18M Review Meeting of the ENCIRCLE project
Date: 05 May 2026
Location: Brussels, BELGIUM
ENCIRCLE Project Marks 18-month Milestone at the Review Meeting, Driving Digital and Green Transition in Manufacturing
The ENCIRCLE project, funded by the European Union’s Horizon Europe Research and Innovation programme (Grant Agreement No. 101178230 successfully completed its 18-month review meeting on 22 April 2026 in Brussels. The meeting brought together the full consortium of 15 partners before European Commission Project Officer Dr. Laszlo Hetey and independent expert reviewer. The meeting was also attended by Mr. Edoardo Mascalchi, Policy Officer for Advanced Manufacturing at DG RTD of the European Commission, reflecting the policy relevance of the project’s results.
The review demonstrated live results from three industrial pilot sites across Europe, marking the transition of the ENCIRCLE technological framework from design and development into real-world industrial application.
Following his review of the project’s deliverables and progress reports, the reviewer confirmed that the core technical deliverables — covering IIoT infrastructure, soft sensors, system architecture and dissemination — are well structured and compliant with the Description of Action. The reviewer acknowledged the quality of the sensing infrastructure deployed across all three pilot sites and the robustness of the AI-based soft sensor suite, noting that preliminary results support the feasibility of delivering real-time and explainable intelligence within operational manufacturing lines. The review also identified areas for further development in the next project phase, in particular around the robustness of soft sensors, human-in-the-loop AI retraining and the consolidation of key performance indicator evidence, which the consortium will address in the months ahead.
By Month 18, the project has met all planned milestones. Six of the project’s eight operational objectives are on track or achieved. Active collaboration has been established with six sister EU projects under the same Horizon Europe call: CIRCMAN5.0, DATA4CIRC, DIAMETER, Digi4Circular, GEAR-UP and PSS-PASS.
About ENCIRCLE
ENCIRCLE is a 36-month research and innovation project running from October 2024 to September 2027. It brings together 15 partners from research institutions, technology companies and industrial end-users across Europe. The project is coordinated by the Centre for Research and Technology Hellas (CERTH).
For more information, please visit the project website (www.encircle-project.eu) and/or contact us directly:
Dr. Nikolaos Dimitriou
Project Coordinator
nikdim@iti.gr
