Chemicals – key challenge and core solution provider
95% of all products contain chemicals, which makes chemistry central to every industrial value chain. But what would it take to make this foundation of European production more circular?
In this episode, Frank F. Meyer from Henkel Consumer Brands, Inge Neven from VITO, Prof. Regina Palkovits from RWTH Aachen and the CATALAIX program, Prof. Manfred Renner from Fraunhofer UMSICHT and Fraunhofer CCPE, and William Stevens from Tech Tour join moderator Carsten Gerhardt to discuss the future of circular chemistry.
Together they explore three core questions:
What is on their horizon in terms of chemical innovation?
What does it take to scale these technologies across industrial settings?
And what does it take to bring something successful in the lab to the market?
This episode concludes our series in collaboration with Circular Valley, which aims to advance Europe’s transition toward a circular economy across the cross border region of North Rhine Westphalia, Flanders and the Netherlands. The panel was recorded at the Circular Valley Forum 2025.
Video Impression
People
Frank F. Meyer, SVP/Head of R&D Henkel Consumer Brands,
https://www.linkedin.com/in/frmeyer1/recent-activity/all/
Inge Neven, CEO VITO,
https://www.linkedin.com/in/inge-neven-96975a1/
Prof. Regina Palkovits, RWTH Aachen and Head of Catalaix Program – Catalysis for a Circular Economy,
https://www.linkedin.com/in/regina-palkovits-574a33a/
Prof. Dr. Manfred Renner, CEO Fraunhofer UMSICHT and Fraunhofer CCPE,
https://www.linkedin.com/in/prof-manfred-renner/
William Stevens, CEO Tech Tour,
https://www.linkedin.com/in/william-stevens-681b10/
Chapters
00:00 Introduction to Circularity FM and Circular Valley Forum
01:06 Challenges in the Chemical Industry
06:02 Innovations in Chemical Recycling
11:05 The Role of Research Institutions
15:54 Innovation and Market Dynamics
20:50 Collaboration for Circular Economy
27:12 Consumer Engagement and Sustainable Products
32:52 Future Directions and Closing Remarks
About
Circular Valley is a European hub for circular economy innovation, bringing together international startups, industry, science and policymakers to accelerate the shift toward circular value creation. It is based in Wuppertal, one of Europe’s most dynamic economic regions, and supports cross-sector collaboration to close material loops, advance enabling policy and increase public understanding of circular solutions.
Further Links
Transcript
[00:00:00] Introduction to Circularity FM and Circular Valley Forum
Regina Palkovits: we believe that it’s not all about closed-loop recycling, keeping everything in the same cycle forever. But it’s about the most clever recycling technology which needs minimum energy input to produce a building block, a chemical building block, which can bridge also between different areas of application and so drive economic entry into market
Patrick Hypscher: intro My name is Patrick Hypscher and this is Circularity FM, podcast about understanding, building and managing circular business models. Welcome back to Circularity.fm Today we finish our series in collaboration with Circular Valley, where we share three panel conversations from the last Circular Valley Forum in November 2025. Circular Valley is a European hub for circular economy innovation. It brings together startups, industry, policymakers and researchers to work on practical solutions for a circular future. In this third episode, You will hear a panel on key challenges and core solution providers of the chemical industry. The panel is moderated by Carsten Gerhardt, chairman of the Circular Valley Foundation.
[00:01:06] Challenges in the Chemical Industry
Carsten Gerhardt: We’d like to start with the research side of things to understand what’s generally possible and please welcome with me on stage Frank Meyer from Henkel, Inge Nevens, CEO of Vito, Professor Regina Palkovits from Catalyx and Manfred Renner plus William Stevens. So… Frank, good to see you. Regina, Manfred, William. Good morning, Inge. So…
Manfred Renner: you
Carsten Gerhardt: Wonderful. Thank you so much for coming. Chemistry basically is in everything we use and everything we do, 95 % of our products contain chemicals. So they are like the secret sauce, but also the biggest challenge in ultimately getting them out again. And what we wanted to start with, is trying to understand… what’s on the, let me call it, the scientific horizon. So, can we expect to, in a few years from now, to recycle, to get chemicals out the same way as we heard it about in the metals area? In metals it seems to be rather easy, you heat it up, everything else vaporizes and in the end you keep the metal. especially in organic chemistry it’s a little bit more difficult, if it gets too hot it’s gone. let’s start with a round. And I’m looking at you, Regina, you’re doing the research exactly in the field. Maybe you can tell us a little bit about project catalyx and what you’re actually aiming for.
