Following the inspiring Co-Creating Solutions for a Circular Society conference on June 12 2025 in Ede, the next chapter is here: a new round of seed-funded projects that turn collaborative thinking into tangible impact.
Earlier this year, researchers, practitioners, and policymakers from across the EWUU Alliance gathered to tackle urgent transition challenges within two themes Circular Safe Hospitals and Urban-Rural Circularity. Through pressure-cooker sessions, creative workshops, and lively discussions, they co-developed early-stage project ideas that bridge disciplines and sectors.
Now, four of these project ideas have been selected for funding through the i4CS Seed Fund 2025, which provides targeted support for innovative collaborations that reimagine how we produce, consume, and care within a circular society.
From data to decision: Harnessing the power of AI for modelling removal of pharmaceutical residues from wastewater and determining environmental impacts of discharge
Research Line: Circular Safe Hospitals
Wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs) play a crucial role in protecting water quality, yet current systems are not equipped to effectively remove the vast range of active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs), their metabolites and transformation products. With new EU regulations mandating advanced API-removal steps by 2045, and with extended producer responsibility placing most costs on pharmaceutical and cosmetics industries, the pressure to design effective solutions is increasing fast. However, knowledge gaps remain enormous: most legacy APIs lack environmental assessments, existing WWTP models don’t yet incorporate advanced treatment technologies, and the performance of on-site hospital treatment systems is poorly understood. Predictions of ecotoxicity are also limited, as current models often overlook the specific modes of action of pharmaceuticals in ecosystems.
This project aims to bridge these gaps by exploring how advanced modelling and AI can transform the prediction of both API removal efficiency and environmental impacts. Partners in this field are already pioneering the integration of AI into environmental risk assessment but robust, validated models are essential before regulators can rely on them. Through a systematic evaluation of existing models (such as SimpleTreat, SUMO, ECOSAR, VEGA) and a deep assessment of key databases (including STOWA, ECOdrug and ECOTOX), the team will map out what is possible, what is missing, and what needs to be built. The project’s outcome will form the foundation for a future large-scale research proposal that brings together data, modelling, and machine learning to support smarter decision-making for a cleaner, safer water cycle.
Team: Prof.Dr.ir. Adriaan Mels (Principle Investigator, WUR), Dr. Nora Sutton (WUR), Dr. Gabriel Sigmund (WUR), Dr.ir. Chiel Jonker (UU), Dr Ivo Djidrovski (UU) Dr.Ir. Caroline Moermond (RIVM), Dr. Pim Wassenaar (RIVM), Dr. Joris Quick (RIVM), Prof.Dr. Leo Posthuma (RIVM), Tiemen Nanninga (LeAF), Els Schuman (LeAF), Marlies Bos (LeAF).
This project was formed in conference track 5: Harnessing AI to tackle pharmaceutical pollution of water with stakeholder: RIVM.
DASH-D: From Data to Action: Enabling Sustainable Choices and Responsible Implementation of Medical Disposables in Dutch Healthcare
Research Line: Circular Safe Hospitals
Project: DASH-D — Accelerating Sustainable Decisions in Dutch Healthcare
Dutch healthcare generates significant carbon emissions and waste through its heavy use of disposable medical products. While national frameworks such as the NFU high-impact disposable list, the PROMEZA tool and the Green Deal Sustainable Healthcare 3.0 set an ambitious goal of reducing raw material use by 50% by 2030, two major barriers persist: professionals have no accessible way to compare the sustainability of disposable, reusable and recyclable products, and even when evidence exists, adoption is often blocked by procurement rules, professional norms, liability concerns and hygiene routines. Recent studies show reusable products are often more sustainable, but robust, easy-to-use tools are lacking—and translating insights into everyday clinical practice remains an even bigger challenge.
DASH-D tackles these barriers head-on through a two-part, transdisciplinary approach. First, the team develops a validated quick-scan framework that identifies the most critical sustainability properties of medical products such as material composition, electronics, transport, reusability and end-of-life pathways drawing on insights from LCA research and national sectoral analyses. Using the Best–Worst Method and input from clinicians and procurement experts, the project produces weighted criteria, a decision tree and an MVP tool tested on 25% of the NFU high-impact list. A benchmark comparison with existing LCAs (including a well-studied reusable vs. disposable speculum case) ensures scientific robustness. These outputs then feed into Part 2, where implementation science and discourse analysis help uncover how routines, identities and communication practices can support real-world adoption—turning data into decisions and decisions into daily practice.
Team: Negin Salimi (Principle Investigator, WUR), Judith de Bree (MPZ Milieu Platform Zorg), Koen Dittrich, (MPZ Milieu Platform Zorg), Maelle Lustig (MPZ Milieu Platform Zorg) Mignon Vieveen (WUR), Marijke Hegger (Stichting Stimular), Merel Segers, (The Footprinters), Joyce Brown (UMCU) Mario Veen, (University of Applied Sciences Utrecht), Bas van Vliet (WUR), Wei-Shan Chen (WUR), Yifan Yang (WUR).
