Chem industry uniquely placed to deliver EIPs

In a news release today (17 May) at its Amsterdam Stakeholder event, the European Technology Platform for Sustainable Chemistry (SusChem) announced the next steps in its plan to play a leading role in four critical societal challenges for Europe. These steps, unveiled at the SusChem annual event in Amsterdam, aim to further demonstrate the chemical and biotechnology industry as an essential partner in the EU Innovation Union.

There is a way to bring innovative ideas to market in much shorter timescales. However, speeding up delivery depends on a radically new approach to innovation, i.e. through wide-scale collaboration that stimulates innovation simultaneously at various stages of the value chain.

The chemical industry, one of the few European industries that still retains world leadership, is acknowledged as a principle source of innovation for other sectors in Europe.


“The chemical and biotechnology industry is uniquely positioned to be an active value chain captain in Europe,” commented Peter Nagler (right), of Evonik and SusChem Board member responsible for innovation. “SusChem builds on its excellent track record of cooperation with a whole range of industry sectors across national borders – by doing so, it is already putting the Innovation Union into practice.”

SusChem has developed proposals in four areas where sustainable chemistry has a leading role to play:

• Resource efficiency - Bringing energy savings in a demonstration plant that allows reduction of CO2 emissions by 50% and increasing the use of renewable feedstocks by 20% beyond 2020 along the value chain

• Water efficient Europe - Reducing competition between the public and private sectors for scarce water resources.

• Smart cities - Improving energy storage and renovating housing

• Raw materials for a modern society - Addressing scarce resource issues through new materials initiatives and improved recycling / reuse efficiency

“Neither the public or private sector can do it alone. These partnership proposals have the potential to improve the quality of life in Europe and deliver key gains for society as a whole,” concludes Nagler. “They can also drive new markets and make a major impact on various business sectors. The time is right therefore to give our stakeholders a clear-cut proposal of what our industry can achieve in the Innovation Partnerships.”

More background on the proposed EIPs can be found on this blog posting.

SusChem is a European Technology Platform that brings together stakeholders from many different backgrounds to boost sustainable chemistry with a focus on technology, research and innovation issues. It was founded in 2004 by Cefic and EuropaBio.

Visit the SusChem website at: www.suschem.org