TechBridge: Call China 2026 - Circular Chemistry and Materials

This TechBridge call is a joint initiative between the Netherlands and China.

Objective

With this call, the Dutch Ministry of Economic Affairs and Climate (EZK) encourages Dutch companies, knowledge institutions and research organisations to enter into R&D collaborations with innovative partners in China. The aim of these collaborations is to strengthen the development of circular chemistry and materials, including circular plastics, biobased materials and carbon capture & utilisation. 

Call

All details of this call can be found in the call text:

Key international conditions

• The consortium must consist of at least two independent companies: one from China and one from the Netherlands.
• If the consortium meets the above condition, other organisations, such as knowledge institutions, may also participate as project partners.
• The lead applicant in the Netherlands must be a company.
• The lead applicant in China may be a company, university or research organisation.
• Projects must be in line with the scope of the call and focus on civil applications.
• The project must deliver clear benefits and added value through technological cooperation.
• No single organisation or participating country may cover more than 70% of the total eligible project costs.
• The collaborative project must focus on researching or developing an innovative product, process or service, with the aim of commercialising the results.
• The product, process or service must be innovative, and there must be a technological risk for all partners involved.
• The maximum project duration is 36 months.

Key National conditions

In the Netherlands, the Netherlands Enterprise Agency (RVO) is the funding organisation.

• For national financial support, at least one Dutch company must participate.
• The lead partner of the national consortium must be a Dutch company.
• Only research and development activities will be funded. The participating parties must finance the remaining costs through their own contributions.
• We only fund projects with a balanced distribution of costs across the participating countries (no more than 70% in one country).

Chinese project partners can receive funding if they comply with the rules and conditions of their national funding organisation, the Ministry of Science and Technology (MoST).

Budget

Each Dutch consortium may receive a maximum of €350,000 per project.

Subsidy percentages

The national funding rates of total project costs:

• Research activities:
  • SMEs: 45%
  • Industry: 35%
  • Universities and knowledge institutions: 50%
• Development activities:
  • SMEs: 35%
  • Industry: 25%
  • Universities and knowledge institutions: 25%

Secure and resilient collaboration

International collaboration in knowledge-intensive technologies, products, and services may involve economic security risks. 

Economic security requires your attention. Investing now in awareness and resilience is important to protect your own and the Netherlands’ economic interests. If you plan to collaborate internationally, be aware of the risks and prepare carefully.

Read more about secure and resilient entrepreneurship (in Dutch), including the 'WeerbaarWijzer' and information from the Economic Security Entrepreneurs’ Desk (OLEV).

Prepare your application

The national application consists of:

• the application form 'International Innovation – TechBridge' (available in our application portal);
• the project plan;
• the International Consortium Form;
• the project budget;
• the public summary;
• for each company: statement of no enterprise in difficulty (in Dutch);
• for each company: decision tree for the above statement (in Dutch);
• a signed consortium agreement (this may also be submitted at a later stage).

You can download the templates for the project plan, international consortium form, project budget and public summary (in Dutch) below:

2. Application in China

To qualify for funding in China, your Chinese partner must submit their own application to MoST, International Science and Technology Cooperation Centre.

More information can be found in the call text '1st Call for Proposals for Joint R&D Projects between China and the Netherlands: co-development of circular chemistry and materials (circular plastics, biobased materials and carbon capture & utilisation)'.

After your application

During the assessment of your project, the Netherlands Enterprise Agency may ask questions regarding your project budget. We expect to be able to communicate the decision in November-December 2026.

Administration

Do you want to make changes during the term of your project? Then we recommend that you first discuss this with one of our advisors. After the meeting, please notify us of the changes in writing as soon as possible.

During the course of the project, you must submit a written progress report once a year. Additionally, an advisor from RVO will call you once a year to discuss the progress of your project.

At the end of your project, you must submit a request for assessment. Information about requesting assessment can be found in our subsidy rules. You must also submit a final report. A few weeks before the end date of your project, you will receive a reminder about the final report by email.

Read more about how to report changes, report your progress and apply for approval on our TechBridge homepage under After Your Application.

Background

The key technologies from the National Technology Strategy (NTS) of the Ministry of Economic Affairs are the strategic building blocks for tomorrow's economy. In addition to offering opportunities for Dutch earning capacity, they also contribute to solutions for the major social challenges of our time. International cooperation is essential to accelerate these technologies and achieve global impact.

TechBridge offers Dutch companies and research institutions the opportunity to work with international partners on groundbreaking innovation projects. By joining forces with leading innovative economies such as China, new opportunities arise to strengthen key technologies and bring market-oriented solutions to fruition more quickly.

Read more about the National Technology Strategy (in Dutch)

More information

Read the TechBridge publication in the Dutch Government Gazette (in Dutch).