Proposals are expected to address all of the following:

• Develop processes for the upcycling of end-of-life materials in an integrated way, including the development of better novel separation, sorting and processing technologies as well as digitalisation and automation of the processes as necessary;
• Integration of technologies and logistics systems into business models of circular schemes;
• Focus on processes and secondary raw materials which offer the highest additional upcycling potential and accordingly develop novel upcycling technologies and processes including purification technologies;
• Identify the likely impacts of the upcycling solutions with respect to economic and job creation potential, as well as environmental footprint referring to the full set of planetary boundaries including freshwater intake aspects;
• Where relevant, minimise the presence of substances of concern to mitigate the impacts of multiple recycling loops as well as the accumulation of additives and trace materials in secondary resource streams;
• Consider advanced monitoring and sensing along the value chains and improved data completeness, accuracy and interoperability between the process and recycling companies. In this context, digital tools, such as a Digital Product Passport for tracking and tracing of materials throughout the lifecycle of a product should be applied and data sharing should be addressed.

Proposals should include techno-economic and life-cycle assessment of the overall process (including of the carbon footprint) and demonstrate the economic viability of the approach. This can be combined with an analysis of the effect of regulatory changes and demand side stimulation measures.

Projects are encouraged to integrate existing Hubs4Circularity as nodes in the value chains. Proposals should actively pursue the involvement of all actors in the value chain from the process industry to designers, operators, formulators, recyclers, public authorities, and standardisation actors.

Additionally, a strategy for skills development should be presented associating social partners where relevant. Particular attention should be given to the cooperation with existing initiatives having developed education- and skills activities and outcomes in this area.

Proposals submitted under this topic should include a business case and exploitation strategy, as outlined in the introduction to this Destination, underlining how the proposal will serve the purpose to boost industrial decarbonisation technologies supply chain in Europe.

Under this topic, it is envisaged to include support for the recovery and upgrading of industrial infrastructure in Ukraine, and for this reason at least one proposal meeting the criteria set out in the specific conditions will be funded. However, it is not mandatory to include such support in a proposal.