Project description
New framework for circular medical devices and packaging
The healthcare sector faces significant barriers to adopting circular economy principles, primarily due to strict safety regulations limiting the use of recycled materials in products for human use. The EU-funded ENKORE project aims to overcome these challenges by developing an eco-design framework for medical devices and packaging that prioritises safety and environmental compliance. This framework seeks to minimise environmental impact, reduce carbon footprints and optimise resource use by integrating packaging design with considerations for end-of-life. The project will validate its framework through five reference use cases led by health policy centres, pharma, medtech and ICT industries, three major EU hospitals and the EUREGHA network.
Objective
The healthcare sector is hindered by several barriers that hamper the application of circular economy principles (e.g. the safety restrictions of the domain limit the use of recycled materials due to the need of materials biocompatibility, and safety in products to be used in the human body). Led by a multidisciplinary consortium of 39 partners (plus 13 industry affiliates) from 15 EU countries plus UK and USA, ENKORE aim to tackle challenges and develop an ecoDesign framework that supports the development of safe and environmental compliant devices eco-responsible packaging, which minimize the environmental impact, reduce the carbon footprint, and maximize the use and preservation of resources. The main goal is to connect the design of the medical devices packages with the end-of-life stage, thus the technologies that support circularity are taken into account at the medical device conception stage.
ENKORE framework will be validated in 5 Reference Use Cases (RUCs), led by 5 different health regions that bring HPCs and policy maker, 3 large EU hospitals and the reference network for European Regional and Local Health Authorities (EUREGHA). The project developments and RUCs are supported by several associations and NGOs, a packaging manufacturer and a group of SMEs and researchers, specialists in circularity, LCA, social sciences, environment, circularity, and materials.
The validation of the framework shall provide evidence to work with policymakers, creating new or revised standards and create tangible/quantitative evidence. Policy making and regulatory engagement will be strongly performed. The methods and tools comprise Environmental and Social Life Cycle Assessment (ELCA/SLCA), Circularity Calculator (CC) and Digital Product Passport (DPP) approaches, which could be adapted during the second stage of the proposal.
Fields of science (EuroSciVoc)
CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques. See: https://op.europa.eu/en/web/eu-vocabularies/euroscivoc.
CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques. See: https://op.europa.eu/en/web/eu-vocabularies/euroscivoc.
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Programme(s)
- HORIZON.2.1 - Health Main Programme
- HORIZON.2.1.7 - Innovative Health Initiative
Call for proposal
(opens in new window) HORIZON-JU-IHI-2023-04-two-stage
See other projects for this callFunding Scheme
HORIZON-JU-RIA - HORIZON JU Research and Innovation ActionsCoordinator
28040 Madrid
Spain
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Participants (36)
28050 Madrid
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Legal entity other than a subcontractor which is affiliated or legally linked to a participant. The entity carries out work under the conditions laid down in the Grant Agreement, supplies goods or provides services for the action, but did not sign the Grant Agreement. A third party abides by the rules applicable to its related participant under the Grant Agreement with regard to eligibility of costs and control of expenditure.
01600 Trevoux
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08018 Barcelona
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00128 Roma
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2311 EZ Leiden
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60-965 POZNAN
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265 04 PATRAS
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The organization defined itself as SME (small and medium-sized enterprise) at the time the Grant Agreement was signed.
10117 Berlin
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00128 Roma
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90419 Lodz
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08003 Barcelona
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152 31 CHALANDRI
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28223 Pozuelo De Alarcon
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3515 GA Utrecht
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10144 TORINO
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70121 Bari
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1040 ETTERBEEK
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71000 Sarajevo
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115 27 ATHINA
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92100 BOULOGNE BILLANCOURT
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28046 MADRID
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43121 Parma
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70 013 IRAKLEIO
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28224 POZUELO DE ALARCON
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The organization defined itself as SME (small and medium-sized enterprise) at the time the Grant Agreement was signed.
10001-2192 NEW YORK CITY
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2880 Bagsvaerd
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46285 Indianapolis
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22851 Norderstedt
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8152 Glattpark
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61352 Bad Homburg
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5326 LUXEMBOURG
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55218 Ingelheim
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3013 AK Rotterdam
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BRUSSELS Brussels / Bruxelles
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7860 LESSINES
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46980 Paterna
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The organization defined itself as SME (small and medium-sized enterprise) at the time the Grant Agreement was signed.
Partners (15)
Partner organisations contribute to the implementation of the action, but do not sign the Grant Agreement.
1015 Lausanne
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9014 St.Gallen
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CT13 9NJ Sandwich
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CT13 9NJ Sandwich
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Partner organisations contribute to the implementation of the action, but do not sign the Grant Agreement.
T12 Cork
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89257 Illertissen
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Partner organisations contribute to the implementation of the action, but do not sign the Grant Agreement.
RG21 4FA Basingstoke
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61352 Bad Homburg
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2730 Herlev
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55218 Ingelheim
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06877 Ridgefield
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Partner organisations contribute to the implementation of the action, but do not sign the Grant Agreement.
LS11 8DT Leeds
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Partner organisations contribute to the implementation of the action, but do not sign the Grant Agreement.
08933 New Brunswick
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Partner organisations contribute to the implementation of the action, but do not sign the Grant Agreement.
M15 6JJ MANCHESTER
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The organization defined itself as SME (small and medium-sized enterprise) at the time the Grant Agreement was signed.