CLOSER Investor Day – Power Pitches Highlights
August 05, 2026
In the second half of the Investor Day, companies delivered power pitches that brought the CLOSER vision to life, shifting from strategy to concrete, investable opportunities across circular CRM value chains. The jury provided insightful feedback on the pitches, sharing reflections on both the strengths and the key areas needed to enhance scalability and investment readiness.
Urban Mining Factory – Solar Panels (CRITICAL)
A compelling case for industrial-scale urban mining, targeting up to 1 million end-of-life solar panels per year. The pitch clearly demonstrated how recovering high-value materials like silver, copper, and silicon can unlock both economic and strategic value, reinforcing that end-of-life infrastructure is becoming a core part of Europe’s resource strategy.
Advanced Manufacturing & Materials (ATLANT 3D)
A strong deep-tech proposition focused on atomically precise manufacturing. Radical efficiency gains and reduced material waste can reshape how critical materials are processed, positioning advanced manufacturing as a lever for both sustainability and competitiveness.
Circular Building-Integrated PV (Soltech)
An innovation bridging energy, materials, and infrastructure. The pitch highlighted how circularity can be embedded at design stage, with solutions enabling recycling-ready solar materials and multifunctional building components, pointing toward a more integrated, circular built environment.
Digital Traceability & CRM Workflows (ForkBomb)
A critical enabler for the ecosystem: making circular value chains measurable, auditable, and investable. The focus on Digital Product Passports and traceability infrastructure underlines that data and transparency are becoming as important as physical recovery processes.
Circular Battery & Mobility Systems (Wattloop)
A timely focus on end-of-life batteries and mobility systems, addressing one of the fastest-growing waste streams in Europe. The message was clear: scaling recovery and reuse capacity must keep pace with electrification.
Across all pitches, a common theme emerged: the opportunity is no longer in proving the concept, but in scaling infrastructure, securing feedstock, and building investable value chains. The winners in circular CRM will not be the best technologies alone, but those that scale, integrate, and deliver at industrial level.
The CLOSER Investor Day and Consortium Meeting concluded with a tour of imec’s cleanroom and laboratory facilities, providing a forward-looking perspective on the future of chip development. Many thanks to imec for hosting and guiding us through this insightful experience!