Call for Circular Innovation Award
© Volkswagen Sachsen GmbH
CIRMA 2026, the Second International Conference on Circular Materials and Mobility, opens a plenary slot to start-ups and independent small companies working on circularity in materials and mobility. Six companies will pitch on stage in front of the conference audience, OEM and Tier-1 decision-makers, researchers, and policy representatives. At the end of the session the audience and a panel of the CIRMA Track Chairs decide who wins the CIRMA 2026 Circular Innovation Award.
Applying takes about half an hour. The form is short, no attachments are required and no pitch deck has to be prepared. We ask for the essentials, and only the selected companies put work into slides.
Applications are open until 12 October 2026, 23:59 CEST.
What you get
All six selected companies receive:
- A pitch slot in the plenary programme of CIRMA 2026 on 25 November 2026
- One free conference ticket for one representative of each selected company, covering both conference days. Additional team members are welcome at the regular registration rate.
- A company profile on the CIRMA website and coverage on the ZEvRA LinkedIn channel
- Access to the full conference programme and the networking sessions
The winner of the CIRMA 2026 Circular Innovation Award additionally receives: - A free exhibition stand and a speaking slot at the ZEvRA Final Event, 11–12 May 2027 in Mladá Boleslav, Czech Republic — around 120 participants on site plus live stream
The award carries no prize money. There is no application fee and no fee for taking part in the session.
How it works
Step 1: Apply. Fill in the short form on this page by 12 October 2026. No attachments are required. If you already have a pitch deck or a short video, you may add a link, but it is optional and its absence does not count against you.
Step 2: If selected. You will hear from us by 20 October 2026. Selected companies then send us their presentation slides, logo, company photo and a short speaker biography by 30 October 2026, and confirm participation.
Format
- Six companies, plenary session on 25 November 2026
- 5 minutes pitch, 2 minutes Q&A, strictly timed. The moderator stops presentations at 5:00.
- Slides in 16:9, PDF or PPTX, due 30 October 2026. No changes after that date.
- Speaking order is drawn by lot and announced in the final programme.
- Pitches are held in English and in person. Remote or pre-recorded pitches are not possible.
- The session is filmed and photographed.
How the winner is decided
The final result combines two votes:
- Audience vote: Two thirds of the result. Every registered conference participant in the room can cast one vote through the conference voting tool. Voting opens after the last pitch and stays open for five minutes.
- Jury vote: One third of the result. The CIRMA Track Chairs score each pitch against the same criteria used in the selection.
Both results are converted into points and weighted 2:1. In case of a tie, the jury decides. The result is announced on stage and is final.
Jury members who have a personal, financial or advisory relationship with an applicant declare this and abstain from scoring that company.
Who can apply
Your company is eligible if it meets all of the following:
- An independent legal entity that is not majority-owned or controlled by a large enterprise
- No more than 250 employees and no more than €50 million annual revenue. Please note that we give preference to applications from smaller companies with a maximum of 10 employees and revenue of 10 million.
- Technology at TRL 4 or higher. You have at least a validated prototype, not only a concept. There is no upper limit: solutions already in the market are welcome.
- Working on circular materials or circular mobility: recycling and reprocessing, design for circularity, secondary materials, remanufacturing and reuse, end-of-life processes, or digital tools for circularity, with a plausible link to the automotive or mobility sector
- At least one founder or member of the management team attends CIRMA 2026 in person and delivers the pitch
Early-stage teams are explicitly encouraged to apply. Maturity is one criterion among several, and the line-up is deliberately mixed.
Applications are open worldwide. One entry per company. Applications in English only.
How we select
The CIRMA Track Chairs score every complete application independently against the criteria below, then agree the final line-up together.
Criterion | Weight [%] |
Fit with the CIRMA scope circular materials and mobility | 25 |
Degree of innovation and technical differentiation | 20 |
Maturity and evidence: TRL, pilots, customers, validation | 20 |
Circularity impact, quantified and plausible | 15 |
Scalability and business model | 10 |
Relevance to the CIRMA audience and potential for industrial partnerships | 10 |
After scoring, the Chairs balance the line-up across material classes, value chain stages and company maturity, so that the session covers the field rather than one topic six times, and shows both companies that are already in the market and early-stage teams. This balancing step is applied to the ranked list; it does not change the scores.
Two companies are selected as substitutes and informed accordingly.
Applicants who are not selected receive a short written reason.
Contact
If you have any questions or problems, you can contact us at zevra@iwu.fraunhofer.de.
Important Dates & Deadlines
Call Opens
14 September 2026
Application Deadline
12 October 2026, 23:59 CEST
Notification
20 October 2026
Confirmation, slides, logo and speaker biography due
30 October 2026
Pitch session and award
25 November 2026
CIRMA 2026 Pitch Application
If you have any questions or problems, you can contact us at zevra@iwu.fraunhofer.de.