The principal objective of the HiPerDry project is to create a significant advance over the state of the art in hygroscopic polymer drying technology. A three year development programme which will culminate in the testing and demonstration of a prototype hygroscopic polymer drying system is proposed. The resulting combined microwave and super-heated steam drying (MW-SHSD) system will boast the following advantages: 30 to 50 % reduction in process energy costs as well as run time, the ability to efficiently dry heat-sensitive hygroscopic polymers (especially biopolymers) without the risk of material degradation and the built-up of knew know-how about the drying and processing of heat-sensitive bioplastics. Therefore the competitiveness of the SME-members of the SME-AGs will be significantly risen and thresholds for the processing of bioplastics will be lowered.The five SME-AGs from five different SME states and two SMEs from two different EU States in the project, together form the ideal trans-national partnership to exploit and disseminate the foreground intellectual property developed in the project for the benefit of hygroscopic polymer-processing SMEs right across Europe. However, lacking both capability and capacity to develop the proposed MW-SHSD technology, we have a need to out-source the necessary R&D. The Research for SME-Associations funding instrument provides us with the perfect opportunity to employ our preferred RTD partners to carry out the planned work programme. In return for paying the RTDPs for their work, the SME-AGs will retain all the rights to the Foreground Intellectual Property developed in the HiPerDry project.For its investment of €2.38 million in the HiPerDry project, the European plastics processing industry will earn a financial return of €158.8 million in turnover, see the creation of 798 new jobs in the industry and witness an increase in the global competitiveness of thousands of hygroscopic polymer-processing SMEs across Europe.