Track 3: Supporting healthcare professionals in making sustainable decisions
This project was formed in conference track 3: Supporting healthcare professionals in making sustainable decisions with stakeholder: Milieu Platform Zorg – MPZ
Regional scenarios supporting actionable pathways towards a biobased future in metropolitan region Eindhoven
Research Line: Urban-Rural Circularity
This project explores how regional biobased building materials can strengthen circularity and urban-rural connections in the Eindhoven Metropolitan Region. With the Dutch government planning to build around 100,000 new homes annually, and ambitions to use biobased materials, the project investigates how locally cultivated biomass can meet future construction demand while supporting a biodiverse, climate-resilient landscape.
The team will use a transdisciplinary, mixed-methods approach combining collaborative workshops, spatial scenario planning, and quantitative analyses to understand cultivation potential, supply-demand dynamics, and stakeholder needs. Insights from these activities will form the basis for a digital decision-support platform, helping municipalities, farmers, and other stakeholders make informed choices about biobased building. By linking landscape design, resource flow analysis, and actionable problem statements, the project lays the foundation for a sustainable, regionally embedded circular economy.
Team: Dr. ir. Ilse M. Voskamp (Principle Investigator, WUR), Dr. Dujuan Yang (TU/e), prof. dr. ir. Adriaan Mels (WUR)
This project was formed in conference track 1: Taking biobased materials to the next level with stakeholders:Metropoolregio Eindhoven,Municipality of Helmond, Municipality of Eindhoven and National Knowledge Center for Biobased Construction
Making deals for systemic change in food provisioning
Research Line:Urban-Rural Circularity
Despite broad enthusiasm for plant-based proteins, the growth of recognizable Dutch beans in everyday diets has stalled. Building on the chain-wide commitments of the Bean Deal network, this project collaborates with three pioneering initiatives—Eiwitboeren van Nederland, Plant Protein Forward, and emerging ecosystem service partnerships—to understand why progress is slow and how innovative business models might change the game. Central to their shared ambition is strengthening farmers’ earning capacity while forging new vertical market relations and horizontal, area-based collaborations that align food production with soil health, biodiversity and climate resilience. Together, the partners formulated the core question: What types of deals can accelerate the shift to locally sourced plant-based proteins while integrating ecosystem services and supporting economically viable farming? By exploring both vertical and horizontal arrangements—and how they interact—the project seeks to reimagine the farm–food–nature nexus as a foundation for planetary health diets.
The Seed Money project therefore focuses on building diagnostic and strategizing capacity across sectors. In the first phase, researchers and societal partners jointly analyse lock-ins in the current protein system, examining how economic rules, procurement routines, legal mechanisms, and professional practices across the food chain constrain the transition. This collaborative diagnostic process culminates in a “Thinking Dinner,” where insights are synthesized into a shared understanding of leverage points. The second phase turns these insights into strategy: using Multi-Criteria Decision Analysis and appreciative inquiry of bottom-up initiatives, the team identifies operational practices that enable system change and maps “koppelkansen”—opportunity spaces where vertical and horizontal domains can be synergized. This will feed into a joint agenda-setting event, positioning the network for future large-scale proposals and accelerating the systemic reconfiguration needed to make Dutch-grown beans a mainstream, sustainable choice.
Team: Sietze Vellema (Principle Investigator, WUR), Duygu Keskin (TU/e), Daniel Polman (WUR), Francesco Rubiconto (WUR), Martijn Kuller (UU), Wendy Aartsen (EWUU – Center for Unusual Collaborations), Sonja Zuijdgeest (Kwartierkracht).
This project was formed in conference track 2: New economic, legal and governance models for circular regions: Driving systemic change in the foodsystem with stakeholder: Bean Deal
Next Steps
With funding now in place, each team will move from concept to action. Over the coming year, the projects will develop prototypes, tools, and frameworks, conduct workshops, and pilot initiatives in real-world settings. Progress will be closely monitored to ensure that outcomes are scientifically robust, practically relevant, and socially grounded. The community can look forward to regular updates, open-access results, and opportunities to engage as the projects evolve — providing insight into emerging innovations, lessons learned, and the impact of circular solutions across sectors.
Join the Movement
The journey toward a circular society is collective, not individual. Researchers, practitioners, industry partners, and policymakers are invited to connect, share expertise, and explore collaboration opportunities. Whether you’re interested in advancing sustainable healthcare, biobased materials, water management, or plant-based food systems, the i4CS Seed Fund projects offer a platform to turn ideas into action. Stay informed, participate in workshops, and help shape the next wave of circular innovation by joining the EWUU community today.