HORIZON-CL6-2026-01-CIRCBIO-10: AI-driven, waterless bio-based personal care systems for sustainable living

CALLING PARTNERS FOR A COSMETICS, PERSONAL CARE AND SUPPLEMENTS INNOVATION PROJECT

Objective of the project

To support a shift towards healthier and more sustainable lifestyles by developing AI-enabled, bio-based, waterless and plastic-free personal care and supplement systems, while strengthening EU bioeconomy value chains, protecting biodiversity, and improving long-term consumer and environmental health.

Background

Personal care products are among the most intensively used consumer goods, with Gen Z and Gen Alpha starting use at 8–9 years old, compared to 17 in previous generations. This results in decades of cumulative exposure to synthetic chemicals, endocrine disruptors, irritant actives and microplastics, contributing to rising incidence of eczema, allergies and long-term health risks. At the same time, the sector generates around 120 billion plastic packs per year, making it a major source of plastic waste and microplastic pollution.

Despite tightening EU regulation on plastics and hazardous chemicals, a clear gap remains between policy ambition and market reality. Consumers still lack natural products that match conventional personal care in performance, accessibility and trust, limiting uptake of sustainable alternatives and slowing the transition to a circular bioeconomy.

Expected Outcomes

• European SMEs and manufacturers gain access to validated, high-performance bio-based formulations that match or outperform synthetic alternatives.

• Consumers benefit from safer, affordable personal care products, reducing early and lifelong exposure to irritant and endocrine-disrupting chemicals.

• Communities and ecosystems benefit from reduced plastic waste, microplastic leakage, water use and CO₂ emissions.

• The project delivery team develops a replicable, AI-enabled bio-based innovation pipeline, strengthening scientific, industrial and regulatory capabilities.

• The consortium establishes a durable multi-actor collaboration model, enabling future Horizon Europe and CBE JU scale-up initiatives.

Impact

The project will deliver measurable societal, environmental and economic impact. Societally, it will reduce exposure to harmful chemicals and microplastics—particularly for younger consumers—while improving public trust in sustainable innovation. Environmentally, it will cut plastic waste, water use and CO₂ emissions through waterless formulations, circular design and compostable packaging validated by LCA and DNSH checks. Economically, it will strengthen the EU bioeconomy by enabling SMEs to access validated bio-based technologies, build new biodiversity-linked value chains, and accelerate market uptake through scalable, demonstration-ready solutions.

**Partners required (Draft Work Plan)
**'We are seeking research organisations, SMEs, industrial partners, NGOs and end-users with the following expertise:

• WP1 Digital Biodiscovery & AI: omics profiling; AI prediction of safety and performance; digital twins; automated screening.

• WP2 Sustainability & LCA: carbon, water, toxicity and microplastic modelling; DNSH checks; biodiversity and Nagoya compliance.

• WP3 Formulation & Safety: solid and waterless prototypes; irritation, endocrine and microbiome testing; dermatology-led assessments; stability and performance validation.

• WP4 Demonstration & Packaging: biodegradable packaging prototypes; compostability trials; pilot manufacturing; cost modelling.

• WP5 Consumer Engagement & SSH: behaviour studies; youth and parent engagement; public understanding tools; civil-society dialogue.

• WP6 Exploitation: regulatory compliance; safety dossiers; IP management; ABS/Nagoya alignment; scale-up and market readiness.

• WP7 Management & Ethics: coordination; GDPR; Nagoya oversight; stakeholder governance; risk and quality control.

Conclusion

This project brings together life sciences, advanced materials, AI, biotechnology and sustainability science to transform one of the most widely used consumer product categories. By combining Amazonian biodiversity with European bioscience and circular material innovation, the consortium will demonstrate that high-performance, regenerative personal care systems are scalable, affordable and market-ready, positioning Europe at the forefront of next-generation bio-based consumer systems.