IMR announces details of €6.9m REWIRE project for Mullingar research specialists
A pan-European project to develop digital technology for the future of manufacturing will commence in Mullingar this month.
Irish Manufacturing Research, who provide research and development facilities to a range of companies from tech to pharma to food, have announced details of a €6.9 million REWIRE project.
IMR is a leading, industry-led, not-for-profit Research and Technology Organisation. Their latest project will advance “smart remanufacturing and circular manufacturing” across Europe.
Circular manufacturing is an industrial system designed to eliminate waste and pollution by keeping materials and products in use for as long as possible, while smart remanufacturing upgrades this concept by integrating digital technologies (like AI and the Internet of Things) to optimize the recovery and restoration of used goods.
The €6.9 million REWIRE project is a pan-European initiative designed to help scale high-quality remanufacturing through robotics, AI, digital twins and traceability tools for European industry.
The project is being advanced under Horizon Europe, the European Union’s research and innovation programme, and is aligned with the topic on integrated approaches for remanufacturing, which aims to strengthen Europe’s circular and digitised industrial value chains and support skills, standards and industrial uptake.
The project will focus on enabling scalable, efficient remanufacturing processes in sectors including heavy machinery, automotive and electronics, areas where complexity, variability and cost have traditionally limited innovation processes adoption. The project will bring together 3 RTOs, 4 RPO, 1 NGO and 5 industrial partners from 8 European countries to address key barriers such as poor traceability, fragmented digital systems, limited autonomous and adaptable robotics, weak decision-support tools and skills shortages. These factors hinder industrial adoption and scale-up, thereby supporting more resilient manufacturing, improved resource efficiency and stronger circular value chains in Europe.
Barry Kennedy, CEO of IMR, said: “REWIRE represents an important step in building Europe’s capability in advanced remanufacturing. By combining industrial know-how with robotics, AI and digital technologies, the project will help manufacturers recover more value from products and components, strengthen competitiveness, and support the transition to a more circular and sustainable industrial base.”
Kevin Burke, National Director for Horizon Europe at Enterprise Ireland, spoke of the goal of the project: “Enterprise Ireland has, through its Horizon Europe support team of National Contact Points, supported IMR to build and coordinate this important Horizon Europe project.
“We are particularly pleased that the consortium includes a dynamic Enterprise Ireland client company Dromone Engineering as well as UCD together with project partners from across Europe. Successful projects of this scale demonstrate the importance and impact of Enterprise Ireland’s Technology Centres Programme and support our ambition for our clients to turn innovation into industrial impact by delivering increased commercial success in international markets.”
Robotics Technologist at IMR, Dr Aswin Ramasubramanian, believes the project is essential to the future of manufacturing: “As REWIRE Coordinator, I am proud to lead this multi-million euro project and bring together a talented European expert team to show that remanufacturing can be just as fast, flexible and trusted as first-time manufacturing, while keeping valuable products and components in use for longer.
“By combining advanced robotics, AI, digital twins and traceability, we want to make it easier for manufacturers in sectors such as heavy machinery, automotive and electronics to recover value, cut waste and build more resilient supply chains.”
The project is expected to commence this month, May 2026, and will develop integrated solutions for traceability and lifecycle data, modular robotics and AI toolboxes, adaptive AI planners for automated disassembly and inspection, digital product passport deployment, upskilling toolkits, predictive safety architectures, and fast-track compliance modules for industrial remanufacturing. REWIRE also aims to contribute to wider European outcomes by helping to double remanufactured component volumes in the sectors addressed, stimulate new circular synergies, increase implementation capability, support skills development and contribute to standards advancement.
This project has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon Europe research and innovation programme.