Regina Palkovits: Yeah, Karsten, thank you very much. So it’s a pleasure also to… talk about our vision over here. So I’m representing our project of the century, Catalex, so catalysis at Exler Chapelle, the French name of Aachen. So we were very lucky that we could acquire this large scale project for 10 years to Aachen University. And so what we do is over all levels from the molecular to the systems level, so supply chain management, try to envision how a future circular economy with the focus on the plastic sector could look like. And our approach is that we believe that we need a strong interlinkage between the different areas of application. That is something we have already today. So when we have a production stream, we make best use of every element of this to drive economics. And that is something we also need in recycling technologies. And so we believe that it’s not all about closed-loop recycling, keeping everything in the same cycle forever. But it’s about the most clever recycling technology which needs minimum energy input to produce a building block, a chemical building block, which can bridge also between different areas of application and so drive economic entry into market also and make this possible because that is something we see as one of the major challenges. And then we are happy also to bridge to the other fields like we have heard to metal. So if you think about ⁓ insulating around cables. It would be a pity to not recycle it. So we look into integrated concepts which also take care of materials which are strongly additive containing which also have the challenge that there is other valuable ⁓ compounds in there which we also want to recycle together with the colleagues focused on those recycling technologies. So we hope to be really the hub in the region to bring together all the levels of technology development from catalysis in chemistry over the process engineering, the process design, the techno-economic analysis, the life cycle assessment, and the connectivity to the supply chain management to really be sure that we get the streams which we want to recycle from where do they come, what do they contain, and also to say if our products benign by design, so the best possible product of the future, can find a place in the market. And so that is our final vision which we want to aim for.
Carsten Gerhardt: And you are fairly well funded for that. Congratulations on receiving a 100 million, was it even Swiss franc? Yes. Okay, which is worth more than the euro. From the Werner von Siemens Stiftung to do exactly that. ⁓ excellent. That’s applause. Worth an applause. And jumping across the border, ⁓ Inge Nevins is the CEO of Vito. Vito is the, ⁓ I always call it the Flemish ⁓ Fraunhofer. But Inge, maybe you can tell us a little bit better what you do and perhaps share some perspective on what’s on the horizon, what’s possible from your point of view, please.
[00:06:02] Innovations in Chemical Recycling
Inge Neven: Yes, thank you. And thank you very much for the invitation. Very nice to be here as well. So Vito is indeed one of the Fraunhofer Institutes in Belgium, in Flanders actually. And we’re focused also on the clean tech and sustainability transition. And so yes, also looking at chemical recycling and also looking at materials recycling as was discussed before. Very important also that we look at circularity as a whole, also looking at energy as we stated before, but also looking at the water, which is also… very important components. And so we try really to have that integrated view and look at all these different perspectives as a whole if you talk about recycling and circularity. And then coming to the chemical industry, we have, of course, a very good and very big hub of chemistry in the Port of Antwerp. We’re actually together also with other regions in the Netherlands and here in Germany. We represent the second largest chemical industry in the world. and very, very much under pressure. really a lot to do, I think, and really to make sure that we can keep it competitive through also making this regularity work. And so from that perspective, also very proud actually that we’re also part of Bluegem, and that’s also a startup initiative that was taking place also in the part of Antwerp that received now, together with everything that’s happening over there, the prize also as European Chemistry Sustainability Hub just arrived just yesterday. And so where we try also to scale up all the innovation that is happening. And then going to the lab perspective, maybe we’re also investing quite a lot in how we can make plastic recycling work. For example, for polyuterane and polycarbonate. And there we’re looking actually at depolarization and repolarization. And there we’re also looking into the systems where we can reduce the energy consumption. If you talk about paralysis, then we have a lot of energy consumption. So for us also, looking at different technologies is very important. But this one very particularly, we think that there might be very good potential to scale it up because there we will have less energy consumption. And as we have a big issue with our energy prices, this might also be a breakthrough. So we believe a lot in there. And we’re trying to do a lot of work together with the industry. also in the region, but also across borders, think we should join forces to see what we can make happen together.
Carsten Gerhardt: Talking about ⁓ doing work together, we are really looking forward to expanding the collaboration in the larger circular value context with you. And talking about industry, Frank Meyer is the ⁓ head of R &D for Henkel Consumer Brands. Frank, ⁓ what’s in your secret drawers? Can you share something that will come out?
