Circular design and development of Sustainable products in 4 key sectors in Central Europe

Programme 2021 - 2027 Interreg VI-B Central Europe

Date of latest update: 2025-10-08

Description

Description (EN):

CURIOST is based on the idea that the circular economy is a key enabler for innovative sustainable product development. To face the multiple challenges in the manufacturing industry across Central Europe, the project aims at enabling SMEs + small mid-caps to exploit their potential in innovative sustainable product development and profit from matching business cases in the 4 key sectors mechanics & mechatronics, packaging, plastics, and construction & building, highly relevant in the partner regions. The consortium unites 11 partners from AT, DE, HR, HU, IT, PL, and SK with complementary expertise in product development, business innovation, circular economy, and energy/environmental topics, supported by 11 associated partners. With a two-fold approach, CURIOST aims to develop a comprehensive strategy targeting its uptake by min. 140 SMEs and small midcaps, followed by the transformation of this strategy into an action plan developed and adopted by policymakers to serve local businesses. This will break down barriers and unlock opportunities for sustainable and circular product innovation, benefiting both the economy and the environment. To implement the strategy on an operative level an innovative product development process will be carried out. To ensure the highest outcome of this innovative process, PPs will jointly select the 30 most encouraged and motivated companies (out of 140) to be part of pilots to develop tailor-made innovative, sustainable and circular product prototypes, together with selected creative heads from various backgrounds that aim to bring new and fresh ideas into the process. Following this, transnational makeathons take place to enrich innovative prototypes and elaborate matching business cases. To initiate CHANGE in ALL sectors of the partner regions in Central Europe, the mature prototypes and matching business cases will be aggregated into a universal SOLUTION, which will accelerate the green transition in the Central European economy. A multi-channel communication/dissemination ensures that the CURIOST approach will be taken up and scaled by SMEs + mid-caps across the project region and anchored at the regional/national policy level.

Actual Achievements (EN):

Since its launch in June 2024, the CURIOST project has made remarkable strides in advancing (digital) circular product development across Central Europe. Bringing together 11 partners from Austria, Germany, Slovakia, Hungary, Poland, Croatia, and Italy, the initiative targets SMEs and small midcaps in four key manufacturing sectors: mechanics and mechatronics, plastics, packaging, and construction. In its first year, the project laid a solid foundation. Bayern Innovativ led the assessment of sustainability maturity, while the University of Economics in Bratislava was responsible for the evaluation of circular business models. Business Upper Austria managed internal capacity building and designed a concept for strategy uptake workshops together with the whole partnership. Design thinking and business model development were introduced under the leadership of Cluster of Environmental Technologies Bavaria, with implementation by Business Upper Austria and STEP RI science and technology park of the University of Rijeka. Strategic groundwork was further strengthened by ConPlusUltra, leading the analysis of policy frameworks and MESAP Innovation Cluster’s awareness campaigns, rolled out regionally by all partners. In the second project period, Business Upper Austria coordinated the creation of a joint vision and strategy for 2030+, supported by a series of webinars. Meanwhile, Science and Technology Park – Envipark launched the “creative heads” activity pool, and ConPlusUltra elaborated a regional action catalogue together with the consortium to guide future transformation. This cross-border collaboration has already proven its value: aligning with EU sustainability goals, fostering innovation, and building resilience in SMEs and small midcaps. The joint strategy and shared vision developed in year 1 mark a major step toward a circular, competitive, and climate-conscious manufacturing future in Central Europe.

