Second Open Call

EU funding for Up2Circ implementation projects

In our second open call, Up2Circ Accelerator will support up to 40 projects to validate the adoption of circular business models and implement concrete actions towards circular products, processes and services. The budget allocation for the call is €1.020.000.

Call opening: March 1^st, 2025

Call closure: April 30^th, 2025, 23:59 CET

Who can apply?

Projects must be submitted by a single SME from the EU Member States (EU 27) that meets the following two criteria before the submission deadline: 

Enhanced knowledge and expertise in circular economy: Applicants must have actively participated in the Up2Circ Academy online learning programme. Active participation is defined as completing at least 50% of the Up2Circ Academy e-learning modules. Please note, that participation in the Up2Circ Academy will be verified through online systems based on the company name. Therefore, it is essential to provide accurate and complete information in the Up2Circ Academy participant profile.
Customised advisory: Applicants are required to upload the Up2Circ Assessment Report, completed with the support of an Up2Circ advisor. The Up2Circ advisor will assist the applicant in conducting a circularity assessment followed by completing the Up2Circ Assessment Report, which will outline the SME’s strengths, weaknesses, and suggested improvements. To ensure geographical coverage beyond the Up2Circ partner regions, Up2Circ cooperates with multipliers, mainly with the sustainability advisors of Enterprise Europe Network (EEN), for this task. SMEs can contact their local EEN advisor through the link: https://een.ec.europa.eu/local-contact-points. In case you should not get a feedback, please get in touch with the contact person related to your country in the table below.

COUNTRY	ORGANISATION	CONTACT PERSON	E-MAIL
Austria	Austrian Research Promotion Agency – FFG	Astrid Flandorfer	astrid.flandorfer@ffg.at
Belgium	Wallonie Entreprendre	Laurent Lognay	laurent.lognay@wallonie-entreprendre.be
Bulgaria	Marine Cluster Bulgaria Sdruzhenie	Maria Dzhunlieva	coordinator@marinecluster.com
Croatia	Tehnoloski Park Varazdin Doo Za Inkubaciju Inovativnih Tehnologijskihpoduzeca	Emilija Strucic	emilija.strucic@techpark.hr
Czech Republic	Zájmové Sdružení Právnických Osob – JIC	Jakub Masri	masri@jic.cz
Cyprus	Cyprus Energy Agency	Christina Andreou	christina.andreou@cea.org.cy
Denmark	Norddanmarks EU-Kontor	Steffen Helledie	sth@ndeu.dk
Estonia	Tartu Science Park Foundation – TSP	Henri Hanson	henri.hanson@teaduspark.ee
Finland	Helsinki Region Chamber Of Commerce	Outi Toivanen	outi.toivanen@helsinki.chamber.fi
France	Agence d’attractivité et de Développement Économique de la Région Sud – risingSUD	Mathilde Mauvais	mmauvais@risingsud.fr
Germany	Tutech Innovation Gmbh – TUTECH	Silke Schleiff	schleiff@tutech.de
Greece	Idryma Technologias Kai Erevnas	Evangelia Athanailidou	athanailidou@praxinetwork.gr
Hungary	Gyor-Moson-Sopron Varmegyei Kereskedelmi Es Iparkamara	Dorina Pethö	petho.dorina@gymsmkik.hu
Ireland	Dublin Chamber of Commerce	Miriam Tuomey	miriam@dublinchamber.ie
Italy	Camera di Commercio Industria Artigianato e Agricoltura di Torino – CCIAATO	Chiara Soffietti	c.soffietti@to.camcom.it
Latvia	Latvijas Investiciju Un Attistibas Agentura	Vita Lejniece	vita.lejniece@liaa.gov.lv
Lithuania	Tartu Science Park Foundation – TSP	Henri Hanson	henri.hanson@teaduspark.ee
Luxembourg	Luxinnovation	Emmanuelle Kipper	emmanuelle.kipper@luxinnovation.lu
Malta	Tutech Innovation Gmbh – TUTECH	Silke Schleiff	schleiff@tutech.de
Poland	Lubelska Fundacja Rozwoju – LFR	Cezary Pasternak	cezary.pasternak@lfr.lublin.pl
Portugal	Conselho Empresarial do Centro – Camara De Comercio e Industria do Centro	Clara Kabai	clara.kabai@cec.org.pt
Romania	CSR BootlQ	Cristina Balan	info@csr-bootiq.com
Slovakia	Technicka Univerzita V Kosiciach	Alena Polakova	alena.polakova@uvptechnicom.sk
Slovenia	Gospodarska Zbornica Slovenije	Antonia Cerar	antonija.cerar@gzs.si
Spain	Fundecyt Science and Technology Park of Extremadura – FUNDECYT-PCTEX	María García	maria.garcia@fundecyt-pctex.es
Sweden	Camera di Commercio Industria Artigianato e Agricoltura di Torino – CCIAATO	Chiara Soffietti	c.soffietti@to.camcom.it
The Netherlands	Lubelska Fundacja Rozwoju – LFR	Cezary Pasternak	cezary.pasternak@lfr.lublin.pl

If you are an Up2Circ MULTIPLIER and have questions about how to support your SME clients best with the Circularity Assessment, customised advisory and preparation of applications, please get in touch with up2circ@fundecyt-pctex.es or up2circ@tutech.de.

Types of projects and funding

SMEs can apply for one of two different funding schemes based on the maturity of their transition projects, but only one application per company is allowed per call.

Type of project	Small scale projects	Large scale projects
Project scope	A feasibility study is a detailed analysis that evaluates all aspects of a proposed project to ensure its successful implementation. The feasibility study must aim to innovate or transform the applicant company’s current practices to become more circular. The study must explore the potential adoption of at least one circular business model within the company.	The pilot and demonstration activities must aim at implementing at least one of the concrete transition measures towards circularity through technology adoption, circular product design, or the introduction of new products, processes or services. Projects must focus on prototyping, pilot testing, and the implementation of new business processes, solutions and systems.
Eligible Activities	The feasibility study can focus on five types of eligible circular business models: • Circular supply chain • Sharing economy • Product as a service • Product life extension • Recovery and recycling	Pilot and demonstration activities can focus on three types of eligible activities: • Implementation of technologies to increase circularity • Adoption of circular product design • Introduction of new products, processes or services that enhance the circularity of the applicant’s core business
Expected outcome	A comprehensive feasibility study, including a detailed business plan.	New technology successfully integrated into the applicant’s processes or a validated prototype of a product enhanced with circular design principles, developed by the applicant or new products, processes, or services integrated into the applicant’s operations.
Funding	Fixed amount of €15,000	Fixed amount of €50,000
Project duration	Fixed 6 months	Fixed 12 months
Expected number of funded projects	28	12

Eligible activities

Eligible activities for financial support must focus on adopting circular business models, implementing technologies that substantially improve circularity, using circular product design, or introducing new products, processes, or services that enhance circularity. These activities should directly relate to the transformation of the applicant’s own business operations. Applications aimed at providing consulting services, promoting circular innovation to third parties, or offering innovation development or product design services to other companies are not eligible.

Important notice: Given the budget limitations for external evaluations in the second open call, the number of eligible applications for external evaluation will be capped at 100 small scale applications and 180 large scale applications. If fewer applications are received in one category, the unused capacity will be reallocated to the other category proportionally. In case the number of eligible applications exceeds the cap, applications will be prioritised based on the time of submission (first-come, first-served).