Periodic Reporting for period 2 - RESOURCE (REgional project development aSsistance fOr the Uptake of an aRagonese Circular Economy)
Periodo di rendicontazione: 2024-01-01 al 2025-06-30
Circularity is an essential aspect of the industry transformation towards resource-efficiency, climate neutrality and long-term competitiveness. The EU-funded RESOURCE project examines and accelerates the private funding of circularity-related pilot projects in Aragon by bringing together partners from across the entire value chain. It aims to develop a project development assistance (PDA) solution to reinforce these pilot projects by building an integrated expertise pool to support technically, economically and legally the regional circular economy pilot SMEs. It will also develop innovative financing schemes and business models and launch concrete investments. Results will be disseminated to maximize the project’s impact in Aragon and beyond.
In addition, the project has conducted a great work towards the achievements of its five specific objectives which are:
• Develop new PDA services to fund regional Circular Economy (CE) investment projects based upon an improved governance and innovative organisation of the Aragon business service support ecosystem to select circular economy investment projects with a demonstrated financial viability and sustainability as tangible showcases to trigger further market replication.
• Build an integrated expertise pool to support technically, economically and legally the regional circular economy investment projects (WP2).
• Develop innovative financing schemes to boost private investment for circular economy project and launch concrete investments (WP3).
• Ensure a high degree of replicability of the PDA and related services to disseminate across Europe.
• Maximise and measure the project’s impacts for optimum dissemination of project’s results in Aragon and beyond.
A key component of the project was the development of the methodology for selecting circular economy projects. This methodology was presented and tested with the EU BIC community (>140 members) during the EBN Congress in June 2025. It was well received as 20 incubators expressed their interest in adopting or adapting the methodology to their local ecosystems.
In addition to the methodology developed, RESOURCE introduced/ designed innovative financing scheme to accelerate private investment, important to support CE projects in their acceleration and growth. Another significant achievement was the great collaboration between RESOURCE and InvestCEC on the development of policy recommendations which led also to the development of a joint policy brief. Finally, another significant achievement of the project was the positive evolution of the grants in relation to the support of CE in Aragon showing as well the growing interest of this topic.
In addition, the project has conducted a great work towards the achievements of its five specific objectives which are:
• Develop new PDA services to fund regional Circular Economy (CE) investment projects based upon an improved governance and innovative organisation of the Aragon business service support ecosystem to select circular economy investment projects with a demonstrated financial viability and sustainability as tangible showcases to trigger further market replication.
• Build an integrated expertise pool to support technically, economically and legally the regional circular economy investment projects (WP2).
• Develop innovative financing schemes to boost private investment for circular economy project and launch concrete investments (WP3).
• Ensure a high degree of replicability of the PDA and related services to disseminate across Europe.
• Maximise and measure the project’s impacts for optimum dissemination of project’s results in Aragon and beyond.
A key component of the project was the development of the methodology for selecting circular economy projects. This methodology was presented and tested with the EU BIC community (>140 members) during the EBN Congress in June 2025. It was well received as 20 incubators expressed their interest in adopting or adapting the methodology to their local ecosystems.
In addition to the methodology developed, RESOURCE introduced/ designed innovative financing scheme to accelerate private investment, important to support CE projects in their acceleration and growth. Another significant achievement was the great collaboration between RESOURCE and InvestCEC on the development of policy recommendations which led also to the development of a joint policy brief. Finally, another significant achievement of the project was the positive evolution of the grants in relation to the support of CE in Aragon showing as well the growing interest of this topic.
The RESOURCE project developed a comprehensive framework for supporting circular economy (CE) investment projects in Aragon, creating replicable methodologies scalable across Europe. The project established a complete pipeline from project identification through investment readiness with significant technical achievements.
The project successfully selected 13 pilot projects through the Aragon Circular Stamp initiative and CEEIAragon's network, with 9 remaining active at the end of the project. A RESOURCE-specific selection methodology was developed and tested, incorporating criteria for financial viability and sustainability.. The team designed a one-stop-shop business support model with single contact coordination across all partners, while an investors committee and Advisory Board helped designing financing solutions to accelerate investment readiness.
