ANCI ASSOCIAZIONE REGIONALE COMUNI ITALIANI LAZIO

Their core work

ANCI Lazio is the regional association representing municipalities in the Lazio region of Italy, including Rome. In H2020 projects, they serve as the interface between EU-funded circular bioeconomy research and the local governments that must actually implement waste management and resource recovery policies on the ground. Their role is to facilitate municipal adoption of new biowaste valorisation approaches, coordinate pilot testing across member municipalities, and bridge the gap between technology developers and public procurement processes.

What they specialise in

How they've shifted over time

ANCI Lazio's early H2020 involvement (2018-2019) centred on hands-on waste collection and recovery technologies — sorting organic fractions and converting them into bioplastics, proteins, and energy via projects like SCALIBUR and NOMAD. By 2020, their focus shifted toward the financial and governance side: investment planning, public procurement frameworks, and project development assistance (PDA) for urban circular bioeconomy through HOOP. This progression suggests a move from "testing what works technically" to "making it fundable and scalable for cities."

Moving from technology demonstration toward financial instruments and public procurement models that help municipalities invest in circular bioeconomy infrastructure at scale.

How they like to work

ANCI Lazio exclusively participates as a partner, never as coordinator — consistent with their role as a public authority that provides municipal access and policy context rather than leading research. With 63 unique partners across 16 countries from just 3 projects, they operate in large Innovation Action consortia (averaging 21+ partners per project). This makes them a reliable public-sector partner who brings real municipal networks to the table.

Despite only 3 projects, ANCI Lazio has worked with 63 unique partners across 16 countries, reflecting the large-scale Innovation Action consortia typical of circular bioeconomy initiatives. Their network spans most of the EU, with natural density in Southern and Western Europe.

What sets them apart

ANCI Lazio represents hundreds of municipalities in the Rome/Lazio region, giving consortium partners direct access to real urban environments for piloting waste management and circular economy solutions. Unlike a university or research institute, they bring the actual decision-makers — mayors, municipal waste managers, procurement officers — into the project. For any consortium that needs a credible Italian public-sector partner to test or deploy urban circular bioeconomy solutions, they are a ready-made gateway.

Highlights from their portfolio

• HOOP
  Focuses on investment-readiness and financial engineering for circular cities — a rare blend of public procurement expertise with biowaste valorisation, running through 2025.
• SCALIBUR
  Covers the full biowaste-to-product chain (bioplastics, proteins, energy), demonstrating ANCI Lazio's involvement from waste collection to value creation at municipal scale.