28 November 2025 – Rome, Italy

On 28 November 2025, the DeremCo consortium convened an Institutional Event at the Lazio Region headquarters in Rome, bringing together representatives from national and regional authorities (Lazio Region, the Ministry of the Environment, the Lombardy Region and the European Innovation Council and SMEs Executive Agency - EISMEA), industry players, research institutions, and companies involved in the project’s demonstration activities and Open Calls. The event aimed to foster a strategic dialogue on the regulatory, industrial, and policy conditions needed to scale circular solutions for fiber-reinforced composite materials across Europe.

A Cross-Regional Effort to Enable Circular Innovation

Hosted by Regione Lazio and coordinated by Veltha in collaboration with Associazione Fabbrica Intelligente Lombardia (AFIL), Politecnico di Milano and Fondazione Politecnico di Milano, the event provided an opportunity to present the project’s progress, highlight the role of regional ecosystems, and discuss how the I3 instrument strengthens interregional cooperation in line with EU objectives on the green transition, competitiveness, and industrial resilience.

During the event, partners outlined the technical and organizational solutions developed within DeremCo to address the reuse of post-use composites. Presentations included:

• An overview of the project’s cross-regional value chain model and its demand-driven approach.
• Demonstration of industrial cases applying recycled composite fractions in sectors such as:
  • Textile and safety equipment - Centro Tessile Cotoniero e Abbigliamento (Centrocot) demonstrated hybrid yarns and safety nets, produced from recycled carbon and glass fibers.
  • Automotive components - NTS presented a recycled BMC (Bulk Moulding Compound) with up to 60% recycled content, achieving comparable mechanical and fire-resistance performance to virgin materials and enabling significant CO₂ reduction.
  • Furniture and design - Origoni Steiner, together with Fibereuse Tech and Politecnico di Milano, showcased outdoor furniture elements for urban and campus spaces developed from reprocessed composite fractions, demonstrating high aesthetic and structural potential.
• Updates on the cascade-funded Open Call projects, which involve SMEs testing new applications of recycled composites in mobility and nautical waste valorization.

Demonstrators  presented during the event showcased how recycled composite fractions can already be integrated into real industrial applications and creating new market opportunities.

Focus on Policy Alignment and Regulatory Enablers

A dedicated session was held on DeremCo’s policy-related activities, including the analysis of barriers and regulatory challenges affecting the reuse of composite materials in Europe. Key themes discussed included:

• The need for harmonised criteria for so-called End-of-Life materials across Member States.
• Barriers related to cross-border transport of secondary materials.
• The role of standardisation, traceability and Digital Product Passport frameworks in supporting market uptake.
• The importance of multi-level governance to ensure coherent policy support for circular value chains.

Preliminary policy insights gathered through the project’s cross-regional dialogue will feed into DeremCo’s forthcoming recommendations to support regulatory alignment at regional, national, and EU levels.

Regional Engagement and Interregional Cooperation

The event highlighted the strategic relevance of interregional innovation initiatives for national and regional authorities. Representatives from institutions and from the DeremCo consortium discussed how cooperation across borders, facilitated by programmes like I3, can strengthen local ecosystems, stimulate innovation in SMEs, and prepare investment portfolios aligned with major EU industrial and environmental priorities.

Next Steps

DeremCo enters its final semester with ongoing activities to consolidate its demonstration results, develop new business models, finalize policy recommendations, and support the future deployment of circular solutions for composite materials. Outcomes from the Rome event will contribute to the finalisation of the project’s strategic outputs and to continued collaboration with institutional stakeholders.