Project outputs: A common approach for fostering sustainable product development(EN)
Joint strategy for sustainable product development (EN)
Piloting sustainable product development(EN)
Solution - Methodology kit for the development of a sustainable and circular product(EN)
CURIOST action plan document for sustainable product development, targeting the policy level(EN)
Website: https://www.interreg-central.eu/projects/curiost/

Thematic information

Evaluation systems and results Clustering and economic cooperation SME and entrepreneurship

Priority: (VI-B_CE_2) Cooperating for a greener central Europe

Priority specific objective: RSO2.6. Promoting the transition to a circular and resource efficient economy

Priority policy objective (Interreg specific objective): PO2 A greener, low-carbon transitioning towards a net zero carbon economy and resilient Europe by promoting clean and fair energy transition, green and blue investment, the circular economy, climate change mitigation and adaptation, risk prevention and management, and sustainable urban mobility

Type of intervention: 069 Commercial, industrial waste management: prevention, minimisation, sorting, reuse, recycling measures

Partners (11)

Lead Partner: Business Upper Austria – OÖ Wirtschaftsagentur GmbH

PIC (Participant Identification Code): 998776991

Partner’s ID if not PIC: ATU37311609

Department: Mechatronics Cluster + Circular Economy Team @ Plastics Cluster

Address: Hafenstraße, 4020 Linz, Austria

Department address: Hafenstraße, 4020 Linz, Austria

Legal status: public

Organisation type: Business support organisation

Website: https://www.biz-up.at

Total budget: EUR 257 880.00

Partner’s programme co-financing: EUR 206 304.00

Partner’s programme co-financing rate: 80.00%

Partner contribution: EUR 51 576.00

Trägerverein Umwelttechnologie-Cluster Bayern e.V.

Name: Trägerverein Umwelttechnologie-Cluster Bayern e.V.

Partner’s ID if not PIC: DE264246558

Address: Am Mittleren Moos , 86167 Augsburg, Germany

Legal status: private

Organisation type: Business support organisation

Website: https://www.umweltcluster.net

Total budget: EUR 172 760.00

Partner’s programme co-financing: EUR 138 208.00

Partner’s programme co-financing rate: 80.00%

Partner contribution: EUR 34 552.00

Bayern Innovativ GmbH

Name: Bayern Innovativ GmbH

Department: Energy / Construction Department (SF-E)

Partner’s ID if not PIC: DE172551529

Address: Am Tullnaupark, 90402 Nürnberg, Germany

Department address: Am Tullnaupark, 90402 Nürnberg, Germany

Legal status: public

Organisation type: Business support organisation

Website: http://www.bayern-innovativ.de

Total budget: EUR 165 480.00

Partner’s programme co-financing: EUR 132 384.00

Partner’s programme co-financing rate: 80.00%

Partner contribution: EUR 33 096.00

Parco Scientifico Tecnologico per l’Ambiente Environment Park SpA

Name: Parco Scientifico Tecnologico per l’Ambiente Environment Park SpA

Department: POLO CLEVER - Cleantech Cluster

PIC (Participant Identification Code): 998484633

Partner’s ID if not PIC: IT07154400019

Address: Galleria San Federico c/o FinPiemonte , 10121 Torino, Italy

Department address: Via Livorno , 10144 Torino, Italy

Legal status: public

Organisation type: Business support organisation

Website: http://www.envipark.com

Total budget: EUR 137 620.00

Partner’s programme co-financing: EUR 110 096.00

Partner’s programme co-financing rate: 80.00%

Partner contribution: EUR 27 524.00

Centro Servizi Industrie S.r.l. – Polo MESAP

Name: Centro Servizi Industrie S.r.l. – Polo MESAP

Department: Smart Products and Manufacturing

PIC (Participant Identification Code): 952593933

Partner’s ID if not PIC: IT01045950019

Address: Via Manfredo Fanti , 10128 Torino, Italy

Department address: Via Vela , 10128 Torino, Italy

Legal status: private

Organisation type: Business support organisation

Website: http://www.mesap.it

Total budget: EUR 189 700.00

Partner’s programme co-financing: EUR 151 760.00

Partner’s programme co-financing rate: 80.00%

Partner contribution: EUR 37 940.00

Razvojno-edukacijski centar za metalsku industriju – Metalska jezgra Čakovec

Name: Razvojno-edukacijski centar za metalsku industriju – Metalska jezgra Čakovec

