The Circuléire members' industry day took place in September and was attended by National Contact Points Sergio Fernandez-Ceballos, Mark Sweeney, Philip Cheasty and Stephen O'Reilly.

CLUSTER 4 - INDUSTRY

The Cluster 4 work programme (Digital, Industry and Space) funds competitive and trusted research and innovation technologies for the European industry in key areas, such as discrete and continuous manufacturing and engineering, digitalisation of the construction sector and energy-intensive industries. The work programme for 2023_24 is now closed and work with the European Commission is underway to prepare a single work programme for 2025. Some of the preliminary areas for discussion in 2025 can be found below. Potential deadlines for the topics will fall in Q3, 2025. If you are interested in any of the areas, please get in touch with us.  

Destination 1 – Achieving global leadership in climate-neutral, circular and digitised industrial and digital value chains:

Activities under this Destination in 2025 focus on:

-        Manufacturing Industry: 

1) Integrated Approaches to remanufacturing. 

2) Cognitive augmentation in advanced manufacturing. 

3) Value Added Products for the net-zero industry. 

4) GenAI4EU in Robotics and industrial automation.

5) Network of Industry 5.0 innovation hubs. 

-        A New Way to Build, accelerating disruptive change in construction: 

1) Enhanced logistics and operations of construction sites.

-        Energy Intensive Industry Processes: 

1) Heat-driven processes to the use of mechanical and electric forces. 

2) Green flexible production processes. 

3) Integrated use of renewable energy carriers in industrial sites. 

4) Integration of net-zero technologies into Energy Intensive industries. 

5) Embedding upcycling technologies into viable business. 

6) Safe and clean processing technologies and products. 

7) Human-centric, sustainable energy-intensive industries. 

8) Demonstrators for Social Circular Enterprises. 

-        Clean Steel: 

1) Carbon-neutral iron and steel making processes with diverse input materials of varying quality.

Destination 2 – Achieving technological leadership for Europe's open strategic autonomy in raw materials, chemicals and innovative materials:

Activities under this Destination in 2025 focus on:

-        Raw materials for EU strategic autonomy and successful transition to a climate-neutral and circular economy 

1) Innovative materials for product monitoring, smart maintenance, and repair strategies in the construction sector.     

2) Innovative materials for robust, fast curing sealants and coatings for manufacturing.      

3) Innovative materials for product monitoring, maintenance and repair strategies in the construction sector.  

4) Materials Commons – Materials Digitalisation Infrastructures.

5) Innovative materials for photonics, enabling low-power and ultra-broadband performance.      

6) Innovative materials for flexible electronics. 

7) AI Foundation models in materials science. 

-        Safe and Sustainable by Design (SSbD) Chemicals and Materials: 

1) Development of safe and sustainable by design alternatives to PFAS. 

2) Accelerate the uptake of life-cycle assessment for SSbD chemicals and materials and resulting products.

-        Textiles of the Future: 

1) Digitally enabled local-for-local textile and apparel production.

OTHER NEWS:

- Three new Partnerships are on the way under Cluster 4 ‘Industry’. Textiles for the Future (Co-Programmed), Raw Materials (Co-Funded) and Innovative Advanced Materials 4 EU (Co-Programmed). 

This brings the total number of Partnerships in the area of Cluster 4 ‘Industry’ to seven (existing Partnerships are Made in Europe, Process 4 Planet, CleanSteel and EURAMET). 

- The new Partnership on Advanced Materials (IAM4EU – Innovative Advanced Materials for EU) is supported by the EU Technology Platforms EMIRI, EUMAT, Manufuture and SUSCHEM. In 2023, The Advanced Materials Initiative 20230 (AMI2030) Strategic Research and Innovation Agenda was presented the Strategic Research and Innovation Agenda. More details can be found here. The Critical Raw Materials Act calls for a Coordinated Plan for Europe in Advanced Materials released under the EU Communication on Advanced Materials for Industrial Leadership finally published in February 2024. A summary of the 14 Actions to be implemented at EU level can be found here. An EU Expert Group will be set up to monitor progress under the Advanced Materials Technology Council (Q4, 2024).  IAM-I is the international non-profit Association that will operate the upcoming European co-programmed partnership IAM4EU. Exploring becoming a member for IAM-I is advisable for public and private entities across the EU.  

- The new European Technology Platform for Textiles and Clothing has been relaunched on the foot of the new ‘Textiles of the Future’ EU Partnership. It aims to support the textile sector, particularly small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), in implementing a comprehensive research and innovation program. The Strategic Research and Innovation Agenda (SRIA) has been recently published.

- The new Partnership on Raw Materials (COFUND Action planned for 2025) builds up on the work carried out by the Horizon 2020 ERANET ERA-MIN. More details will be made available in the Cluster work programme for 2025.  

BROKERAGE AND INFORMATION EVENTS:

-        19th November, Brussels – Innovative Advanced Materials new partnership day targets interested new stakeholders. This session also aims to share the status and next steps of the partnership association.  

-        5th December – Dublin - Cluster 4 related workshop: What next in 2025 in Cluster 4. By invite only. Get in touch with one of the CL4 NCP in Ireland if interested in attending.  

  -       5th December – Brussels - 5th Stakeholder workshop on "Safe and sustainable by design". During this workshop the Joint Research Centre will give an update on the outcomes of the second reporting period of the SSbD framework and will discuss the ways forward leading to its revision and the development of criteria in 2025.     

-        9-13th December, Brussels - The Raw Materials Week is the largest policy event on raw materials, organised by the European Commission since 2016. It attracts over 1,000 participants from industry, administration, civil society, research, and academia.