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EV & Sustainability

In2tec contributes circular electronics tech to JLR Project Cornerstone

Project Cornerstone aims to bring together supply chain partners to explore how circular economy principles can be embedded into vehicle design.

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UK sustainable electronics company In2tec has played a role in JLR’s Project Cornerstone, contributing its circular electronics technology to help demonstrate how future vehicles can be designed for repairability, recoverability and reuse.

Project Cornerstone aims to bring together more than 40 supply chain partners to explore how circular economy principles can be embedded into vehicle design from the outset.

As one of the specialist technology partners selected to support the programme, In2tec has applied its proprietary ReUSE® and ReCYCLE™ technologies to the vehicle headlamp electronics.

In2tec said this collaboration marks a milestone for the company as global manufacturers increasingly look beyond traditional recycling towards designing products that retain their value throughout multiple life cycles.

For decades, electronic assemblies have relied on permanent soldered connections, making repair and component recovery extremely difficult once products reach the end of their operational life, according to In2tec.

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Its patented technology replaces solder with a reversible conductive adhesive, allowing electronic assemblies to be disassembled without compromising performance.

Project Cornerstone is designed to enable electronic components within headlamp systems to be recovered, tested and reused rather than discarded, to support JLR’s wider ambition of creating vehicle systems that can be repaired, reused and ultimately recycled.

Demonstrating recoverable electronics within such an application provides powerful validation of In2tec’s technology.

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In2tec said that testing has shown no observable difference in performance between recovered electronic components and newly manufactured parts, confirming that circular electronics can meet the standards required for automotive production.

For In2tec, participation in Project Cornerstone demonstrates growing recognition from vehicle manufacturers that achieving true circularity requires innovation within the electronic design process rather than relying solely on improvements to materials or end-of-life recycling.

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Emma Armstrong, sustainable electronics ambassador at In2tec, said: “The transition to circular manufacturing starts at the design stage.

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“We are delighted to have worked alongside JLR on Project Cornerstone to demonstrate how recoverable electronics can become part of the next generation of vehicle design.

“For many years the electronics industry has accepted that soldered assemblies are effectively permanent.

“Our technology challenges that assumption by enabling electronic components to be recovered and reused while continuing to deliver the performance demanded by automotive applications.”

By engaging technology partners early in the design process, manufacturers can embed circularity into products from the outset rather than attempting to address it once products reach end of life, according to In2tec.

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It added that reusing high-value components reduces demand for virgin materials, lowers embedded carbon, improves resource security and creates opportunities to recover value from both production fallout and end-of-life vehicles.

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