PIC (Participant Identification Code): 889421131

Partner’s ID if not PIC: HR44226932013

Address: Ulica bana Josipa Jelačića, 40000 Čakovec, Croatia

Legal status: public

Organisation type: Higher education and research organisations

Website: https://metalskajezgra.hr/

Total budget: EUR 137 060.00

Partner’s programme co-financing: EUR 109 648.00

Partner’s programme co-financing rate: 80.00%

Partner contribution: EUR 27 412.00

Contractors:

Name: n/a
VAT registration or tax identification number: HR44846935730

STEP RI znanstveno-tehnologijski park Sveučilišta u Rijeci d.o.o.

Name: STEP RI znanstveno-tehnologijski park Sveučilišta u Rijeci d.o.o.

PIC (Participant Identification Code): 986284264

Partner’s ID if not PIC: HR70410022758

Address: Radmile Matejčić , 51000 Rijeka, Croatia

Legal status: public

Organisation type: Business support organisation

Website: http://www.step.uniri.hr/

Total budget: EUR 163 380.00

Partner’s programme co-financing: EUR 130 704.00

Partner’s programme co-financing rate: 80.00%

Partner contribution: EUR 32 676.00

South Poland Cleantech Cluster Sp. z o.o

Name: South Poland Cleantech Cluster Sp. z o.o

PIC (Participant Identification Code): 920945452

Partner’s ID if not PIC: PL6762484979

Address: ul. Studencka, 31-116 Krakow, Poland

Legal status: public

Organisation type: Business support organisation

Website: http://www.spcleantech.com

Total budget: EUR 146 440.00

Partner’s programme co-financing: EUR 117 152.00

Partner’s programme co-financing rate: 80.00%

Partner contribution: EUR 29 288.00

Pécs-Baranyai Kereskedelmi és Iparkamara

Name: Pécs-Baranyai Kereskedelmi és Iparkamara

PIC (Participant Identification Code): 999780941

Partner’s ID if not PIC: HU18304433

Address: Majorossy Imre, 7625 Pécs, Hungary

Legal status: public

Organisation type: Business support organisation

Website: https://pbkik.hu/

Total budget: EUR 174 160.00

Partner’s programme co-financing: EUR 139 328.00

Partner’s programme co-financing rate: 80.00%

Partner contribution: EUR 34 832.00

Ekonomická univerzita v Bratislave

Name: Ekonomická univerzita v Bratislave

Department: Faculty of Business management

Partner’s ID if not PIC: SK2020879245

Address: Dolnozemská cesta , 85235 Bratislava, Slovakia

Department address: Dolnozemská cesta , 85235 Bratislava, Slovakia

Legal status: public

Organisation type: Higher education and research organisations

Website: http://www.euba.sk

Total budget: EUR 174 020.00

Partner’s programme co-financing: EUR 139 216.00

Partner’s programme co-financing rate: 80.00%

Partner contribution: EUR 34 804.00

ConPlusUltra GmbH

Name: ConPlusUltra GmbH

Department: Energy & Environment, Business & Innovation

Partner’s ID if not PIC: ATU54038802

Address: Linzer Straße, 3100 St. Pölten, Austria

Department address: Linzer Straße, 3100 St. Pölten, Austria

Legal status: private

Organisation type: SME

Website: http://www.conplusultra.com

Total budget: EUR 179 200.00

Partner’s programme co-financing: EUR 143 360.00

Partner’s programme co-financing rate: 80.00%

Partner contribution: EUR 35 840.00

Partners map

Partners and Projects info

Cluster of Environmental Technologies Bavaria

Circular design and development of Sustainable products in 4 key sectors in Central Europe

Partners and Projects info

Bayern Innovativ Ltd.

