In 1998, the North East of England sowed the seed of sustainable innovation in the mind of a Norwegian university student. Twenty-seven years later, Wastefront co-founder, Christian Hvamstad, has returned to Sunderland with a business recycling tyres for sustainable aviation fuel (SAF).

Precision agriculture is giving farmers an edge to digitise their farm management operations while also staying ahead of nasty diseases that could hurt crop yields. Using cutting-edge artificial intelligence (AI) technology, Croatian company, AGRIVI, is leading the charge with powerful solutions designed to help farmers in an area where they sorely need a digital boost.

By David Silverberg

Circu Li-ion, a Luxembourg-based startup, is building the future of automation with a robot that breaks apart lithium-ion batteries to recycle and re-use the components.

Key messages:

1. EU and national funding need to better align to generate the scale of investment in innovation that will restart Europe’s excellence-based competitiveness engine. Eureka, through the Innovative SME Partnership, is a very efficient vehicle for delivering on this objective, as it has a leverage effect of 1:7 for the funds provided by the EU, realised by mobilising national and regional funding and nearly one billion euro in private investment over the seven years of Horizon Europe. This model should be enhanced under FP10.
2. Young, dynamic businesses must maintain a high pace of development to be competitive in the generation of disruptive innovations. The EU needs to provide lean, agile programmes and reduce the administrative burden, both on end beneficiaries and on the partnerships providing support.
3. FP10 needs to enable simple pathways across programmes for dynamic businesses to seamlessly benefit from complementary support schemes on their way to technology and market leadership. Furthermore, it needs to clarify its position in global innovation pathways and value chains if it aims to reassure startups and scaleups ready to go global.

Read the full position paper

Salvia BioElectronics, a Dutch medical device company, has designed an ultra-thin implant that promises relief to those suffering from chronic migraine and cluster headaches. The device is implanted just below the skin at the front and back of the head and uses mild electrical impulses to calm oversensitive nerves that trigger these debilitating conditions.

By Richard Pallardy