Frank F. Meyer,: ⁓ One of the things which drives us in research when it comes to laundry products, we’re the makers of Persil for example, is the question of how can we get the job done of cleaning with less and less material? What’s the smallest amount of chemistry we need to get the stains out of the shirts? And we have been one of the drivers of the industry challenge for many, years. You remember In the past, we used to buy five kilograms of powders and then they became smaller and smaller and then we switched to liquids. The liquids became smaller. The latest version, which many of you hopefully buy, are these kind of unit doses, so where the liquid is contained in a little sachet. But we don’t want to stop there. And we’re saying, hey, how can we further micronize the chemistry? And here we’re facing a challenge that it gets more and more difficult for the consumer than to dose. the right amount in the washing machine or the same as for the dishwasher. And here our team and some of my team members who are really the inventors of that are in the audience. We’ve come up with another technology, a jump innovation so to speak, where we are now developing small electronic devices which you can then put into the washing machine or into the dishwasher and then they contain super concentrated product. and they are clever, they use artificial intelligence, so they understand the best moment of dosing these materials in the wash cycle that gives us the minimum amount of chemistry which needs to be used for the job, it reduces the water and the energy consumption and we are currently testing them in the market, so some of you probably bought some of the first test samples, so we are quite hopeful that that thing will progress in the future.
[00:11:05] The Role of Research Institutions
Carsten Gerhardt: That’s a very good point, and I must confess ⁓ I’m always struggling with the dosage, but primarily for two reasons. One thing is in this wall print I cannot read without my glasses, that’s one thing. And the other one is ⁓ in that container, ⁓ the writing of the container is hardly to be seen. So I’m using… I’m using Persil a lot, but that is what I’m struggling with. At first not knowing how much and then I cannot read it on the dosage container. So that would also be a sprung innovation for me ⁓ to make it easier. Manfred, Fraunhofer Umsicht, the leading Fraunhofer institute on circularity and at the same time you are also heading Fraunhofer CCPE. So what’s on your horizon in terms of chemical innovation? that you want to talk about.
Manfred Renner: Thank you for the question, Karsten. Good morning everybody and good to see you all here. So, Fraunhofer UMSICHT we have got a research budget of between 60 to 70 million euro per year with about 600 researchers working inside the institute. So, our main questions are where is the carbon coming from? So, are process engineers, process specialists and where is the carbon coming from on the one hand side? and which energy we use, energy source we use for this. And so you asked, are there some technologies that are in a higher TRL level? So I brought four technologies with me today. Three are directly coming out of the institute and one is related to the cluster where five institutes, six institutes work together. So the first is TCR, thermochemical reforming. So we use Lewis sludge. coming from the municipal waste and we take this as a source to produce sustainable aviation fuels for example. So the carbon source is a sewage sludge. The equipment behind this, it’s a priorities plant, the equipment behind this, it’s about an area of half a football square. So we have now the realization in half a ton per hour that is realized and we are going forward very deeply and very directly. In 21 there was a licensee that wanted to produce sustainable aviation fuels in central Europe. But then in the war starts and the money for this was left. So we are now redesigning our consortium around this and also see around the world where we have biomass on the one hand side or large cities like for example in Kuwait to realize such projects. Lower TIL but even very interesting is the direct air capture. Economically not feasible in central Europe nowadays. We also saw related to the batteries how the price is going down. So we now see also in the Middle East a big interest in direct air capture over the electrochemical route to sustainable aviation fuels. So we are rolling out this there. Electrochemical competence is very large so we hope and see. ⁓ what will happen there because we will take the carbon direct out of the air, not coming from the COHNUT, but a renewable resource. Third thing is, yeah, where is the carbon coming from producing the polymers? And this is where we are also in a very high TIL. So the biomass to polymer, we have three different sources when we want to de-phosphalize. We have got the biomass as a source, we have got the reciclate, very important, and on the third hand side, we have to ⁓ have the carbon capture and utilization. And so we are very strong in the cluster in these technologies, recycling cascade, chemical, mechanical, ⁓ reciclates in this and ending with the last example, also high TIL level together with Thyssen Krupp and the Carbon2Chem project, we are now directly linked to the gas stream in Duisburg. So we have a bypass use the gas, have a gas cleaning there. about in this hall of this equipment now. We will produce methanol together with the consortium and so high TR level we strongly hope to fulfill with this in future. These are the four topics for today.