Circular design and development of Sustainable products in 4 key sectors in Central Europe

Partners and Projects info

Science and Technology Park - Envipark

Circular design and development of Sustainable products in 4 key sectors in Central Europe

Partners and Projects info

MESAP Innovation Cluster

Circular design and development of Sustainable products in 4 key sectors in Central Europe

Partners and Projects info

Development and Training Centre for the Metal Industry – Metal Centre Čakovec

Circular design and development of Sustainable products in 4 key sectors in Central Europe

Partners and Projects info

STEP RI Science and Technology Park of the University of Rijeka ltd.

Circular design and development of Sustainable products in 4 key sectors in Central Europe

Partners and Projects info

South Poland Cleantech Cluster Ltd.

Circular design and development of Sustainable products in 4 key sectors in Central Europe

Partners and Projects info

Chamber of Commerce and Industry of Pécs-Baranya

Circular design and development of Sustainable products in 4 key sectors in Central Europe

Partners and Projects info

University of Economics in Bratislava

Circular design and development of Sustainable products in 4 key sectors in Central Europe

Partners and Projects info

ConPlusUltra Ltd

Circular design and development of Sustainable products in 4 key sectors in Central Europe

Partners and Projects info

Business Upper Austria – Upper Austrian government’s location agency

Circular design and development of Sustainable products in 4 key sectors in Central Europe

Lead partner

Project partner

Summary

Project name (EN): Circular design and development of Sustainable products in 4 key sectors in Central Europe

Project acronym: CURIOST

Project ID: CE0200602

Project start date: 2024-06-01

Project end date: 2026-11-30

Project status: ongoing

Relevant linked projects:

European Digital Innovation Hubs (EDIHs) (EN) | Most project partners are involved in a European Digital Innovation Hub.
As the CURIOST project wants to exploit digital technologies for the creation of a sustainable product development process and related digital/circular business cases, a huge variety of synergies can be expected in the upcoming years.
CURIOST benefits from
- mutual access to target groups and stakeholders
- Good practice exchange bla bla bla (EN), European Cluster Collaboration Platform (ECCP) (EN) | The ECCP is THE platform for clusters in Europe. As ECCP organises and shares events organised by either ECCP or others related to cluster development.
CURIOST benefits from the opportunity to
- Promote the outcomes of the CURIOST project on that platform
- Raise awareness of other clusters on the developed and demontrated solutions. (EN), SMERF, CIRCOTRONIC, GREENPACT (Interreg Central Europe, Call 1) (EN) | Some of the project partners will cooperate in recently started CE projects.
SMERF: Biz-Up and STEP RI
SME will be supported in the twin transition, in particular with enhancing the innovation culture in SME, and fostering open innovation and sharing economy in the regions.
GREENPACT: STEP RI and UEBA
For Futurepreneurs - professionals that are driven by purpose and impact, a certification scheme shall be set up.
CIRCOTRONIC: Biz-Up and
This project aims at developing solution for more circular value chains in the electronics sector, starting from the begin of the product life cycle.
CURIOST benefits from these projects:
- sharing experience and lessons learnt related to developing strategies and implementing pilots in CE projects related to green economy
- jointly increasing visibility and awareness raising for the green transition (EN), Cradle-ALP (Interreg Alpine Space) (EN) | Cradle-ALP is an Interreg Alpine Space project which aims at the transition of Cradle to Cradle products in the following industries: Chemical, plastic, wood, textile, and agriculture. Within the project partners together with companies will develop a transformation roadmap to show the future path towards a cradle-to-cradle-friendly industry, developing nature-friendly and eco-friendly products focusing on technologies, business models, and policymakers.
CURIOST benefits from this project by sharing experiences and lessons learned and witch capitalizing on results developed in the field of Cradle to Cradle on a product level. (EN), DREAM, RESIST (Single Market Programme - EUROCLUSTERS) (EN) | MESAP is partner of DREAM – Digital Resilient Europe for Advanced Manufacturing
Biz-Up is partner of RESIST - Resilience through Sustainable processes and production for the European automotive industry
CURIOST benefits from
- sharing experience about activities to enhance sustainability of products
- mutual access to target groups and stakeholders
- incorporating ideas and approaches from other regions (EN), Enterprise Europe Network 2022-2025 (COSME) (EN) | Several partners are local contact point of EEN, e.g. Biz-up, or in close contact with
them. The EEN supports businesses to innovate and grow on an international scale.
CURIOST project benefits from
- mutual access to target groups, especially smaller companies
- joint awareness raising activities and events
- EEN in Austria has developed the tool Eco-Lyze for assessing the sustainability (ESG) maturity of SME and derives recommended actions to improve - SME within CURIOST can also use this tool. (EN)

