Circular economy for the manufacturing industry (RECLAIM)

Manufacturing is a pillar of innovation and growth for Europe, but outdated machinery and unplanned downtime can cause significant losses. The EU project RECLAIM provided strategies and decision-making tools that accelerate the establishment of a circular economy and the development and deployment of digital technologies in manufacturing. A group of researchers and industry representatives from nine countries, including Harms & Wende GmbH & Co. KG and Steinbeis Europa Zentrum aimed to make the manufacturing industry more productive and competitive and reduced the obsolescence of industrial plants through new recycling and reuse techniques. 

The project focused on harnessing digital analytics, the Internet of Things (IoT) and circular economy strategies to improve predictive maintenance and upgrade legacy machines. Harms & Wende is one of five pilot sites where RECLAIM has being tested in different sectors such as welding, woodwork, textiles, robotics, white goods and footwear production, before being offered to a wider range of potential customers. 

As a project partner, Steinbeis Europa Zentrum was responsible for:

• Exploitation of project results and development of exploitation and marketing strategies in cooperation with the consortium
• Support with communication activities
• Exploration of synergies with relevant national and European projects and initiatives

Further informations:

• Project name acronym: RECLAIM
• Funding: European Commission, Horizon 2020
• Funding budget for all partners: 13 million euros
• Duration: 10/2019 – 09/2023
• Participating countries: Germany, Greece, Italy, Portugal, Switzerland, Slovenia, Spain, Turkey and United Kingdom