Start-ups join the circular economy’s ‘silicon valley’

The Circular Valley initiative in Germany has started a new round of its funding programme to develop a ‘Silicon Valley of the circular economy’ in the heart of Europe.

The initiative was launched by the Circular Valley Foundation in 2021. Its mission is to close material loops along existing value chains, develop policy recommendations and inform the public about the circular economy.

Existing Circular Valley members include BASF, Bayer, Evonik, Knipe and Vorwerk and scientific institutions such as the Fraunhofer Umsicht Institute, the Max Planck Society and the Wuppertal Institute.

More than 100 start-ups have been funded by Circular Valley to date, coming from all over the world to advance their ideas in the Rhine-Ruhr region. The latest 15 come from Egypt, Chile, India and various European countries. Starting in April, they will spend three months developing their business models in the Rhine-Ruhr region.

During the funding programme, the start-up leaders work with coaches and mentors, visit numerous companies and network with local industry. The highlight of the funding programme is a demonstration day on 28 May when the start-ups present their ideas to an audience.

The emphasis of the current funding programme is on co-ordinating the value chain, alternative raw materials and bioeconomy, and new techniques for chemical recycling.

The most recent start-ups are:

• Coordinating the value chain: Agrona (Egypt), Circulix (Germany), CL Circular (Spain), ContainerGrid (Germany), VGC.AI (Germany)
• Alternative raw materials and bioeconomy: CarbonCraft (India), Circular Structures (Germany), Flower Matter (Germany), Upcyde (Denmark)
• New technologies for chemical recycling: Radical Dot (Germany), Sustanix Materialtech (Netherlands), T-phite (Chile), Blue Plasmapower (Spain)
• Others: Qaptis (Switzerland), Waste to Wealth (Tansania)