recycled and upcycled products. This will also help in reuse, repair, refurbish and remanufacture of dismantled automotive plastic parts. All these activities will help create new value chains around the automotive plastic sector. Automotive plastic parts will be manufactured in this project using recycled plastics, bio-composites and biobased plastics and will be demonstrated, tested, and validated along with the developed digital technologies in large-scale facilities. Novel recycling and upcycling technologies will also be demonstrated. Wider adaptation of EcoPlast solution will help address almost all the challenges automotive plastic value chain actors are currently facing.

Car electronics is one of the most valuable source of Critical Raw Materials (CRMs) in cars. What it sounds so strange is the lack of interest of car manufacturers (and the whole automotive sector in general) towards the recovery of these valuable components from End-of-Life Vehicles (ELVs). Maybe, the complex set of barriers (e.g. regulatory, governance-based, market, technological, cultural, societal, gender, etc.) companies must cope with when implementing Circular Economy (CE) are making very difficult its adoption, by limiting potential benefits. All these data show as, even if car manufacturers are investing big capitals trying to shift their business towards more sustainable mobility concepts, the sectorial transition towards CE seems to be far from its completion. Especially at End-of-Life (EoL) phase, there are still many issues to be solved in order to functionally recover materials from cars (e.g. reuse recovered materials for the same purpose they were exploited originally) and the dependence from natural resources when producing new cars (even if electric/hybrid/fuel cell -powered) is still too high. This mandatory systemic transformation requires to all companies/sectors to redefine products lifecycles since the beginning, by considering CE already before to design them. To this aim, the TREASURE project wants to develop a scenario analysis simulation tool able to quantify positive and negative implications of CE, by leading the European automotive supply chain towards its full transition to CE.

DigiPrime has the mission to develop a new concept of Circular Economy digital platform overcoming current information asymmetry among value-chain stakeholders, in order to unlock new circular business models based on the data-enhanced recovery and re-use of functions and materials from high value-added post-use products with a cross-sectorial approach. DigiPrime will create and operate a federated model of digital platforms for cross-sector business in the Circular Economy. Nodes of the federation will offer interoperable functions and data, that can be accessed by other nodes, combined with local data and services, that are not exposed outside; connectors and open interfaces enable easy integration of new services, provided by third parties, that are not made accessible outside. Specific attention will be devoted to create trustable data sharing mechanisms, preserving the confidentiality of business-critical data. Security and sovereignity of information are guaranteed by IDSA (Industrial Data Space Association)-based solutions for on-demand and controlled sharing of data among organisations, regulated by smart contracts and tracked by block-chain. The services covers: i) the cross-sector value-Chains dimension (De- and remanufacturing oriented product information management, product co-creation, LCA-LCC for eco-design, demand-supply matching, sustainable value network and reverse logistics barriers identification and legislation support, etc.), ii) the operational dimension (rediction of product conditions, de-and remanufacturing decision support system, demand and supply forecasting, circular production planning and control, material testing and certificationetc). DigiPrime, will be thoroughly validated through 6 cross-sectorial pilots, further detailed in 20 use-cases covering 5 different European industrial sectors (automotive, renewable energy, electronics, textile, construction), and by additional pilots in new sectors, funded through an Open Call mechanism.