Carsten Gerhardt: Excellent, thank you very much Manfred, that’s a very promising future. And if you read the papers, ⁓ you get the impression that there is so much immediately to be implemented. Turning to William, who is the CEO of Tech Tour. William, you’re not in research yourself, but you’re scouting. You are looking for the best innovations in a variety of fields. We had the pleasure and privilege to work together with you in… the area of bio-based. It was only yesterday that we had our fourth bio-based tech tour here in Wuppertal. So maybe you can also share a little bit of what you are seeing in terms of innovation or we can immediately move to the next question. What does it take to scale, to bring such innovation that you find to the market?
[00:15:54] Innovation and Market Dynamics
William Stevens: Well, good morning and thank you for the invitation and congratulations on doing this magnificent event. Very gifted speakers, very knowledgeable speakers. I’m very honored to be sitting next to them on your invitation, Carsten Two observations regarding the question, where is the innovation coming from? In fact, when governments do roadmaps, they’re already outdated when they are published. We’ve seen it time and time again that actually innovation is moving faster than what we can imagine. This is because information is widely available, it’s open source, and entrepreneurship is driving people or creativity, just curiosity is driving innovation forward. And we are not capturing everything that’s happening in the world. We see it in the number of proposals that the European Innovation Council receives. We see it in the quality and quantity of the applications going for tech tour. We have more than 3,500 applications. People have to pay to come to an event. are selecting. We have more and more companies coming forward. And this is just Europe.
Carsten Gerhardt: you
William Stevens: Just imagine what’s happening in China, in Asia. We are 5 % of the global population. So I would say this is my observation and this actually innovation will be empowered by next generation computing technologies. AI is allowed by next generation quantum, next generation semiconductors, photonics, communication technologies. that are constantly accelerating. So an AI allow, of course, allows things to be automated. You don’t need the program anymore. It’s a robot that does it for you. So we are looking at what will be, how can we preempt what is going to happen? And this is where I come to your second question, which is, Where to look at so I think I want to like to congratulate you also on this partnership between Flanders the Netherlands and North Eastphalia Because if you look at these regions that are the hearts the industrial heart of the European Union We have a couple of things going for it. There’s six points and please bear with me. I’ll be very short. Don’t worry First of all, we have great regulations In order to do business you need rules You need a rule book that people can respect. We respect the rules. It’s not necessarily the case in the rest of the world. To their detriment in the long term, in my opinion. Second, we have the market. We do care about green energy. We do care about responsibility, equitability. So there is actually demand for what we want. It’s not necessarily the case in other continents. For various reasons, we don’t need to go into it. And thirdly, We probably have a scientific base and a talent as a result which is world class. There are things we can say about these three things that it’s not perfect, but we have to be really happy. What is missing? Three points. One is entrepreneurship. The understanding that science is not innovation, that innovation is not business, that business is not necessarily successful. If you talk to any entrepreneur, it’s a very tough life. I meet every day tens of entrepreneurs, and believe me, they are working super hard. and it’s not necessarily guaranteed they’ll be making a lot of money, on the contrary. So entrepreneurship is tough and we don’t embrace it enough. Entrepreneurs are more taxed than other people. So entrepreneurship we have to embrace. Second, capital. What’s the difference between Europe and the US? Capital. That’s the only reason. We have gifted entrepreneurs, but they cannot compete with a company that’s raising five times more. That is the average statistic. Any company, same metric, number of people, patterns, revenues, profits, ⁓ progress, the US company is… worth five times more as a minimum. Not fair. Can be solved. Final point is going back to the market. Because any business is always market driven. If you believe anything else, you’re deluding yourself. So it was mentioned in one of the previous panels, supply chain, value chain, we have everybody in the room. That’s in theory. In practice, for a specific company, you need to make it work. So this is my invitation, I think in this partnership that you are very ably, and really my strongest congratulations on this, because overcoming fragmentation is the key in Europe. How can we really get around very ambitious projects, driven by entrepreneurship, with a lot of capital, how can we really bring the value and supply chain together? This is the key.
[00:20:50] Collaboration for Circular Economy
Carsten Gerhardt: Turning to the scientists again, so maybe something you want to add in terms of success factors to take research ⁓ results to the market, Manfred.
