Transborder upstream innovation research
How the Federal Ministry of Research, Technology and Space (BMFTR) utilizes international public research networks to shift the innovation focus from basic recycling to systemic product design.
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Transborder upstream innovation research
Institutional Profile
Eureka Network & BMFTR
Headquarters
Bonn, Germany, secondary office in Berlin
Footprint
Eureka is the world's largest public network for international cooperation in R&D and innovation, operating across 45+ countries. In 2024–2025 the network was co-chaired by Germany and Canada, within the German Federal Ministry of Research, Technology and Space. A major achievement was the development and publication of the Circular Value Creation Call in June 2025. On behalf of the BMFTR, the Projektträger (PTKA), at the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology, is the project-management agency bridging the German government, industry and science.
Breaking the downstream bias
For public frameworks driving the circular economy, the biggest bottleneck is a persistent market bias toward short-term, downstream fixes. Most commercial and public funding flows naturally toward basic recycling, handling waste after it has already been created.
But true industrial resilience cannot be achieved by merely managing the end of a linear pipe. Recognizing the inherent weaknesses and vulnerabilities of the linear economy, the German government sought a mechanism to shift the entire product innovation toward the absolute beginning of the product lifecycle.
To do that, they needed a framework that could fund deep, pre-commercial research, moving past abstract sustainability concepts to test how products can be fundamentally re-engineered before they ever hit a factory floor.
Where public money flows vs where it matters
The leverage is upstream. The funding is downstream.
You cannot build industrial resilience by managing the end of a linear supply chain. The BMFTR's move: shift the whole product innovation to the absolute beginning of the lifecycle, re-engineering products before they ever hit a factory floor.
A cross-border mandate for systemic design
To turn the focus upside down, Germany used its 2024–2025 co-chairmanship of the Eureka network to launch a transborder initiative: the 2025 Circular Value Creation Call. Commissioned by the BMFTR, and on the German side coordinated, managed and selected by the PTKA, which bridges German labs with international partners, the strategy spans 20+ participating countries, including Chile, South Korea, Ukraine, and Türkiye.
It is built on a strict, systemic boundary: it explicitly excludes basic recycling and downstream activities. Instead, the initiative funds upstream innovation and the higher-R strategies of product design, treating circularity as a core engineering challenge.
The funding targets how raw primary and secondary materials are selected as inputs, how products are designed for easy assembly and disassembly, and how automated take-back systems can be built into cross-border supply chains. Because industrial supply chains do not stop at national borders, the cross-border framework ensures new designs match upcoming international rules like the Digital Product Passport (DPP).
The bet: designing a product for circularity from day one is the most effective way to protect industries against global resource shocks.
The 2025 Circular Value Creation Call · the R-strategies boundary
Fund the higher-R design strategies. Exclude basic recycling.
- RethinkMaterial selection, primary & secondary inputs chosen for circularity
- RedesignDesign for easy assembly and disassembly
- RetainAutomated take-back built into cross-border supply chains
- RecycleBasic recycling of materials
- RecoverDownstream waste handling
Explicitly excluded, managing the end of a linear pipe.
20+ participating countries
Designed to match upcoming rules
Digital Product Passport
Because supply chains do not stop at borders, new designs are engineered to comply with incoming international rules from day one.
Collaborative consortia and radical risk-absorption
To execute this upstream strategy, the German Federal Ministry of Research, Technology and Space deployed a €40 million budget for German partners through Eureka to fund collaborative, multi-year research consortia that intentionally absorb the highest tiers of technology risk.
To qualify, a project must form an international alliance of at least two independent organizations from a minimum of two different Eureka countries. This forces domestic industries, like Germany's highly innovative production sector, to collaborate directly with international universities, startups, and manufacturers in countries like South Korea or Türkiye, so upstream innovations are compatible with global manufacturing hubs from the very beginning.
Because moving from a laboratory to a commercial factory floor involves massive uncertainty, the non-repayable grants do not have to be returned if a well-planned project fails to achieve its technical output. This lets universities and SMEs collaborate on highly speculative technologies, such as using AI to make machinery ready for automated sorting, disassembly and quality assessment, without fear of financial ruin.
These projects typically run for three years, operating as a continuous learning tool where industrial feedback is used to adjust the research in real time and to validate pilots for real markets.
Execution · The consortium rule
Two organizations, two countries, and a grant that forgives failure
To qualify · minimum alliance
≥ 2 independent organizations · from ≥ 2 Eureka countries
Forces domestic industry to design with global manufacturing hubs, so upstream innovation is compatible from the very beginning. Among the most-involved partners: Germany, South Korea, Austria, Switzerland, Sweden and more.
Radical risk absorption
A well-planned project that fails its technical output owes nothing back. That is what lets universities and SMEs chase speculative bets, like AI for automated disassembly, without fear of financial ruin.
€40M
Via BMFTR, for German partners
100%
Of costs covered
20–50%
Depending on national criteria
3 yrs
Continuous learning loop
Do not scatter resources thin. Absorb the financial risk of upstream innovation, and build circularity into the value chain before a single product is made.
Fund upstream, not end-of-pipe
Resist the downstream bias. Public capital has the most leverage at the design phase, material selection, design for disassembly, built-in take-back, not at the recycling bin.
Absorb genuine technology risk
Make grants non-repayable when a sound plan fails. Only then will universities and SMEs take the speculative, pre-commercial bets that move an industry.
Enforce cross-border alliances
Require consortia across countries so new designs are compatible with global manufacturing hubs and upcoming rules like the Digital Product Passport from day one.
By shifting focus entirely to early-stage, cross-border research and engineering a path toward commercial application, the state transforms abstract environmental goals into a competitive industrial strategy, proving circularity can be built into a value chain before anything is manufactured.