The SYMBA project, funded under the Horizon Europe programme, is proud to announce the achievement of Milestone 3: Prioritised Industrial Symbiosis (IS) Solutions, a major step forward in supporting the circular bio-based economy across Europe.
This milestone has been reached through the completion of two key deliverables: D3.2 – List and analysis of prioritised IS solutions, and D3.3 – Evaluation of IS prioritized solutions. These documents present the results of a robust assessment of 155 IS solutions using a Multicriteria Decision Analysis (MCDA) methodology. Each solution was evaluated across five readiness dimensions: Symbiosis, Environmental, Societal, Organizational, and Legal/Ethical.
The evaluation process followed a collaborative and participatory approach, involving internal project partners and external stakeholders from industry, academia, government, and civil society. Their input ensured that the final prioritization reflects both scientific rigor and practical relevance.
A major outcome of this work is the updated version of the IS Solutions Database, now publicly accessible on the SYMBA Community on Zenodo. In this new version, the IS solutions are not only mapped, but also prioritized according to their overall readiness, providing a powerful decision-support resource for researchers, practitioners, and policymakers.
Alongside the prioritized list, the project offers tailored implementation guidelines (Figure 1) for solutions at different maturity levels—beginner, intermediate, and advanced—enabling targeted action and strategic planning for IS adoption and scale-up.
With Milestone 3 completed, SYMBA delivers a validated, stakeholder-informed framework that accelerates the implementation of industrial symbiosis and reinforces its role in the EU’s sustainable, circular transition.
