Scope: Innovative renewable textile fibres and sustainable chemical solutions today face almost insurmountable cost disadvantages compared to extremely cost-competitive and industrially entrenched conventional fibres and chemicals based on virgin fossil resources. This problem creates a massive bottleneck for true textile circularity. To allow renewable materials and sustainable chemicals to scale up, improved processability, suitable processing technology, deeper technical knowledge and smart phase-in approaches such as material blending or drop-in solutions are required. Specific emphasis must be placed on resulting final product quality and functionality to avoid negative user/consumer perception of products made with renewable materials and sustainable chemicals. As not all cost and quality challenges may be immediately overcome by technological innovation, accompanying business models and systems approaches are needed to enable equitable cost and risk sharing among all involved stakeholders in the textile value chain.

Attributes such as recyclability, recycled material content, and renewability are expected to be part of the textile-specific requirements under the Ecodesign for Sustainable Products Regulation. T

Proposals should specifically address:

·       Innovative processing technologies to facilitate the efficient utilisation of recycled, regenerated and bio-based fibres as well as sustainable processing and functionalising sustainable chemicals across all major stages of the textile manufacturing value chain, such as spinning, weaving, knitting, dyeing or finishing;

·       Characterisation, quality assurance and mitigation strategies for the most common processing and functionality challenges and limitations of the sustainable materials and chemicals targeted;

·       Development of best practices and training materials targeted at manufacturers, brands and end users, working with the targeted materials and chemicals;

·       Strategies and tools to practically implement collective risk sharing and smart scaling approaches.

Proposals should actively involve suppliers of renewable materials and sustainable chemicals, brands, commercial end users and developers/manufacturers of relevant processing technology and industrial partners with the capacity to commercially scale up production with the targeted materials and chemicals. The involvement of partners beyond the manufacturing supply chain, such as product designers, brands, commercial end users and end of life managers including recyclers and remanufacturers is particularly encouraged. Proposals should carry out research and innovation to develop missing elements and achieve the necessary integration, including economic viability. Hence, synergies with, or using results from, other projects may be appropriate. The mere integration of existing technologies or processes is outside the scope of this topic.

Entities eligible for funding

To become a beneficiary, legal entities must be eligible for funding.

To be eligible for funding, applicants must be established in one of the following countries:

the Member States of the European Union, including their outermost regions:

Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Czechia, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden.

the Overseas Countries and Territories (OCTs) linked to the Member States:

Aruba (NL), Bonaire (NL), Curação (NL), French Polynesia (FR), French Southern and Antarctic Territories (FR), Greenland (DK), New Caledonia (FR), Saba (NL), Saint Barthélemy (FR), Sint Eustatius (NL), Sint Maarten (NL), St. Pierre and Miquelon (FR), Wallis and Futuna Islands (FR).

countries associated to Horizon Europe

Albania, Armenia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Faroe Islands, Georgia, Iceland, Israel, Kosovo, Moldova, Montenegro, New Zealand, North Macedonia, Norway, Serbia, Tunisia, Türkiye, Ukraine, United Kingdom.

the following low- and middle-income countries

Afghanistan, Algeria, Angola, Argentina, Azerbaijan, Bangladesh, Belarus, Belize, Benin, Bhutan, Bolivia, Botswana, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Cabo Verde, Cambodia, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Chad, Colombia, Comoros, Congo (Democratic Republic), Congo (Republic), Costa Rica, Côte d'Ivoire, Cuba, Djibouti, Dominica, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, Egypt (Arab Republic), El Salvador, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Eswatini, Ethiopia, Fiji, Gabon, Gambia, Ghana, Grenada, Guatemala, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Guyana, Haiti, Honduras, Indonesia, Iran (Islamic Republic), Iraq, Jamaica, Jordan, Kazakhstan, Kenya, Kiribati, Korea (Democratic People's Republic), Kyrgyz Republic, Lao (People’s Democratic Republic), Lebanon, Lesotho, Liberia, Libya, Madagascar, Malawi, Malaysia, Maldives, Mali, Marshall Islands, Mauritania, Mauritius, Micronesia (Federated States), Mongolia, Morocco, Mozambique, Myanmar, Namibia, Nepal, Nicaragua, Niger, Nigeria, Niue, Pakistan, Palau, Palestine, Papua New Guinea, Paraguay, Peru, Philippines, Rwanda, Samoa, São Tomé and Principe, Senegal, Sierra Leone, Solomon Islands, Somalia, South Africa, South Sudan, Sri Lanka, St. Lucia, St. Vincent and the Grenadines, Sudan, Suriname, Syrian Arab Republic, Tajikistan, Tanzania, Thailand, Timor-Leste, Togo, Tonga, Turkmenistan, Tuvalu, Uganda, Uzbekistan, Vanuatu, Venezuela (Bolivarian Republic), Vietnam, Yemen Republic, Zambia, Zimbabwe.

International organisations — International European research organisations are eligible to receive funding.