A central objective of RISERS is to accelerate the uptake of R&I results in IS standardisation. To achieve this, the project identifies demand-driven priorities, as well as the barriers and enablers that influence the market entry of innovative IS solutions. RISERS plays a pivotal role in this process by mapping current R&I activities and defining the standardisation needs that will shape future directions.
One of the actions performed was an inventory of R&I projects and activities that are relevant to advancing IS standardisation and promoting resource circularity. This results in a comprehensive overview of research and innovation projects that contribute to advancing IS standardisation in Europe. The work addresses a critical challenge: the absence of harmonised standards for industrial symbiosis, which hinders resource-sharing practices across sectors and slows the transition to a circular economy.
Standardisation is not merely a technical requirement. It is a key enabler for scaling industrial symbiosis. Common standards foster trust, legal compliance, and interoperability, while reducing systemic barriers. However, gaps remain in areas such as life cycle assessment harmonisation, cross-sector data exchange, and standards for innovative materials derived from waste streams. Standardisation is a critical enabler for accelerating the transition to a functional and widespread circular economy. The complexity of industrial symbiosis, with its cross-sectoral nature, creates significant challenges that standards can help overcome.
European policies such as the Green Deal and Circular Economy Action Plan remain strong drivers for standardisation. However, gaps persist in policy implementation, particularly in: 1) reducing administrative barriers and ensuring coherence across regulations; 2) integrating regulatory analysis early in technology development; 3) introducing financial incentives and support mechanisms to accelerate market uptake of circular solutions.
RISERS has also identified standardisation gaps where existing frameworks are insufficient and established R&I priorities that guide future research efforts. It was concluded that standardisation is the pivotal mechanism for operationalising industrial symbiosis across Europe. However, overcoming current systemic failures requires transitioning away from industry silos toward horizontal standardisation that prioritizes cross-cutting environmental indicators and resource-efficient metrics.
The investigation also reveals that the current standardisation landscape for industrial symbiosis is characterised by significant fragmentation and critical gaps. Excessive bureaucracy and rigid policy frameworks often fail to accommodate the innovative, adaptive nature of industrial symbiosis practices. To address these gaps, future R&I initiatives must move beyond technical development and explicitly integrate standardisation as a core dissemination and exploitation tool.
Research results should be timed to align with the revision cycles of major standards to maximise impact. Consortia should establish early communication with Technical Committees and utilise “CEN-CENELEC Workshop Agreement” as a flexible route for rapid standardisation of innovative solutions. Moreover, standardisation training within research teams and the creation of new professional roles capable of navigating complex regulatory and technical documentation are also important.
At the same time, the assessment of existing “Strategic Research and Innovation Agendas” underscores a notable disconnection between high-level strategic planning and operational standardisation instruments. There is a need for stronger alignment between policy-driven research priorities and the technical requirements necessary to scale industrial symbiosis practices. Future “Strategic Research and Innovation Agendas” must explicitly integrate standardisation frameworks to ensure that strategic R&I outcomes can be effectively translated into the market and industrial environments.
The identified bottlenecks will serve as a foundation to the market entry barriers and the finalisation of the European Roadmap for industrial symbiosis standardisation. Through these interconnected activities, the RISERS project will ensure that the identified research needs are not only merely documented but are actively translated into the regulatory and technical architecture of the European Research area.
