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ABOUT THE AWARDS
CIRCULÉIRE, Ireland’s Circular Innovation Network, led by Irish Manufacturing Research (IMR) and funded by the Department of Climate, Energy and the Environment (DCEE), is delighted to announce the All-Island Circular Venture Awards 2026.
In this second year, IMR, as the secretariat of CIRCULÉIRE, is pleased to welcome the Department for the Economy (DfE) and the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) as Media Support and Event Partner, respectively. Awards Day will take place following the EPA's Circular Economy Conference, in the same venue. Awards Day is recognised as an Associated Event of the Irish Presidency of the Council of the European Union 2026.
The All-Island Circular Venture Awards celebrate late-stage startups at the forefront of circular economy innovation, providing a platform to showcase high-potential ventures reshaping how materials, components and products are used, reused, remanufactured and regenerated.
In 2026, the awards will continue to spotlight start-ups and ventures across the island of Ireland who are pioneering the circular economy through innovative business models, products, and services that directly facilitate or enable circular value creation.
HOW TO APPLY
Eligible ventures should apply via the link below. Shortlisted companies will pitch at the All-Island Circular Venture Awards 2026 on the afternoon of Thursday, 19th November 2026.
Don’t delay - start your Awards Platform registration now!
***DEADLINE EXTENDED*** Complete your application by Friday 16th October 2026 at 23.59 (Irish time). Please note you must select the All-Island Circular Venture Awards call when applying on Awards Force.
Shortlisted ventures will be notified in late October 2026 and will be required to provide evidence demonstrating eligibility compliance by 4th November 2026.
For any questions, contact us at circuleire@imr.ie.
WHY APPLY
Shortlisted companies will pitch to a distinguished audience of investors, industry leaders, policy makers, and media at the All-Island Circular Venture Awards to be held at the Aviva Stadium, Lansdowne Rd, Dublin 4, D04 K5F9, hosted within the framework of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Annual Circular Economy Conference.
Finalists will compete for a total prize pool of €10,000, plus 1-to-1 coaching sessions with international experts in entrepreneurship and circular innovation.
All shortlisted ventures will have the opportunity to:
Gain high-profile exposure through professionally produced videos, in-depth case studies and promotional content featured across CIRCULÉIRE’s website, social media channels and stakeholder networks.
Network with like-minded businesses, all-island government representatives and investors to build valuable connections and opportunities.
Engage with CIRCULÉIRE network members and connect with a leading community of circular economy innovators and practitioners.
Pitch to investors and potential partners aligned with your venture's mission and growth ambitions.
Access promotional support from IMR's Circular Economy Innovation Unit to help raise the venture's visibility.
PRIZES
€5.000
+ Coaching Session
+ Premium CIRCULÉIRE Multimedia Profile (professionally produced video, featured case study and promotional campaign)
€3.000
+ Coaching Session
+ CIRCULÉIRE Multimedia Profile (featured case study and digital promotion)
€2.000
+ Coaching Session
+ CIRCULÉIRE Venture Spotlight (website profile and social media feature)
SHORTLISTED VENTURES
The eight shortlisted ventures pitching to an audience of investors, industry, policy makers, and media at the All-Island Circular Venture Awards 2026 include Ecokinly, Evolve Circular Automotive, Loop Your Spare, ReSolve, Salt Rock Dairy, Senoptica, Slíglas and SomaTech.
The selected ventures represent a broad range of sectors including consumer goods, pharma, biochar, construction, electric batteries, agrifood, dairy and packaging.
READ ON FOR MORE DETAILS ON THE COMPANIES:
EcoKinly helps consumers rethink single-use and replace it with premium washable hygiene products to build new circular habits.
Loop Your Spare is an AI-powered operating system for circular construction, making material reuse visible, measurable and scalable.
Salt Rock Dairy is on a mission to prove that a single source, small scale artisanal dairy can not only be zero waste, but also commercially viable.
Slíglas streamlines biochar production from low-value wood residues for durable carbon removal.
Evolve Circular Automotive extends the lifecycle of electric vehicle batteries and transforms them into valuable resources through energy storage solutions to power commercial buildings.
ReSolve allows pharma and chemical laboratories cut solvent costs and hazardous waste by recycling HPLC mobile phase without compromising analytical result compliance.
Senoptica prints a food-safe oxygen sensor into food packaging to prevent food and plastic waste from failed packs to end the destructive testing the industry relies on today.
SomaTech turns agri-food by-products into high-value ingredients, enabling circular, sustainable food and feed supply chains through their purposely built plug-and-play fermentation platform.
REPRESENTATIVES:
EcoKinly is an award-winning brand challenging throwaway culture. It designs reusable nappies, wipes and period products that help consumers rethink everyday habits and refuse single-use products. Through product innovation, mainstream retail partnerships and key stakeholder engagement, EcoKinly is building a model for reuse with society-wide application
Kate Doyle
Founder & CEO, EcoKinly
Surplus construction materials and temporary works are often stored, forgotten or discarded. Loop Your Spare transforms them into valuable assets through a free-to-start model that lowers barriers to adoption. By making reuse visible, auditable and repeatable across projects and organisations, LYS reduces embodied carbon, waste and cost.