Partners conducted rigorous multi-criteria evaluation of selected CE projects across 6 dimensions: circularity potential, Technological and market Potential, Financial and Managerial evaluation, High level impact and excellence. The developed framework includes technical, legal, environmental, and economic considerations for closed-loop resource management assessment. A comprehensive methodology was created through consortium-pilot interaction, with pilots prepared for investor pitching and demo days events such as Transfiere.
The Investment Experts Committee confirmed that business cases and market positioning are primary investor criteria, particularly value chain positioning. Individual pilot meetings revealed common preferences for specialized investors balancing profitability with environmental impact. Most CE pilots demonstrated "Double Face Business Models" addressing both waste input markets and recycled output markets.
RESOURCE delivered 25 identified best practices through dedicated sessions, establishing optimal market introduction strategies. The validated framework successfully bridges CE project development and investment readiness, providing European regions with proven methodologies for circular economy investment ecosystem development combining comprehensive assessment capabilities with innovative and extended financing mechanisms.
The project successfully selected 13 pilot projects through the Aragon Circular Stamp initiative and CEEIAragon's network, with 9 remaining active at the end of the project. A RESOURCE-specific selection methodology was developed and tested, incorporating criteria for financial viability and sustainability.. The team designed a one-stop-shop business support model with single contact coordination across all partners, while an investors committee and Advisory Board helped designing financing solutions to accelerate investment readiness.
Partners conducted rigorous multi-criteria evaluation of selected CE projects across 6 dimensions: circularity potential, Technological and market Potential, Financial and Managerial evaluation, High level impact and excellence. The developed framework includes technical, legal, environmental, and economic considerations for closed-loop resource management assessment. A comprehensive methodology was created through consortium-pilot interaction, with pilots prepared for investor pitching and demo days events such as Transfiere.
The Investment Experts Committee confirmed that business cases and market positioning are primary investor criteria, particularly value chain positioning. Individual pilot meetings revealed common preferences for specialized investors balancing profitability with environmental impact. Most CE pilots demonstrated "Double Face Business Models" addressing both waste input markets and recycled output markets.
RESOURCE delivered 25 identified best practices through dedicated sessions, establishing optimal market introduction strategies. The validated framework successfully bridges CE project development and investment readiness, providing European regions with proven methodologies for circular economy investment ecosystem development combining comprehensive assessment capabilities with innovative and extended financing mechanisms.
The RESOURCE project results go beyond the state of the art by improving the understanding and knowledge on circular economy.
In addition, it has shown that:
- Supporting CE projects requires a cross-disciplinary methodology, combining legal/ regulatory, technical, financial, environmental assessment. RESOURCE have showed that incorporating together these services into a coherent methodology can significantly improve the effectiveness of public and private support interventions. Circular projects/ startups are quite different from traditional ones.
- Having a strong local ecosystem: having a strong local ecosystem of actors such as public authorities, business support organisations, academia, citizens and private sector showed is quite important. For example, this "innovation ecosystem" or “circular ecosystems”—as seen in cities like Prato are critical for scaling CE practices. Policymakers can create enabling frameworks; incubators can tailor support; civic groups can shape social acceptance; and corporates can provide market access. Encouraging this multi-actor engagement is vital to overcoming fragmentation and unlocking systemic change at the regional level.
In addition, it has shown that:
- Supporting CE projects requires a cross-disciplinary methodology, combining legal/ regulatory, technical, financial, environmental assessment. RESOURCE have showed that incorporating together these services into a coherent methodology can significantly improve the effectiveness of public and private support interventions. Circular projects/ startups are quite different from traditional ones.
- Having a strong local ecosystem: having a strong local ecosystem of actors such as public authorities, business support organisations, academia, citizens and private sector showed is quite important. For example, this "innovation ecosystem" or “circular ecosystems”—as seen in cities like Prato are critical for scaling CE practices. Policymakers can create enabling frameworks; incubators can tailor support; civic groups can shape social acceptance; and corporates can provide market access. Encouraging this multi-actor engagement is vital to overcoming fragmentation and unlocking systemic change at the regional level.