Circularity has opened up new markets and business opportunities, domestically and outside the EU. However, opportunities are being missed due to low reuse and recycling rates. iCircular3 creates a cohort of future leaders in research, policy, and business through its innovative training programme focused on the Circular Economy. Three leading universities supported by four industry partners will address the incorporation of circular economy principles using digital technologies throughout the product lifecycle, for three innovative and strategic sectors for the European economy: industrial robots, outdoor power products, and electric vehicles. Each sector will explore the possibilities of a circular lifecycle through four perspectives: 1. Product and service design: exploring opportunities for circularity in the design of outdoor power products, electric vehicles, and industrial robots. 2. Reverse supply chains: understanding and overcoming recovery barriers in these industries. 3. Users and stakeholders: ensuring stakeholder engagement in the transition towards more circularity, for instance by engaging outdoor power product consumers in the development of Reverse Logistics systems, and improving the recycling rates of electric vehicles from a consumer perspective. 4. Systems: developing digital tools and decision support systems that foster circularity. iCircular3 will recruit and train 9 Researchers to conduct sector-specific projects related to circular lifecycle perspectives; combined together, the projects will contribute to the development of new guidelines and digital tools for the integration of circularity in industry, as well as the identification of cross-sector commonalities. The strong academic/industry interaction in iCircular3 will ensure the relevance of each research project. Researchers will receive high-level industry-led research training and professional development courses, with a view to open up their career perspectives.

mCBEEs Innovative Training Network is a joint venture between academy and industry with a primary goal to train young researchers in the field of corrosion and corrosion protection of micro- and nanodevices. The network focuses on the study of corrosion mechanisms beyond microscale of components in miniaturized systems in different environments using localized techniques, and the development of multifunctional protective coatings to increase the long-term durability of such components. Corrosion phenomena occurring in micro- and nanodimensional components can develop in a completely different path than in their bulk counterparts and corrosion might influence the functional properties of small components in a much more severe manner. Three main strategic fields where corrosion could seriously compromise the performance of micro- or nanodevices have been identified: biotechnology (micro/nano-robotic implants, micro/nano-electrodes for recording and stimulating neuronal activity, or micro-featured prosthesis implants); electronics (micro/nano-components in electronic boards, magnetooptical thin films, multiferroic micro/nano-devices); and energy technology (metallic foam-based micro- and nanostructured electrodes, self-standing nanoarchitectures). Several disciplines (physics, electrochemistry, engineering, biology and robotics) converge to provide a multidisciplinary approach to accomplish mCBEEs goals. The ITN brings together 15 beneficiaries and 3 partners including 4 research institutes and 4 private companies belonging to 9 EU Member states, and to 2 associated states (Switzerland, Turkey). The Consortium complementarity will enable a high-level, multifaceted educational programme, where specials efforts will be done to bridge fundamental research with industrial applications. The educational programme is integrated with training in soft skills and aims at providing a network of highly qualified researchers able to tackle challenges both in Academia and Industry.

Wear and corrosion of materials causes losses of 3-4% of GDP in developed countries and billions of Euros are spent annually on capital replacement and control methods for wear and corrosion infrastructure. As a result many important industries are dependent on surface engineering of protective coatings, making it one of the main critical technologies underpinning the competitiveness of EU industry. There are 2 main techniques that dominate the protective coatings sector: hard chromium (HC) plating and thermal spray (TS). However, HC plating faces a series of issues with most important the extremely negative health and environmental impact leading to the EC restriction of this method for using Cr+6 by the end of 2017. Similarly, recent toxicity studies concerning Co-WC cermet applied by TP have revealed that Co-WC particles are toxic in a dose/time-dependent manner. Consequently, there is the necessity of finding new, less hazardous methods and materials exhibiting the same or better performance compared to existing ones. The PROCETS project will took advantage of the use of nano-particles for production of composite coatings with superior properties compared to those of HC produced by electroplating or to Co-WC produced by TS. These novel nano-particles will be incorporated into existing production lines after appropriate modifications. The new procedures will be easily transferred by minor adaption to the present electroplating and TS facilities, and will combine flexibility and mass customization abilities, restrict environmental and health hazards and finally be available at acceptable cost. Thus, PROCETS main target is to deliver protective coatings covering a wide range of applications such as automotive, aerospace, metal-working, oil and gas and cutting tools industries via thermal spray and electroplating methods by utilizing more environmental friendly materials, compared to the currently used.