Co-Founder, Loop Your Spare
Juan A. Morillas
Salt Rock Dairy is a family-run, on-farm dairy in Gorey, Co. Wexford, producing award-winning milk, yoghurt, kefir, buttermilk and cultured butter. Built on circular principles, they use refillable, biodegradable, and returnable packaging, turn every by-product into new products and keep supply chains short and local.
Founder, Salt Rock Dairy
Catherine Kinsella
Evolve Circular Automotive is an All - Ireland circular automotive business transforming vehicle recovery, salvage, repair and recycling. Through quality Green Parts strategic industry partnerships, Evolve extends component lifecycles while reducing waste and carbon emissions. We also deliver a sustainable, cost-effective solution within the Automotive industry supporting the transition to green parts.
CEO, Evolve Circular Automotive
Richard Brennan
By lowering solvent purchasing, disposal requirements and environmental impact, ReSolve enables pharma and chemical laboratories achieve measurable sustainability gains while maintaining reliable chromatographic results and compliance.
Managing Director, ReSolve
Dermot Harrington
Senoptica is a Trinity College Dublin spin-out tackling food waste in modified atmosphere packaging (MAP). Its patented, food-safe oxygen sensor is printed into the lidding film, allowing every pack to be inspected without opening it. The technology is FDA-approved and printed at industrial scale, and it is currently being piloted with leading food producers.
CEO, Senoptica
Seamus Farrell
Slíglas converts low-value wood residues into biochar and durable carbon removal using streamlined, modular technology. Biochar is a key tool for reaching net zero. When stored in soil, biochar sequesters and locks away carbon. Biochar also benefits soils by retaining nutrients and increasing yields.
CEO, Slíglas
Paul McGoldrick
SomaTech upgrades agri-food by-products into 100% natural gut-health ingredients rich in pre/postbiotics, enzymes and bioavailable nutrients. Its patent-pending, plug-and-play fermentation platform and Bioware™ recipes deliver a 36-hour, low-cost, automated process. A Monaghan facility proves it at 12t/year. The vision: SomaTech at grain processors worldwide, enabling secure, sustainable, profitable supply chains.
Founder & CEO, SomaTech
Tony Callaghan
JUDGES
Dr Geraldine Brennan is Director of Circular Economy Innovation at Irish Manufacturing Research (IMR). She is a strategic circular economy expert, systems thinker and senior sustainability leader with over 15 years of experience in industry-applied research, consulting, advertising, and communications. She has a track record of building collaborative public-private partnerships to deliver the circular economy's potential. Geraldine holds a PhD in Strategic Management & Sustainable Development and an MSc in Environmental Technology from Imperial College London and is a recognised thought leader in scaling circular innovation, including CIRCULÉIRE, Ireland's Circular Innovation Network
Geraldine Brennan
Director of Circular Economy Innovation - IMR
Mark Peters is Co-Founder and Managing Partner of WakeUp Capital, Ireland's first female-led impact venture capital firm, investing in startups that enable more sustainable ways to live, work and consume within planetary boundaries. Prior to founding WakeUp Capital, Mark held senior technology leadership roles at Google, Microsoft and News Corp across Europe and the United States. He also founded a US-based SaaS platform focused on adaptive video advertising and early machine learning technologies. Mark is an active angel investor, a founding board member of the Irish Tech Operators network, and an advisor to early-stage sustainability and climate-tech companies.
Co-founder & Managing Partner - WakeUp Capital
Mark Peters
Mark is a prominent industrialist with a career in international business development for leading manufacturers in Northern Ireland. He retired as CEO of Wrightbus in 2019 and was subsequently appointed joint Chief Executive of Makers Alliance for 5 years. Today he is an independent strategic adviser to SME’s and public bodies engaged in the NI advanced manufacturing sector.
Mark is a past President of the NI Chamber of Commerce, served 8 years on the board of Invest NI, and was recognised in 2015 with the award of an OBE for services to the economy.
Strategic Business Adviser
Mark Nodder
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Martijn Lopes Cardozo is a Partner at Regeneration.VC, an early-stage venture capital firm investing in circular and regenerative businesses. Previously, he was CEO of Circle Economy Foundation, helping governments, cities and businesses accelerate the transition to a circular economy. A serial entrepreneur, Martijn has founded and built innovative ventures, including Black Bear, a company recovering valuable materials from end-of-life tyres. He is a frequent international speaker and entrepreneur-in-residence at YES!Delft. Martijn holds an MSc in Applied Physics from TU Delft and an MBA from Harvard Business School.