Manfred Renner: So we heard a lot that is absolutely right and I don’t want to say it one more time. So business models definitely, sometimes also models, bonus, legislative borders that we need absolutely. The willingness to invest in the future inside the companies, inside the startups, this is one very important thing when there is no will. There will not be a future in new technologies. A strategic and clear plan between partners. The partnerships around the circular value chain. This is ⁓ extremely important in a lot of times. People sit and speak together that never saw before in a linear value creation. So this is a very important thing. And reliability. Reliability related to politics. Reliability related to the different partners. the companies you need and there’s always the question can I rely on somebody who has another business model and can I be sure this company exists in three years when I am related for example to the carbon dioxide that I use for my carbon capture and utilization process and is there somebody when I have the carbon captured? that is using this carbon, for example. So this process chain reliability ⁓ is a very, very important topic. And the last one from my side is engaging and inspiring society. And I think this is nowadays missing in Germany and in Europe. ⁓ The inspiration and taking the society with us on a journey, on an inspiring journey, not explaining. what not to do, explain what to do, where we want to go and how we can compete against the regions, the regions in the US, the regions in South America and also China. And to have a strategic and a good and a positive plan and to see the future, I think this is one of the main keys.
Carsten Gerhardt: Super. Before I get to you with a question, one announcement. So if you want to learn more about catalikes, and this is really worthwhile, there will be a separate roundtable workshop at 2 p.m. in the Maler Saal, in the first floor. So if you want to understand what they are doing, please do go there. One thing I learned from you as a scientist basically you said there is only successes, even if we fail we learn something. Nevertheless, the question from your point of view, what would it take to take something which is successful in the lab to the market? Is that something you look at at all? ⁓ Or what’s your perspective here?
Regina Palkovits: I mean the role of the university is to think about the innovation of the over next phase and so I think our responsibility towards societal challenges today is very clear so our fundamental science has to contribute to this and ⁓ I think in many universities especially in Aachen we have teamed up to really bring things also towards applicability but we We try to stay very open in terms of possibilities, options, how to go. So we look already now into electrified recycling concepts, which may need 10 years to be feasible. We look in bridging the energy sector, so the question of chemical energy storage, maybe also in plastic waste recycling, integrate those visions. So we try to…
Manfred Renner: Thank
Regina Palkovits: forecast what could be options and not all of them will be feasible, not all of them will make it to the market, but all of them will enable us to learn and to qualify the next generation of excellent students, which by the way are very motivated to contribute to global challenges. So the generation we currently see at the university as a PhD student, they are very mission driven. So in principle the settings are well educated, are very mission driven, so we have a perfect setting to really get movement. now for this, getting it into reality, so I’m very happy that we are at a very technical university, so we are able on our own to go into piloting, to really see how things go. But then of course we need the real world scenario from industry to benchmark. Now how does the real stream look like we want to handle? How would the supply chain look like we need to cope with? How would the market entry, ⁓ what are the criteria of the material for a true market entry? And at this point, I can ⁓ only emphasize what Manfred said. So we need a strong interlink with those partners, and we need a very trust-based communication and interaction, which is not at all points in time. determined by all the legal boundary conditions, but by the joint idea to carry out this transformation and bring us forward.
[00:27:12] Consumer Engagement and Sustainable Products
Carsten Gerhardt: Excellent. ⁓ Crossing the border again to Inge. Inge, I know that you are very passionate about getting things done. So what does it look like in Flanders to take what you and your colleagues are researching and developing closer to ultimately the consumer?
Inge Neven: Yes, and maybe I can follow up on the discussion that we just had. I think indeed that our role is also the applied research, so also looking much more at the upscaling side, actually. And I was talking about the plastics recycling, but it’s in the same, actually, facilities, the pilot infrastructure that we have, that we also can work with Lignin. And there we have a very ⁓ good and very promising, actually, technology. We are positive, because it’s also important that we show the positive examples. So where we went also from lab scale, but then jointly also in partnerships with more than 750 companies that are working through the whole value chain on Lichten bring them together. Also in collaboration, by the way, with Fraunhofer and with TNO. So that’s already cross border where we’re looking at different types of applications to go also for bio economic products. And so there we have now the first kilos of epoxies that have been also being produced. Still a bit too expensive, but we also look at all the time the technical economic analysis and we see that with good prices of the critical raw materials, also with the right catalysts because we’re also working on the processing conditions and that we really can also get there if we get scale. And I think that’s really important. So that’s also where we’re looking at on how we can combine the markets and the market that’s so much needed, the market demand, also market introductions, market conditions. And then looking also on how we can create those value chains and how to create those different products and applications. And I think by showing the good examples, being open and also looking at how we can construct a whole ecosystem, like I was referring to the port of Antwerp. And so there is also a study that has been done already more than 10 years ago. by our colleagues as well, where we set up the Antwerp model. So we have looked at what type of different companies we can have there and what type of different types of recycling and what kind of energy production and so on we have and how we can then install the best possible companies together to make sure that we can establish those circular value chains. And so now last week, was also an announcement of Turkish companies in PET that is also installing their facilities now in the Antwerp cluster. because they see that they’re also very complimentary with everything that’s happening there. So through lot of innovation, think also persistence, I think that also there Europe should make some choices in what kind of value chains they really want to invest and continue also to invest for decades in there to make it happen, to make the scaling happening and also then to join the forces between our different countries. Very nice things that are happening in Flanders also in the Netherlands. I was in Gelenen a few weeks ago. where also very nice things are happening, Aachen, so many places. And I think if we join forces and if we can establish those value chains, bridging innovation with industry and also with policymakers, we really can make it happening. Not to forget, of course, the startups.
