Turning waste into value – how to stand out in HORIZON-EIC-2025-PATHFINDERCHALLENGES-01-04
2nd July 2025 at 10:07 am
The European Innovation Council is looking to revolutionise how we deal with waste. Through the 2025 Pathfinder Challenge “Waste-to-value devices: Circular production of renewable fuels, chemicals and materials” (HORIZON-EIC-2025-PATHFINDERCHALLENGES-01-04), the EIC is seeking groundbreaking projects that transform problematic waste streams into valuable resources for a circular economy. With a deadline on 29 October 2025 and up to €4 million in EU funding for each of the seven to eight projects to be funded under this fourth Challenge, now is the time to assemble your team and outline your project. If you have a concept that goes beyond conventional recycling and leverages cutting-edge technology, keep reading.
What kind of “waste-to-value” solutions is the EIC looking for?
The EIC is interested in next-generation technologies that can convert challenging waste streams into valuable materials. The goal is to convert materials like flue gases, wastewater, and synthetic polymer materials (mixed plastics, composites, diapers, rubber, etc.) into fuels, chemicals and materials without relying on fossil fuels, instead using renewable energy and alternative carbon sources from waste.
How to tackle the challenge – key focus areas
The EIC Pathfinder Challenge “Waste-to-value devices” is designed to foster truly innovative solutions. To achieve this, the funded projects are grouped into three core areas. It’s important to note a key distinction: while multiple projects may be selected for Area 1, only one proposal from each of Area 2 and Area 3 will be selected.
Area 1: Fully integrated waste-to-value devices
The projects in this area are about creating complete, self-contained devices that can take challenging waste streams and turn them into valuable products, beyond just hydrogen production. These devices are expected to tackle one of the following:
- Synthetic polymer materials: Consider fully integrated solar reforming or synthetic biology devices that efficiently break down plastics and other polymers, even with process chemicals involved.
- Flue gases or wastewater: Focus on integrated capture and conversion technology that can grab these feedstocks and turn them into fuels, chemicals, or materials in a single, energy-efficient device.
- Seawater desalination brines: Develop membrane-based and electrochemical brine mining technologies to recover raw materials, CO2, and water.
- Polluted wastewater and seawater: Include ex-situ remediation devices (using microbes, enzymes, or photocatalysis) that not only purify water from harmful substances like metals and microplastics but also create valuable products in the process – all happening in a contained reactor, not out in the open.
Pro tip: Highlight the true integration of your device, showing how it seamlessly covers the entire waste-to-value chain, from pre-treatment through to product recovery, delivering high-value products within a self-contained system.
Area 2: Understanding underlying mechanisms by means of computational material science and AI
This area focuses on creating powerful digital tools that can guide experimental work, interpret complex data, and ultimately accelerate the creation of new waste-to-value technologies with greater accuracy and efficiency. The aim is to leverage the power of multiscale modelling, simulation, and artificial intelligence (AI) to accelerate the discovery and optimisation of waste-to-value processes and materials. If your expertise lies in computational materials science, quantum mechanics, or AI-driven modelling, this is where your project can make a difference. Projects here should address all of the objectives:
- Explore core phenomena: Investigate key aspects like developing efficient catalysts, improving material interfaces, and understanding environmental effects relevant to various waste-to-value devices.
- Develop advanced tools: Create more accurate and efficient quantum mechanical and AI methods to guide and interpret experiments.
- Bridge different scales: Connect properties from the atomic level up to the full device, considering various timescales in a multiscale approach.
- Validate with real devices: Use devices developed in Area 1 to confirm theoretical models, ensuring broad applicability across waste-to-value technologies.
Pro tip: Clearly show how your computational models and AI will directly accelerate or enhance the development of physical waste-to-value devices, proving their practical impact beyond pure theory.
Area 3: Cells from scratch by means of bottom-up synthetic biology
This area explores biological engineering from the bottom-up, creating new systems from basic components instead of modifying existing ones. The goal is to create custom microbial cell factories that can break down waste and produce fossil-free fuels, chemicals and materials. The projects should aim to address all of the objectives:
- Develop artificial cells: Design new, fully artificial cells for future biotech uses, tailored for specific functions like carbon capture or plastic decomposition.
- Engineer cell-like systems for production: Create systems that make compounds from abundant building blocks like water and carbon oxides.
- Design cell-like systems to break down waste: Focus on systems that decompose diverse waste, especially plastic, into valuable ingredients for downstream production. While not fully autonomous yet, these systems must integrate different modules.
Pro tip: Highlight the novelty of your synthetic system mimics and clearly explain how its designed capabilities offer a truly new and efficient was to convert specific waste types into valuable products, going beyond what’s possible with existing organisms.
Beyond the research – what makes a strong application?
To truly stand out, your proposal needs to demonstrate more than just scientific excellence. It should:
- Include meaningful performance metrics and robust validation strategies, potentially using diverse real-world waste samples.
- Show proof of concept in a controlled environment, demonstrating the feasibility of your approach.
- Prioritise safety and ethical compliance, considering the environmental impact and potential risks of handling waste materials and novel biological/chemical processes.
- Plan for future scalability and applicability of your technology to real industrial and household waste streams.
Collaboration and portfolio building
This Challenge will fund a portfolio of projects designed to collectively push the boundaries of waste-to-value technologies and ensure a focused effort on groundbreaking advancements in the field. The EIC Programme Manager will actively support shared planning and collaboration among the selected projects. Portfolio goals could include:
- Establishing common frameworks for benchmarking different waste conversion technologies.
- Developing shared protocols for waste characterisation and product analysis.
- Facilitating cross-validation of technologies and models across different project teams.
- Exploring common pathways for regulatory and ethical compliance in novel waste valorisation.
Pro tip: Mention how your team plans to contribute to one or more of these collaborative elements and how you would benefit from portfolio-level resources and shared knowledge.
Does your idea fit the call topic? Get in touch!
At accelopment, we’ve supported numerous Pathfinder projects, including successful Challenge and Open projects such as PEARL-DNA, BoneOscopy, POLINA, and CORENET. Whether you need help structuring your idea, building a consortium, or navigating the proposal process, our experts are here to help. Explore our services in Proposal Writing, Project Management, and Communication, Dissemination and Exploitation and let’s turn your vision into an EIC Pathfinder success story.
If you want to be notified as soon as we publish any EIC-related news, you can subscribe to our blog posts and stay updated about the latest developments, trends, and results.