Total budget/expenditure: EUR 1 897 700.00

Total EU funding (amount): EUR 1 518 160.00

Total EU funding (co-financing rate): 80.00%

Co-financing sources:

ERDF: Amount, EUR 1 518 160.00. Co-financing rate, 80.00%.

Investments, deliverables, policy contributions

(bullets are inserted automatically and may be incorrectly placed)

Deliverables:

State of the art in sustainable and circular product development
Gap and challenges analysis for digital and circular design in sustainable product development
Capitalization of best practices and benchmark in sustainable product design in Central Europe
Assessment of market status and readiness for sustainable products in the 4 sectors
Evaluation of current circular business models
Internal capacity building and creation of common vision
Joint development of strategy for sustainable product development in SME + small midcaps
Development of concept for uptake
Awareness raising in SME + small midcaps
Strategy uptake workshops with large number of SME + small midcaps
Design-Thinking trainings
Business model development trainings
Definition of setting, organisation and involvement of creative heads
Set-up of International pool of creative heads
Selection of 4-5 most encouraged,
promising companies per country
Two stage pilot with prototype creation and testing, and business modeling
Consolidation of business models
Solution - Methodology kit for the development of an economically successful, circular product
Whitepaper for dissemination of the solution
Uptake of solution with large number of SME + small midcaps
Uptake stories
Analysis of S3-strategies of the participating regions/countries (NUTS0/2)
Analysis of latest legal + policy framework on EU level
Regional awareness raising about circular economy and environmental sustainability
Showcasing economic opportunities of a circular economy
Evaluation of regional needs and guidance for action planning
Derivation of 1 Action plan (with 1 chapter per region) for policy level
Policy meets business
Draft of cooperation projects with high transnational potential in the 4 sectors
Formal agreement for cooperation beyond project end

Contribution to wider strategies and policies:

