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Circular Integration of independent Reverse supply Chains for the smart reUse of IndusTrially relevant Semiconductors

Project description

Improving the circularity of the automotive and mass electronics sectors

Sustainable manufacturing is one of the most important objectives in the EU agenda, requiring industries to rethink and redesign entire supply chain practices. The electronics industry is not an exception. Electronic components are used in numerous markets, such as the automotive and mass electronics sectors. However, electronic components are mainly imported from outside the EU. Reducing Europe’s dependency on extra-EU supplies of strategic products is a top priority. With this in mind, the EU-funded CIRC-UITS project will demonstrate the improvement to the circularity of the automotive and mass electronics sectors by reuse of semiconductors from different sources. It will also support the remanufacturing of semiconductors into new (high added value) components and products in these sectors.

Objective

Several products embed different types of electronic components, and they are even more fundamental in some of the European strategic markets (e.g. automotive). However, reference producers come from extra-EU countries in the far-east side of the world (e.g. China and Taiwan). Trying to cope with all these challenges and the current semiconductors crisis, the European Commission (EC) published (and in some cases is still working on) specific EU strategies/directives for automotive, e-waste (e.g. Digital Product Passport) and, specifically, semiconductors (e.g. European Chips Act). However, trying to make these sectors more sustainable, circular and resilient, it is mandatory to boost both EoL strategies (e.g. sorting, reuse, remanufacturing and recycling) and intra-EU production through innovations and investments. The current international scenario represents a good chance to decouple the European economy from both natural resource depletion (e.g. Critical Raw Materials - CRMs) and dependency from extra-EU supplies of strategic products. In order to better prove what the benefits are of a joined circular/resilient use of secondary resources, the automotive and mass electronics sectors have been identified as the reference contexts for establishing a set of innovative solutions. To this aim, the CIRC-UITS project will focus on demonstrate the improvement to the circularity of automotive and mass electronics sectors by reuse of semiconductors from different sources, as well as support the reuse & remanufacturing of semiconductors into new (high added-value) components and products in these sectors.

Coordinator

POLITECNICO DI MILANO
Net EU contribution
€ 467 848,14
Address
PIAZZA LEONARDO DA VINCI 32
20133 Milano
Italy

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Region
Nord-Ovest Lombardia Milano
Activity type
Higher or Secondary Education Establishments
Links
Total cost
€ 467 848,14

Participants (20)

Partners (1)