Partner - Regeneration.VC
Martjin Lopes Cardozo
SHORTLISTED VENTURES 2025
The ten shortlisted ventures pitching to an audience of investors, industry, policy makers, and media at the first All-Island Circular Venture Awards will include Arcology System, Biographene Innovations Ireland, BladeBridge, Circular Food Co, Ecoroots, HaPPE Earth, Gemell Technology Limited, Harp Renewable, Integrated Materials Solutions and Kinset Limited.
The selected ventures represent an extremely broad range of sectors including commercial fitout infrastructure, construction waste management, compostable PPE, biobased production and packaging solutions; repurposed wind energy infrastructure; digital enablement of circular processes; aerobic digestion; additional manufacturing for textiles; and upcycling of food residuals.
Arcology System enables adaptive, circular, and waste-free interiors through a modular, sensor-enabled construction system.
Co-Founder & CEO, Arcology System
Colette van Jaarsveld
Arcology System enables adaptive, circular, and waste-free interiors through a modular, sensor-enabled construction system.
Arcology System enables adaptive, circular, and waste-free interiors through a modular, sensor-enabled construction system.
CEO, BladeBridge
Dr Angie Nagle
BladeBridge repurposes retired wind turbine blades into durable infrastructure.
Arcology System enables adaptive, circular, and waste-free interiors through a modular, sensor-enabled construction system.
Founder & CEO, Ecoroots
Lavanya Bhandari
Ecoroots transforms agricultural waste into compostable mycelium packaging powered by a data-driven platform for scalable, zero-waste biomanufacturing.
Arcology System enables adaptive, circular, and waste-free interiors through a modular, sensor-enabled construction system.
Co-Founder & CEO, HaPPE Earth
Dr Mary O'Riordan
HaPPE Earth makes single-use PPE into a circular solution, replacing plastics with compostable materials, converting waste into fertiliser, and delivering ESG insights cutting costs, carbon, and complexity.
Arcology System enables adaptive, circular, and waste-free interiors through a modular, sensor-enabled construction system.
Managing Director, Integrated Materials Solutions (IMS)
Cian O’Hora
Integrated Materials Solutions (IMS) accepts C&D wastes and processes them into certified low carbon secondary aggregates for reuse in the construction industry.
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Arcology System enables adaptive, circular, and waste-free interiors through a modular, sensor-enabled construction system.
Co-Founder, Bio Graphene Innovations Ireland Ltd
Barry O’Flanagan
Bio Graphene Innovations Ireland transforms agricultural waste into bio-graphene materials that decarbonise concrete, enabling seawater use, and establishing a scalable circular manufacturing model for Europe.
Arcology System enables adaptive, circular, and waste-free interiors through a modular, sensor-enabled construction system.
Co-Founder & Head of Operations, Circular Food Co (CFCO)
Niamh Dooley
Circular Food Co recovers food waste to turn into high value ingredients.
Arcology System enables adaptive, circular, and waste-free interiors through a modular, sensor-enabled construction system.
Co-Founder & CEO, Gemell Technology Limited
Adam Hankin
Gemell Technology Limited reduces unnecessary textile waste through data-driven 3D visualisation and analytics.
Arcology System enables adaptive, circular, and waste-free interiors through a modular, sensor-enabled construction system.
Senior Sales Manager, Harp Renewables
Gerry Mc Donnell
Harp Renewables supplies advanced, fully circular food waste solutions for all industries.
Arcology System enables adaptive, circular, and waste-free interiors through a modular, sensor-enabled construction system.
CEO & Co-Founder, Kinset Limited
Katelyn O’Riordan
Kinset connects supply chain, material, and lifecycle data in one trusted system, making it simple for brands to demonstrate transparency, enable reuse and recycling, and engage consumers through interactive digital experiences.
2025 GALLERY
FAQs
The FAQ document provides practical answers to common applicant questions about the All-Island Circular Venture Awards 2026, covering topics such as eligibility requirements, the application process through Award Force, evaluation criteria, shortlisted venture obligations, and Awards Day arrangements.
Applicants are strongly encouraged to review the FAQ document before contacting the circuleire@imr.ie team, as many common questions relating to eligibility, submissions, evaluation, circular economy criteria, and event participation are addressed within the document.
MEDIA & NEWS
Media - Click to share the message
News
Northern Ireland businesses encouraged to enter the 2026 Circular Venture Awards aiming to celebrate innovation and accelerate circular impact. READ MORE
DEPARTMENT FOR THE ECONOMY NORTHERN IRELAND, AUG 2026
Apply for the All-Island Circular Venture Awards 2026 READ MORE
NI BUSINESS INFO, 26 AUG 2026
Omagh Businesses Encouraged to Apply for the All-Island Circular Venture Awards 2026 READ MORE
OMAGH ENTERPRISE, 26 AUG 2026
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OTHER RESOURCES
Watch Info Session Video Recording
Read Info Session Presentation Slide Deck
STRATEGIC PARTNERS & SUPPORTER
Media Support
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Event Partner
