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Circular chain projects

The Circular chain projects scheme supports collaborative initiatives by small and medium-sized enterprises. Circular solutions often come about when companies work together with other parties in the chain. In a chain project the companies are not focused on individual gain, but on adding value across the whole process.

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Facts up front

Target audience

Businesses

Budget

€3,94 mln

Deadline

Closed

Location

National

Circular chain projects – the key facts at a glance

The Circular chain projects scheme supports collaborative initiatives by small and medium-sized enterprises. Circular solutions often come about when companies work together with other parties in the chain. In a chain project the companies are not focused on individual gain, but on adding value across the whole process.

Get in touch

Target audience

SMEs in a circular chain
Partnerships of 3 to 6 unaffiliated companies
Participants covering at least 3 different roles in the chain
Businesses with a project in the Netherlands or the Caribbean Netherlands
Foreign businesses only where there is a circular effect in the Netherlands

Conditions

A project duration of no more than 2 years
Raw material savings and lower CO₂ emissions in use
Experimental development or process and organisational innovation
A process facilitator with at least 1 year of circular economy experience
No project aimed predominantly at downcycling

Eligible costs

Costs directly linked to the project activities (50%)
Own project costs (maximum €20,000 subsidy per SME)
Costs of hiring an external process facilitator
Use of own hours at a fixed hourly rate
No marketing, market research, feasibility studies or training

Details about the Circular chain projects

The Circular chain projects scheme supports collaborative initiatives by small and medium-sized enterprises. Circular solutions often come about when companies work together with other parties in the chain. In a chain project the companies are not focused on individual gain, but on adding value across the whole process.

A fully circular economy by 2050 — that is the thinking behind the Circular chain projects scheme. The interim goal is an economy by 2030 that uses 50% fewer primary raw materials such as minerals, fossil resources and metals. By making funding available, companies are encouraged to focus on activities that advance the circular economy.

The subsidy is 50% of the eligible costs per individual business. This covers own costs and the costs of hiring a process facilitator.

The subsidy is a maximum of €20,000 per SME in a circular chain partnership. For 2025, a total of €3,944,000 has been made available.

The circular economy aims to handle raw materials more sustainably by keeping them in use for longer and at higher value. In a circular chain project you work with other businesses to make a product or material chain circular. This can involve circular design, production or organisation of processes, services or business models.

Examples of circular chain projects are:

  • Reusing products or materials by reorganising processes and systems in the chain;
  • Setting up a service for a ‘product as a service’ model;
  • Developing a system for trading secondary materials;
  • Use of alternative materials: bio-based and/or from residual streams.

A range of conditions apply to the Circular chain projects scheme. Our specialists follow all the latest developments in this area and can inform you about them.

Some important conditions for applying for this subsidy are:

  • The project runs for no more than 2 years;
  • A product or material chain is central;
  • The circular chain project targets projects that, when applied, save raw materials and reduce CO₂ emissions;
  • The project is carried out by at least 3 and at most 6 SMEs. These companies may not be affiliated within one group and must cover at least 3 different roles in a chain;
  • The process facilitator must have at least one year of experience guiding companies in the circular economy;
  • It concerns experimental development or process and organisational innovation;
  • A project aimed predominantly at ‘downcycling’ is excluded. In downcycling, materials are recovered for a lower-grade use than the original application;
  • The developed project must actually be applied by the businesses;
  • After the project ends, at least 3 participating businesses must continue to work together. The aim of the subsidy is to create chain cooperation.

You may not meet the conditions but still have a circular project (or idea)? Fortunately there are other grants you can apply for alone or with a partner, such as:

DEI+: the DEI+ theme Circular Economy covers recycling and reuse of waste, repair and the use of bio-based raw materials, where CO₂ is reduced in the Netherlands.

Topsector Energy: TSE Research & Development. This grant is for partnerships carrying out research and development into options for cheaper, climate-neutral and/or circular products and services.

If you think these schemes fit your projects, get in touch as well. Years of experience let our experts move easily and attentively between all the funding options.

You can apply for Circular chain projects from 11 March to 8 April 2025, 12:00.

Thanks to our 25 years of experience, we can optimise your funding process and take it almost entirely off your hands.

What kind of activities might that involve?

  • Assessing whether your project is eligible for Circular chain projects funding;
  • If so, you get support with writing and submitting;
  • Submitting the grant application to the funding body on time and in line with the latest funding legislation and conditions;
  • Acting as the point of contact towards the funding body and supporting you in answering any questions;
  • If required: setting up the project administration and supporting you in maintaining the grant records;
  • Mapping additional funding options and/or the next phase of the project.

What does a funding advisor do?

A funding advisor is an expert who guides companies through the complex process of applying for public funding and secures the best funding for their projects – from selecting the right programmes through the application to the final report.

At Ignite we work success-driven: we only make you an offer when we are convinced your project is eligible. You are supported comprehensively throughout the process while you concentrate on your core business – we take on the time-consuming part.

Our services as funding advisors

Analysis and identification

  • Assess company & project
  • Find the right programmes
  • Aimed at maximum grants

Strategy development

  • Tailor-made strategy
  • Aligned with your goals
  • Combine programmes

Application and documentation

  • Complete application drafting
  • Documents complete & correct
  • Higher approval chances

Communication with funding bodies

  • Contact with authorities
  • Coordination with funding bodies
  • Representing your interests

Project support and aftercare

  • Support across the project term
  • Meeting funding conditions
  • Disbursement & final report

The advantages of our funding advisory

Time saved

  • Focus on your core business
  • The workload sits with us
  • A faster application

Access to hidden funding opportunities

  • Lesser-known programmes
  • Clever combinations
  • Full funding potential

A higher success rate

  • Expertise from many applications
  • Better approval chances
  • Fewer rejections

Maximising the funding amount

  • The highest possible funding
  • Every lever used
  • More from every project

Legal certainty

  • All requirements met
  • Audit-proof evidence
  • No clawback risk

Your funding – our daily business

5,000+

Funding applications per year

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Frequently asked questions about Circular chain projects

It is the Dutch acronym for the Act for the Promotion of Research and Development Work. The scheme reduces the payroll tax you remit for staff working on R&D.

A maximum of four times per calendar year: one first application plus up to three supplements. Every application runs until December and supplements the earlier ones. The last supplement has to cover at least three months, which in practice means September at the latest.

Yes. The benefit runs through payroll tax rather than profit tax. The condition is that you have your own staff on the payroll. Hired-in workers do not count.

From the moment you have the R&D declaration, you can offset the reduction in the remaining tax return periods. You set the pace yourself: in one go where there is enough payroll tax space, or spread across several periods. What you do not use in one period can be offset in a later one, as long as that period ends within the validity of the declaration.

RVO announces an audit in advance and visits to verify that the reported activities actually took place and that all requirements are met. The focus is on the time records and the project administration. Contact us when an audit is announced and we prepare it with you.

Seven years, so that RVO can inspect it in a later audit.

Is your project eligible for funding?

Active in research and development, with development and production in the last 4 years? Get in touch now and benefit!

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