The POLREC project is a collaborative project between 5 European clusters : Polymeris (coordinator), CENTIMFE, Cluster Mav, PCD/DMN and WFG. It started on the 1st of September 2022 and will end on the 31st of August 2025. It is funded by the European Commission Joint Cluster initiatives for Europe’s recovery (Euroclusters) under the Single Market Programme (SMP COSME) Grant Agreement 101074434.

The POLREC 2nd Networking Open Call is designed for SMEs in the plastics, rubber, and composites industries, helping them to develop international strategies and expand into new markets beyond their national scope through participation in business fairs, exhibitions, and matchmaking events. Targeted SMEs may operate in various sectors, including transport and mobility, construction, renewable energy, digital and electronics, health, consumer goods, and industrial or food packaging.

Under this open call, the POLREC consortium will select up to 67 SMEs for the networking sub-grant for a maximum total budget of 36.500 EUR.

• Eligibility : 

Eligible applicants are small or medium sized enterprises (SME) in accordance with the SME definition of the European Union based in EU members states or in the Single Market Programme participating countries. An SME self-assessment tool is available via this link.

• Activities funded : 

The sub-grant available for an SME is 500€ per day of attendance to a networking event organised in EU or in the Single Market Programme COSME participating countries with a maximum of 1500€ for 3-days attendance. For events organised in countries outside EU and the Single Market Programme participating countries (overseas countries), the budget is 2500€ for up to 5-day attendance to the event. An SME can submit a maximum of two applications to attend two different events (either in EU and SMP countries or oversea).

The applicant can either choose an event from the list of events identified by POLREC consortium and detailed in the Guide For Applicant (section 3.2 - available on the Open Call page of the Cluster Submission Platform) or propose another event if it contributes to the objectives of polymer & elastomer recycling and takes place before 15^th July 2025. The types of events eligible to apply for a Networking sub-grant are:

1. Business/ trade fairs & exhibitions in Europe and outside Europe (Oversea)

2. Conferences, conventions and forums in Europe and outside Europe (Oversea)

3. Matchmaking events in Europe and outside Europe (Oversea)

The proposed event can target SME’s across various sectors and should lead to raising awareness within the polymer and elastomer industry towards recycling solutions and enhancement of the product life cycle. The event duration for events in Europe must be minimum 1 full day. A full day means a working day of 6-8 hours including lunch. For events to oversea countries the event duration must be minimum of 3 days. Applicants must refer to the Guide for Applicant for the definition of overseas countries (section 3.2).

In addition, the applicant will have to participate in one online event, organised by a POLREC project partner, with the aim to further network and provide valuable industry and networking inputs, with a duration of approximately 2 hours.

• Selection criteria :

To be awarded a sub-grant, the applicants are expected to attend the chosen event and identify at least 3 new contacts related to polymer recycling and attend minimum 2 meetings with new potential business partners (technology provider, service provider, customer, supplier, start up, and others). These contacts and meetings are to be documented in the Final Activity Report. Further Expectations are explained in details in the Guide For Applicant (section 4.1).

Each application will be assessed by 1 POLREC project partners according to the following criteria : Network, Relevance of the event and relevance of stakeholders. Criteria are further detailed in the Guide for Applicant (Section 9.1). The Evaluation and selection of winners will take place the week following the end of the Open call (14-21 March 2025) and a notification letter will be sent out to candidates the week of 21 March - 26 March 2025.

• Awarding process :

Successful applications will receive the requested financial contribution in the form of a lump sum. A final payment of 100% of the requested contribution will be provided after approval of the final activity report on the attendance of the networking event by the applicant. The approval will be made by the POLREC consortium.

In the approval process POLREC will check the achieved results mentioned in the final activity report submitted by the SME. Furthermore, a physical or remote meeting between the funded SME and POLREC partner(s)may be organised to better qualify the results. If an SME receives funding, it commits to participating in an online event organized by the consortium and to sharing insights on a specific topic related to its expertise.

• Application : 

The link to the application documents such as the Guide For Applicant and to submit an application can be found on the Cluster Submission Platform.

Euroclusters FSTP Circular Economy Plastics Processing Plastic