The European Circular Innovation Valley (“ECIV”) project is one of the most ambitious European initiatives to support interregional cooperation in circular innovation. Funded by Horizon Europe, it connects 12 European regions with a common goal: to accelerate the development, testing and scaling of circular solutions that strengthen Europe’s environmental and industrial resilience.

ECIV has a dual role – it is a five-year project (2024-2029) and at the same time the basis for the emergence of a permanent “interregional valley” ecosystem. The project phase builds structures, partnerships and long-term cooperation mechanisms so that after the end of funding a self-sustaining ecosystem for the circular economy across regions is created.

The initiative uses a mission-oriented approach combining a “top-down” strategy and “bottom-up” stakeholder engagement. The result is six shared sub-missions that set a common framework: waste reduction, circular packaging, regenerative agrifood, biobased construction, natural & recycled fibers and circular metals.

ECIV is already operational: it supports thematic clusters and the linking of actors through the Matchmaking Platform (over 400 organisations). A key milestone was the first open call (December 2025) with an allocation of €9.13 million for projects in TRL 6-8, which attracted 21 interregional proposals and over 115 applicants. For more information, use this link.