Carsten Gerhardt: You’re already touching on the last question I wanted to ask each of you later on. ⁓ How can the trilateral that we will sign today help? I will ask you for one short final sentence on that. But before I would like to ask Frank, do you want to add to the multitude of ideas and thoughts shared on how to succeed?
Frank F. Meyer,: We are probably when it comes to R &D at the end of the chain. So most applied and for us it’s very critical that we make products the consumer wants to buy. And when we talk about sustainable products, there’s a phenomenon that people tell you one thing and focus groups what they would like to buy and how they vote and with their wallet in the supermarket is another thing. And we see a huge difference here between a general motivation towards sustainability and how people then decide what to buy for and what to use. And therefore, more and more we are saying, if we want to drive sustainability all the way down to final consumptions, we cannot just make green claims. We cannot just give people solutions of recycled plastics where they say, yeah, yeah, yeah, that’s nice, but that’s your job anyway. We need to excite them with products which have either better performance, so they give a better hair color, They have a nicer smell and or apply to that frugality people are showing and saying, hey listen, with our new dishwasher detergents, you could in principle wash your dishes in ice water. We can prove that by the way. So you hardly need any energy at all anymore or your water consumption is coming down or we have another famous laundry detergent which some Germans probably know about the pullover, was that up there, no yes. The topic of renewing clothes and therefore keeping them longer in use or actually bring some of them from secondhand shops back into use, that’s a bit the mission we are on to bring the consumer into it, make it attractive for many, many people to say, yes, I’m buying that product and I’m also doing something good for the environment. But it only works in that combination.
[00:32:52] Future Directions and Closing Remarks
Carsten Gerhardt: I wouldn’t have thought that you go into that. Very interesting. Thank you very much, Frank. Time’s up, but at least one short sentence from each of you, if you like, ⁓ on what are you expecting from the trilateral. If you can limit it to one short sentence. William, please.
William Stevens: create an investment platform that raises 25 billion. Not 2.5, 25 billion. And this platform, five management companies, it will be the world leader for investment for the bi-economy.
Carsten Gerhardt: Okay, 25 billion, Manfred.
Manfred Renner: So in Flanders, Netherlands and ⁓ in North and Westphalia we are 43 million people. So when we cannot fulfill this, who else should do this? So short logistics, reverse logistics, so a lot of very big platform for new business models. let’s do it.
Carsten Gerhardt: Regina.
Regina Palkovits: So I would say strong partnerships. think our region needs to be the heart of Europe to start the transformation.
Carsten Gerhardt: Perfect, heart of Europe, I love that.
Inge Neven: Leading, think, also at European but even world scale level to establish that region is really based on a circular economy.
Carsten Gerhardt: Wonderful, thank you
Frank F. Meyer,: Partnership between the firms in the chemical sector academia and consumer goods industries all centered here in the triangle
Carsten Gerhardt: That’s what we are here for. Thank you so very much, and thank you so very much for being here taking this to the market I know.
Patrick Hypscher: Thank you for listening to this episode on Circularity FM. This conversation is part of our series in collaboration with Circular Valley, featuring three sessions from the Circular Valley Forum November 2025. If you like this series, leave Circularity FM a review on your preferred podcast platform. Let’s drive a profitable circular economy. And please don’t forget, the most abundant renewable resource is your imagination. you My name is Patrick Hypscher and this is Circularity FM.