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Circularity.fm Podcast
Best Startups in Critical Raw Materials & Automated Disassembly

Best Startups in Critical Raw Materials & Automated Disassembly

Circularity.fm vor 1 Monat

IFAT Munich 2026

0:00

26:48

Podcast

Circularity.fm

111 Episoden

Understanding, building and managing circular business models

Wirtschaft

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Which startups are solving Europe’s two key circular economy
challenges: automated disassembly and critical raw materials
recovery? This episode covers the Circular Technology Award,
launched by Circular Republic and Knorr-Bremse, to back startups
working in both fields. Matthias Ballweg, co-founder of Circular
Republic, and Oliver Klug, Chief Strategy and Transformation
Officer at Knorr-Bremse, explain why they created the award, what
they learned from the applicants, and why they paired prize money
with proof-of-concept partnerships instead of funding alone. What
you’ll hear in this episode: • Why automated disassembly is finally
viable, and what the robots can now do that they couldn’t five
years ago. • How two very different approaches recover critical raw
materials in Europe: hydrogen to reclaim rare earth magnets, and
low-temperature salts to pull metals from electronic scrap. • What
corporates like Knorr-Bremse look for before adopting a startup’s
technology. The four winning startups then present what they’ve
built: Xavier Kohll from R3 Robotics and Tomaso Manca from Hiro
Robotics winners in automated disassembly, Carlo Burkhardt from
HyProMag and Fred White from DEScycle winners in critical raw
materials recovery. This is the final episode of the IFAT Munich
2026 series, recorded live at the fair.