Waste not, want not: Is a new R&I strategy needed to deliver circularity and competitiveness?

The concept of circular economy has been part of EU-level policy thinking and initiatives for over a decade, yet progress towards a fully integrated market and regulatory framework for circular products and processes has been frustratingly slow. Nonetheless, Europe’s current objectives of boosting economic productivity and competitiveness, while reducing strategic dependencies on critical materials and technologies, have lent fresh urgency to the circularity agenda. In light of the ambitions of the Clean Industrial Deal, there is now a sense of optimism that the EU is now ready to take serious action in pursuit of its stated goal of becoming the world leader in circular economy by 2030.

In line with its Competitiveness Compass, the European Commission is hard at work preparing its new Circular Economy Act – due for adoption later this year – which will aim to deliver a single market for secondary raw materials and increase the supply of and demand for high-quality recycled materials. This orientation also has significant implications for research and innovation (R&I) policy and programming in the years to come, to ensure that there is a growing pipeline of breakthrough science and innovative solutions feeding into the marketplace for industrial and public sector adoption. Notable windows of opportunity lie both ‘upstream’ – for example, in the domains of novel and bio-based materials, product design and industrial symbiosis – and ‘downstream’ in key areas such as extraction and recycling processes for critical raw materials, waste valorisation and skills development for circularity-driven R&D and entrepreneurship.

Against this backdrop, a number of important questions arise, including: what are the most effective mechanisms to scale the development, commercialisation and uptake of new circular technologies and solutions – both at EU and national level? Which are the most pressing gaps or inefficiencies in current R&I value chains that need to be addressed? How to increase the appeal of circularity-based innovation to private capital and institutional investors? Given its near-universal scope, how should circular economy be reflected in the design of the proposed European Competitiveness Fund and successor to Horizon Europe? Where can new forms of innovation ecosystems or public-private partnerships help to drive the agenda forward? And what lessons can be learned from R&I strategy and implementation beyond European borders?

On October 13, Science|Business will convene a select group of senior figures from the worlds of policy, industry, research and finance to reflect on these important questions and generate recommendations for policy makers to consider, not just for the implementation of the Circular Economy Act itself but also looking ahead to strategic choices under the next MFF.