Following the success of the first BELGIUM BUILDS BACK CIRCULAR call for projects, the federal government has launched a second BBBC call in April 2023. Through this second edition, Ministers Zakia Khattabi et Pierre-Yves Dermagne want to stimulate innovation from Belgian actors, create opportunities for circular investment and support the transition to a circular economy in Belgium.

The calls published under BBBC aim at accelerating the transition to a circular economy in Belgium. They are part of Belgium's National Recovery and Resilience Plan (NRRP) and are financed by a temporary European fund, Next Generation EU. Through the NRRPs, Europe seeks to boost the economy and support companies in European states heavily affected by COVID-19, while taking into account the goals of the Green Deal . This second BBBC call focuses on 2 dimensions of the circular economy: ecodesign and chemical substance substitution.

Would you like to take part to the implementation of a circular economy? Are you looking for solutions to overconsumption of raw materials, the waste of resources, the overproduction of waste, or for nature-based solutions? The following content might interest you!

ThemES

Ecodesign

Ecodesign aims at reducing the environmental and health impact of products and materials throughout the product life cycle. The goal is to rethink the design of a product to make its manufacturing process and reuse safer, extend its lifespan and facilitate its repair, disassembly, and recycling. This focus area includes 4 priority themes:

Professional machinery and electronic
devices		 Clothing
Distribution and logistics with low packaging
level in the food chain		 Interior design and outdoor furniture

Your ecodesign project should fit into minimum one and maximum three of those themes to receive funding. The pages related to these themes will be added by the end of February 2023.

Substitution

This focus area concerns projects aiming at replacing the most harmful substances, i. e. the ones classified according to the CLP Regulation.

Substitution of the most harmful substances is considered in a broad sense and includes projects aiming at placing on the market chemicals, technologies and/or alternative products that avoid using the most harmful substances or eliminate the presence of the most harmful substances in a product. The alternatives proposed should also increase the circularity and safety of a manufacturing process or product.

The projects that will receive funding are projects focussing on the substitution of the most harmful substances. Information about the substances that are by priority concerned by the present call will be provided in the memorandum. Technical guidelines on Substitution will also be available to provide details about the assessment criteria related to substitution.
You will find more information on the “Subsitution” theme on the FPS Economy website.

Financial support

For this second call, the funding amounts to

  • a minimum of 100,000 euros and a maximum of 1,000,000 euros for projects regarding ecodesign.
  • a minimum of 250,000 euros and a maximum of 2,000,000 euros for projects regarding chemical substance substitution.

TARGET AUDIENCE

This call aims at organizations or consortia - of Belgian law or active on the Belgian territory - especially enterprises, with a particular attention paid to SMEs, start-ups, research centres with a focus on applied research institutions, NGOs, consultancy firms and similar institutions.

IMPORTANT DATES & INFORMATION SESSIONS

April 2023 Launch of the call for projects You can submit your application using one of the PDF forms on the websites of the FPS Health and of the FPS Economy.
May 02
9h-11h		 Ecodesign session
(online)
Registration via this form (deadline 27/04/2023)
  • Introduction
  • General information (+ technical info)
  •  Q&A
May 30
9h-11h		 Ecodesign session
(online)
Registration via this form (deadline 24/05/2023)		  Q&A
June 24, 2023 Closure of the call for projects Deadline for the submission of project proposals

USEFUL DOCUMENTS

CONTACT

Please send all your questions by e-mail either to BBBC@health.fgov.be (ecodesign projects), or to BBBCsubstitution@economie.fgov.be (substitution projects).