PRO AUTOMATION GMBH

Their core work

Pro Automation is a Vienna-based SME specializing in industrial automation systems for disassembly, sorting, and material recovery processes. Their core contribution to EU projects involves designing and building automated systems that take apart electronic devices — from smartphones to printed circuit boards — to recover valuable materials like technology metals and semiconductors. They bring practical automation engineering to the circular economy, turning manual recycling into industrial-scale reverse production lines.

What they specialise in

How they've shifted over time

Pro Automation's early H2020 work (2015) centered on urban mining and reverse production — automating the recovery of valuable materials from discarded electronics like mobile phones and printed circuit boards. Their later projects broadened into remanufacturing factory concepts with sorting and disassembly automation for a wider range of devices (tablets, digital voice recorders), and then expanded into modular battery pack manufacturing. The trajectory shows a shift from pure end-of-life material recovery toward upstream manufacturing and design-for-disassembly thinking.

Moving from recycling-focused automation toward manufacturing-stage integration, suggesting future interest in design-for-circularity and battery/EV supply chain automation.

How they like to work

Pro Automation consistently joins as a participant, never leading consortia — a typical profile for a specialized SME contributing focused technical capabilities to larger research efforts. With 41 unique partners across just 3 projects, they operate in large consortia (averaging ~14 partners per project), indicating comfort working within complex multi-partner environments. This suggests a reliable specialist contributor that brings defined automation expertise without requiring a leadership role.

Despite only three projects, Pro Automation has built a broad network of 41 partners across 13 countries, reflecting the large consortium sizes typical of manufacturing and circular economy Innovation Actions. Their reach spans well beyond the DACH region into a pan-European network.

What sets them apart

Pro Automation sits at a specific intersection rarely found in one company: industrial automation engineering applied to circular economy processes. While many partners in recycling consortia focus on materials science or policy, Pro Automation delivers the actual machinery — the robotic disassembly lines and sorting systems. For consortium builders, they fill the gap between "we know what materials to recover" and "we have a working automated line that does it."

Highlights from their portfolio

• sustainablySMART
  Largest funding (EUR 278,781) and broadest scope — remanufacturing factory design covering smartphones, tablets, PCBs, and semiconductors.
• ADIR
  Core identity project focused on next-generation urban mining with automated disassembly and recovery of technology metals from electronics.