DIGITALEUROPE joins CIRPASS to lay the ground for the deployment of European Digital Product Passports

DIGITALEUROPE joins the CIRPASS consortium, bringing together a core network of leading organisations in building the European vision for a unified Digital Product Passport (DPP) approach across multiple value chains. Funded by the European Commission under the Digital Europe Programme, CIRPASS aims to prepare the ground for the gradual piloting and deployment of the DPPs from 2023 onwards, with an initial focus on the electronics, batteries and textile sectors.

On 5 October, the new CIRPASS (Collaborative Initiative for a Standards-based Digital Product Passport for Stakeholder-Specific Sharing of Product Data for a Circular Economy) project officially kicked off with a hybrid meeting taking place in Brussels. With 30 partners representing thousands of industrial, digital, international, standards and regulatory organisations and NGOs across Europe, the 18-month project will respond to the European Commission’s call on creating a clear concept of the DPP, defining a cross-sectoral product data model with demonstrated benefits for the circular economy as well as developing roadmaps for its deployment.

DPPs are crucial for enabling the EU’s transition to a circular economy

The circular economy will replace wasteful linear economies by 2029, according to the 2019 Garner study. To get there requires turning around the linear supply chain system to create a whole circular ecosystem. Through the DPP, CIRPASS helps in laying the foundation for such an ecosystem across value chains in three sectors batteries, electronics and textiles, based on common rules, principles, taxonomy and standards. In specific, the project aims to deliver at least three DPP prototypes for the three sectors as well as reaching agreements on key data for circularity and sustainability. The consortium partners will also work together to provide recommendations for a data exchange protocol and system architecture, making sure that the product information contained in the DPP will be standardised and machine-readable.

By enabling a successful rollout of the DPPs in critical sectors, CIRPASS contributes to giving the European industry the possibility to implement the circular business model on a large scale and in a resilient way.

Building a balanced and open community dedicated to the roll-out of the DPPs and beyond

To ensure a cross-sectoral approach, CIRPASS unites leading European Research and Technology organisations, supported by three standardisation organisations, an experienced pool of circular economy and sustainability consultancies, several large European industrial associations, digital technologies and web experts as well as selected digital solution providers. Thanks to this community of expertise and knowledge sharing, the project will build consensus around the DPP concept and contribute to the development of common principles, prototypes and roadmaps for the deployment of DPPs across value chains, sectors and market participants.

Besides the collaboration of project partners, stakeholder engagement is a crucial part of CIRPASS’s action plan. An ecosystem for stakeholder engagement will be set up. Various activities to activate companies and organisations from across Europe will be announced throughout the project, including joining Expert and Stakeholder groups, participating in CIRPASS’s workshops and public events, responding to consultations and much more.

Joining the CIRPASS consortium, DIGITALEUROPE leads the work package on communication, dissemination and stakeholder engagement, positioning CIRPASS as a key forum for cooperation and transfer of knowledge between European and global initiatives towards the deployment of DPPs. Our work, in close collaboration with other project partners, will also facilitate the exploitation and sustainability of the project’s outcomes, ensuring the highest impact in terms of long-lasting synergies between key sectors.

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