On Tuesday 17 February 2026, the funding application for the TRACE project (Transparent Responsible Advanced Sourcing for Ceramic Ecosystems) was submitted to the Italian Ministry of Enterprises and Made in Italy under the Innovation Agreements programme (Ministerial Decree of 4 September 2025). The initiative falls within the public instruments dedicated to supporting corporate investment in industrial research and development.

The Innovation Agreements are one of the main channels through which the Ministry supports industrial research and experimental development projects. The aim is to foster the development of new products, processes or services, or the significant improvement of existing solutions, strengthening the innovation capacity of the national production system.

The instrument is aimed in particular at companies pursuing structured innovation paths characterised by high technological content, substantial investment, medium-to-long implementation timeframes and multidisciplinary expertise. TRACE fully matches this profile: a three-year research programme aiming to build the first national cognitive ecosystem for managing ceramic production inputs, founded on the Cognitive Mirror of production inputs and on the integration of national georesource valorisation, regenerative materials, artificial intelligence and regulatory anticipation.

The application was submitted jointly by five proposing partners: Zschimmer & Schwarz Ceramco, as lead partner, Gruppo Ceramiche Gresmalt, Sibelco Italia, the University of Calabria and the University of Palermo. The application is accompanied by the project's technical dossier and development plan, the documents describing in detail the objectives, planned activities and implementation arrangements of the initiative.

As a joint project, the documentation also includes the Partnership Agreement, which governs the roles, responsibilities and collaboration arrangements among the partners involved. This is a central element in collaborative projects, as it ensures a clear allocation of activities and coordinated management of the research and development phases.

Submitting the application is an essential formal step in the process set out by the Innovation Agreements. Through the assessment of the technical and project documentation, the Ministry verifies the initiative's consistency with the objectives of the instrument, the level of innovation proposed and the overall soundness of the project.

For companies, access to this type of funding is an opportunity to reduce the risk associated with research and development investment and to accelerate the market introduction of innovative solutions. The partnership-based model also makes it possible to leverage complementary expertise: in the case of TRACE, that of those who extract and valorise raw materials, those who develop process chemistry, those who manufacture ceramics and those who lead research on georesources, materials, sensor technology and sustainability.

In a context marked by supply tensions, the ecological transition and growing international competition, instruments such as the Innovation Agreements take on a strategic role, supporting companies' capacity to innovate and strengthening the industrial fabric. For an energy- and material-intensive sector such as ceramics, the ability to invest in research on sourcing, circularity and supply chain intelligence is a direct lever of competitiveness.

The application submitted on 17 February 2026 therefore marks the official start of the project evaluation process. The next steps will involve the review of the documentation by the Ministry and the managing body, followed by the subsequent phases of the funding procedure, in line with the applicable regulatory framework.