EuropeanGreenDeal The project CURIOST is mostly targeting the mobilization of industries for a clean and circular economy and follows the goal of leaving no one behind and understanding the economical challenges and financial opportunities of the transition into a greener industry.
It is a fact, that technological solutions and approaches are available in any case, but many companies, and SMEs in particular, are currently failing to exploit many opportunities in both digitization and sustainability. The main reason for this is the lack of knowledge and strategies for exploitation.
Therefore, this project aims to enable companies to recognize the potential in a green, circular and digital economy. The project CURIOST combines both, a wide deployment of its results and objectives (in WP 1) but also close support and assisting activities for specific SMEs + small midcaps (in WP 2) that will then be part of a greener and more sustainable industry (strategic goal of WP 3). The project results, therefore, fall on a small and big scale into the overall European Green Deal strategy.
EUStrategyDanubeRegion With circular economy being a cross-cutting topic with multiple constituting dimensions and impacts, the CURIOST project is tangent with several priority areas of the EUSDR.
CURIOST mainly addresses the EUSDR priority area PA8 Competitiveness of Enterprises: In several activities (e.g. A.1.4, A.2.3 - A.2.5, A3.2) the project demonstrates how the shift to sustainable product development and related circular (digital) business models can strengthen the competitiveness of regional SME and small midcaps.
As in CURIOST institutional project partners collaborate and the future widening of the institutional networks is addressed (A.3.5), the project contributes to the goals of PA10 Institutional Capacity & Cooperation.
Further, the project contributes to reaching the environmental goals covered by the following priority areas:
PA2 Sustainable Energy, PA4 Water Quality, PA5 Environmental Risks, and
PA6 Biodiversity, Landscapes and Air&Soil Quality
EUStrategyAlpineRegion Given the integrated approach of the CURIOST project, there are synergies with several strategic EUSALP objectives of the 9 action groups (AG):
With regard to AG2 economic development and AG3 labour market, education and training, CURIOST certainly delivers relevant contributions by demonstrating the economic feasibility of sustainable products and digital business models for regional SMEs. This will further lead to the creation of highly qualified jobs in the regional companies.
Further, CURIOST based on its focus of resource efficiency and prevention of
waste through promoting sustainable product development, addresses the strategic EUSALP topics related to the preservation of the natural resources (AG6) and the strengthening of biodiversity and ecosystem services (AG7) and energy efficiency / renewable energy topics (AG9).
Other CURIOST is aiming in contributing significantly to the ongoing of the SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT GOALS defined by the UNITED NATIONS. A circular economy is promoting equal chances and fair labor conditions (SDG 1 and 5) around the globe. Classic mass production and mass consumption are neither possible nor required within a circular economy. Even though the project is aiming at sustainable product development, the human workforce is essential to the recovery of unpredictable used products and materials. With this, CURIOST promotes the adequate education of workers to be able to reuse/repair/remanufacture/refurbish/recycle used products and materials. (SDG 4). CURIOST contributes to SDG goal 9 by developing circular and sustainable product development supporting SMEs and small mid-caps to transform from an unsustainable and linear manufacturing process into circular ones. CURIOS promotes SDG goal 12 - responsible consumption and production with shifting from the linear production to circular, resource-efficient closed-loop products. Within CURIOS product development will be optimized to sustainability, which includes SDG goal 7 affordable and clean energy, good health and well-being of the workers, and decent work and economic growth within a circular economy. The measures and outputs developed in the project are addressed to SME´s which show potential in changing their business models and products from linear to circular systems. The overall goal is the support of the global transition into a circular and sustainable economy.

Programme Common Output Indicator:

RCO 084 - Pilot actions developed jointly and implemented in projects, Measurement unit:
RCO 116 - Jointly developed solutions, Measurement unit:
RCO 083 - Strategies and action plans jointly developed, Measurement unit:
RCO 087 - Organisations cooperating across borders, Measurement unit:

Delivered output indicator(s):

(RCO87) Organisations cooperating across borders: 22.0
(RCO83) Strategies and action plans jointly developed: 1.0

Programme Common Result Indicator:

RCR 084 - Organisations cooperating across borders after project completion, Measurement unit:
RCR 104 - Solutions taken up or up-scaled by organisations, Measurement unit:
RCR 079 - Joint strategies and action plans taken up by organisations, Measurement unit:

Project part of European Union Macro-Regional or Sea Basin Strategy: EUSALP

EUSALP Priority (Policy) area / Horizontal action:

EUSALP Degree of compliance:

Project part of European Union Macro-Regional or Sea Basin Strategy: EUSDR

Information regarding the data in keep.eu on the programme financing this project

Financing programme

2021 - 2027 Interreg VI-B Central Europe

Last month that data in keep.eu was retrieved from the Programme's website or received from the Programme

2026-02-09

No. of projects in keep.eu / Total no. of projects (% of projects in keep.eu)

125 / 125 (100%)

No. of project partnerships in keep.eu / Total no. of project partnerships (% of project partnerships in keep.eu)

1 137 / 1 137 (100%)

Notes on the data

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Circular design and development of Sustainable products in 4 key sectors in Central Europe

Description

Thematic information

Partners (11)

Partners map

Summary

Investments, deliverables, policy contributions

Information regarding the data in keep.eu on the programme financing this project

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