Help SusChem develop its Materials Technologies IAP!

SusChem is organizing its first workshop on Materials Technologies on 5 March 2013 within the frame of the technology platform’s new collaborative strategy. The strategy looks to enhance synergies between European value chains and fostering materials innovation is a key issue. Your input is vital!

The meeting will rejuvenate and reinvigorate the activities of the SusChem’s Materials Technologies Working Group. The meeting on March 5 2013 will be held in Brussels Sheraton Airport Hotel with discussions organized around three priority value chains: construction, transport and energy.

The SusChem Materials Technology Workshop has the objectives to update the SusChem Implementation Action Plan (IAP), identify the existing technology gaps within the IAP, and to connect the results with the main value chains on SusChem’s agenda including highlighting innovations that can have an impact across numerous value chains.

Strategy and partnership
In 2012, SusChem initiated a new inclusive and open innovation strategy in collaboration with other European Technology Platforms (ETPs) to improve synergies between European value chains. As a result, SusChem is now involved in many of the major European Innovation Partnerships (EIPs) such as water, raw materials, smart-cities and communities, and initiatives such as key enabling technologies (KETs), all with a specific focus on the needs of value chains. Aligned with this strategy, SusChem has also been active in the establishment of the SPIRE PPP and the EeB (Energy efficient Buildings) PPP proposals.

To support the development of roadmaps for these ambitious initiatives, SusChem is actively participating in selected Coordination Support Actions under the European Commission’s FP7 research programme including Building-Up (on Energy Efficient Buildings), R4R (preparing the ground for calls related to resource efficiency for SPIRE and other programmes), BIOCHEM and Bio-Tic (both related to bioeconomy issues), and ChemWater (working on water resource efficiency).

Material support
In 2010, SusChem published an up-dated IAP on materials technologies that covered materials research and innovation in several fields including construction, energy, transport, health, textiles and ICT. The IAP now requires a further review in the light of progress in research, changes in industry priorities and the business environment.

Clearly, materials technologies constitute a horizontal research and innovation theme that is intimately related to many different value chains. However, innovations in materials technologies are often, at least initially, developed independently of any value chain leading to delays in implementation and missed opportunities.

To help reconcile this situation, a new EU funded project has been launched: MatVal - a value chain approach to materials research and innovation. This project, which aims at identifying the common points of research and innovation between the main stakeholders involved with materials technologies, involves the major ETPs related to steel, textiles, advanced materials, sustainable chemistry and mineral resources.

To efficiently implement the SusChem materials agenda in the MatVal project, and convey our key messages on materials research and innovation to the European Commission’s DG Research and Innovation in the build up to Horizon 2020, SusChem needs your expertise and your insights! The workshop is the place to make your input.

Get involved!
Join this SusChem meeting and share your expertise and knowledge to enhance the materials of the future! To register your participation, or to obtain more information on the workshop, please get in touch with SusChem coordinator Jacques Komornicki at Cefic.