About

The Horizon Europe Talent Pass Project, coordinated by the Institutul de Chimie Macromoleculară “Petru Poni” (ICMPP), is a pioneering initiative dedicated to strengthening talent mobility, fostering sustainable innovation, and advancing circular economy research across Europe.

Uniting 10 researchers and industry experts from 7 European countries, Talent Pass sets a new benchmark for knowledge transfer and interdisciplinary collaboration between academia and industry.

More than a research project, Talent Pass is designed to create lasting impact: supporting career development, building institutional capacity, and accelerating Europe’s transition to a circular economy through practical, scalable solutions. In doing so, it contributes to a stronger, more interconnected European innovation ecosystem—benefiting researchers, businesses, and communities alike.

Talent Pass (Fostering European Talents for Widening Circular Economy) is a four-year, €2.99 million project developed under the HORIZON-WIDERA-2024-TALENTS-03 call (Coordination and Support Actions, CSA) within Horizon Europe.
Project duration: 1 June 2025 – 31 May 2029.

The consortium brings together 4 academic and 6 non-academic partners from across Europe:

• Widening countries: Romania, Portugal, Slovenia, Turkey

• Non-widening countries: Italy, Spain, United Kingdom

What We Aim To Achieve

Talent Pass is designed to strengthen Europe’s innovation ecosystem by fostering geographically balanced talent mobility and enabling seamless collaboration between academia and industry. Rooted in the European Research Area (ERA) Policy Agenda (2022–2024), the project aims to:

Promote cross-sector and cross-border circulation of researchers and innovators.

Build capacity in widening countries by developing high-quality skills and expertise in the circular economy.

Improve access to excellence and consolidate a Europe-wide network of talent and infrastructure.

Support strategic career development, research management, and institutional transformation.

How Will We Achieve This?

The project aims to train young researchers through a combination of secondments, coaching visits, and targeted workshops. Furthermore, the consortium will design customised training programmes and foster strategic cooperation agreements to strengthen collaboration between academia and industry.

Project Impact

Talent Pass creates new pathways for knowledge sharing and mutual learning through training, secondments, and joint research activities. By opening the doors to cross-border and cross-sectoral collaboration, the project:

• Reduces gaps between academic and non-academic communities.

• Sparks new research themes and technologies across regions.

• Translates research into economic and social value.

• Strengthens the long-term benefit-to-cost ratio of innovation and technology transfer.

All efforts are anchored in the circular economy—contributing to regenerative growth, reduced resource pressure, and sustainable jobs.

Through structural changes in career development, strategic agendas, and collaborative networks, Talent Pass is laying the foundation for a more connected, competent, and impactful European R&I community. The result: stronger innovation power at national, regional, and European levels.