Imagine a neighborhood where one factory's leftover heat warms the building next door, and another's wastewater becomes someone else's raw material. CORALIS figured out how to make that actually work — not just technically, but also financially and organizationally. They tested this in 3 real industrial parks across Europe, created a playbook for getting competing companies to cooperate, and built a digital platform to track whether everyone is actually saving energy and money. Think of it as a matchmaking service for factories that turns waste into profit.
Factories in industrial parks sit next to each other wasting heat, water, and CO2 that their neighbors could use — but there is no proven system for making these exchanges happen reliably. The technical solutions exist, but companies lack the tools to assess feasibility, the organizational models to manage shared resources, and the monitoring systems to prove the savings are real.
CORALIS delivered an operational demonstration facility, a virtual assessment platform for monitoring resource flows and life cycle impact, an IS readiness level indicator for assessing feasibility, a handbook for implementing industrial symbiosis, and the IS facilitator model — all tested across 3 industrial parks with 26 total deliverables.
If you are a chemical manufacturer dealing with rising energy costs and CO2 compliance pressure — this project developed and tested waste heat recovery and CO2 utilization solutions across 3 industrial parks. Their IS facilitator model and virtual assessment platform can help you identify which of your waste streams your neighbors would pay for, turning disposal costs into revenue.
If you are a waste management firm looking to move beyond landfill and incineration — CORALIS built a handbook and readiness assessment tool for setting up industrial symbiosis networks. Tested with 33 partners across 7 countries, their approach covers technical feasibility, business models, and regulatory navigation for turning one company's waste into another's feedstock.
If you manage an industrial park and want to increase tenant retention and attract new companies — CORALIS demonstrated in 3 parks (with 3 more replicating) how shared resource exchanges cut operating costs for all tenants. Their virtual assessment platform monitors energy and material flows across the park, giving you hard data on savings to show prospective tenants.
The project data does not include specific implementation costs. However, CORALIS was an Innovation Action with 33 partners and 26 deliverables, including a virtual assessment platform and handbook — suggesting the tools themselves may be available at low or no cost, while implementation costs depend on the specific waste streams and infrastructure needed at your site.
This was tested at full industrial scale. CORALIS demonstrated its approach in 3 real industrial parks with operational facilities, not lab settings. An additional 3 industrial parks were set up to replicate the results independently, confirming the solutions work beyond controlled conditions.
The consortium of 33 partners across 7 countries jointly developed the outputs, coordinated by FUNDACION CIRCE in Spain. The CORALIS Handbook and virtual assessment platform are key deliverables. Based on available project data, licensing terms would need to be discussed directly with the coordinator or relevant consortium members.
Yes. CORALIS specifically addresses CO2 utilization and waste heat recovery, both directly relevant to EU ETS compliance and the European Green Deal targets. The life cycle impact assessment methodology built into their platform gives you documented evidence of emission reductions for regulatory reporting.
The CORALIS project ran from October 2020 to March 2025 to develop, test, and refine the full approach across 3 demonstration parks. With the handbook and tools now available, a new implementation would be significantly faster, though timelines depend on the number of companies involved and complexity of waste streams.
CORALIS built a virtual assessment platform for monitoring resource flows and evaluating impact from a life cycle perspective. Based on available project data, this platform is designed to work alongside existing industrial park operations rather than replace current systems.
Yes — a key CORALIS innovation is the IS facilitator role, a neutral coordinator who guides the symbiosis initiative between companies and ensures all parties benefit. Each of the 3 demonstration parks had a dedicated facilitator. This role can be filled by an existing park manager or an external consultant.
The CORALIS consortium is unusually strong for business adoption, with 20 out of 33 partners (61%) coming from industry — meaning this was built by and for companies, not just academics. Only 2 universities were involved, while 6 research organizations provided technical backbone. With 7 SMEs in the mix across 7 countries (Austria, Belgium, Greece, Spain, Italy, Sweden, Turkey), the solutions were stress-tested across different regulatory environments and industrial cultures. The coordinator, FUNDACION CIRCE in Spain, is an established energy research center with deep ties to industry.
FUNDACION CIRCE CENTRO DE INVESTIGACION DE RECURSOS Y CONSUMOS ENERGETICOS, Spain — contact through SciTransfer for a warm introduction
Want to explore whether industrial symbiosis could cut costs at your site? SciTransfer can connect you with the CORALIS team and help assess fit for your specific waste streams and location.
