Malta will bring together innovators, investors, policymakers and industry leaders from across Europe on Friday 13th November for the European Circular Electronics Kickstart (ECEK) Innovation Day. This event will focus on accelerating the transition towards a more resilient, sustainable and circular European electronics industry.

The Innovation Day marks an important milestone for the European semiconductor and electronics sector, at a time when Europe is seeking to strengthen its technological independence and reduce its reliance on imported critical raw materials. It will provide a platform for new technologies, investment and collaboration aimed at turning electronic waste into a valuable source of materials for European industry.

At the centre of the event will be 15 disruptive startups selected for the 2026 ECEK Acceleration Programme. Drawn from 12 countries, the companies are developing solutions across circular electronics, critical raw material recovery, advanced recycling, sustainable manufacturing and semiconductor innovation. During the Innovation Day, they will present their technologies to investors, industry representatives, policymakers and other stakeholders, opening opportunities for investment, partnerships and further deployment.

The ECEK programme forms part of EVEN CLOSER (weblink), a major European initiative, led by the University of Calabria, working to establish a circular value chain for semiconductors by recovering valuable materials from Waste from Electrical and Electronic Equipment (WEEE) and industrial waste and reintegrating them into manufacturing.

Materials such as silicon, gallium, indium and germanium are essential to semiconductor production and, in turn, to industries ranging from automotive and energy to digital technologies. Europe currently relies heavily on external sources for many of these materials, creating potential vulnerabilities in strategically important supply chains.

EVEN CLOSER is addressing this challenge by developing new approaches to recovering critical raw materials, advancing recycling technologies and enabling recovered materials to be reused in semiconductor production. Bringing together 44 companies, universities, research centres and public sector partners, the project seeks to demonstrate how waste generated within Europe can become a resource for its future industrial development.

The Innovation Day in Malta represents the culmination of the 2026 programme and an opportunity to connect these emerging technologies with the investors, industrial partners and policymakers who can help bring them to scale.

By creating these connections, the event will contribute to EVEN CLOSER’s wider objective of building a European semiconductor ecosystem that is more circular, competitive and resilient, while creating new opportunities for innovation and industrial growth across European regions.