EUSEW13: Top Speakers share SusChem Priorities

Yesterday (June 26), the High-Level Conference of the European Union Sustainable Energy Week (EUSEW) officially came to an end. Over three days top-level speakers from the European Union, Member States and from civil society organisations discussed the priorities for energy in the years to come. It was clear that SusChem’s priorities in the areas of sustainability and efficiency in energy are shared by many of the speaker at EUSEW.

SusChem was present at a number of the over 100 events organised in Brussels alone and can report that our vision of the coming challenges is widely shared. In future society will need a more efficient and sustainable use of energy if we want to maintain our quality of life and be competitive on the world scene. And that means we have to support innovation in technologies, legislation and the market.

As explained by Paul Hodson, the Head of Unit for Energy Efficiency in DG Energy at the European Commission, we must overcome “financial, administrative and regulatory” barriers if we want to achieve our targets for energy efficiency in 2020. He was speaking at the EUSEW13 event 'Towards EU2020 and Beyond - Local and Regional Actions'. Following his stimulating keynote speech, a series of successful projects were presented: ranging from energy-savings measures for the street lighting of the city of Pula to the renovations of school heating system in some Paris district: it is now clear that the sustainable and efficient use of energy is a priority across the continent.

Chemistry role
And chemistry has a big part to play in overcoming the challenges of energy efficiency. One of the best examples of possible SusChem contributions to this field are the cooling and heating innovative insulations for buildings presented at the recent Smart Cities Platform Stakeholders Conference in Budapest.

Aside from being voted among the top three innovations at that conference, at EUSEW events it was made clear that this type of innovation is exactly what Europe will need to achieve its targets. At the conference event on Energy Efficiency, Mr. Pascal Eveillard, president of EURIMA – the European Insulation Manufacturers Association – made clear that cost-efficient solutions which can resolve technical challenges for the renovation of buildings will be crucial in achieving the proposed energy targets. This description fits SusChem’s key innovations like a glove.

Incentives
On top of this, local authorities are developing new incentive schemes to promote energy-efficient buildings and construction. Mr. Hoogelander of the Dutch NL Agency part of the Dutch Ministry of Economic Affairs presented one such scheme that includes tax reductions calculated on expenses incurred while refurbishing buildings, bank capitalisation support for mortgages for energy-efficient houses and an additional index in the calculation of the building’s market value according to their energy savings. A similar scheme, though wider in scope, was presented by Mr Gatier of the French Ministry for Ecology, Sustainable Development, Transport and Housing.

It is clear that SusChem, and sustainable chemistry in general, will have further opportunities to contribute solutions for the current energy dilemmas. If solutions on par with those already proposed can be made available, it will become evident that chemistry is a key area to involve in the planning of a society that can use energy sustainably and efficiently.

For more information on SusChem’s winning proposals for Key Innovation for sustainable buildings download the SusChem report.

Dialogue on Nano

The English language publication of the findings from the Dialogforum on Nano organised by BASF was celebrated at a public event yesterday (24 June) in Brussels. This important communication examined how we can effectively communicate in a transparent way on nanomaterials from manufacturers to consumers. Its findings reflect other recent industry communications in the area of nanotech.

What do consumers want to know about nanotech-enabled products? And how should manufacturers and retailers communicate? Does a definition of nano help, what is the role of labelling and would a mandatory register help?

These questions and more were on the agenda of the Dialogforum Nano organised by BASF. This initiative brought together representatives of German environmental and consumer organisations, churches, industry, retailers, research organisations and trade unions to develop shared recommendations for increasing transparency and information on nano-materials along the value chain from manufacturer to the consumer.

To achieve this involved a process that included analysis of  consumer enquiries to companies and consumer organisations, expert hearings the availability of relevant scientific information and safety testing of nanomaterials.

You can access the final report of the Dialogforum here and see a summary of the 24 June event including contributions from panelists and the audience can be accessed here.

Seven questions
The essence of the recommendations of the Dialogforum is summarised in seven questions for the supply chain:

1. Information on the nanomaterial used: How can the material be characterised?
2. Does the EU definition recommendation for nanomaterials apply to the material in question?
3. A/ How can the effect and the new functionality generated through the nanomaterial be explained? B/ How can the effect and the new functionality be explained if the material in question is not a nanomaterial?
4. How can the added value of the nanomaterial be described compared to other products?
5. How is the risk assessment of the used materials carried out? With what results?
6. How is the material / product in question to be recycled / disposed of / handled at the end-of-pipe?
7. Where can further information be found?

During the discussion on 24 June a key element for the success of the Dialogforum was the establishment of a common language / vocabulary to remove ambiguity and allow common understanding between the various stakeholder. It is hoped to develop the dialogue at a pan-European level.

Mindset change
Gernot Klotz, Executive Director for Research and Innovation at Cefic and SusChem board member addressed the recent EuroNanoForum in Dublin on June 18 with a similar message.

He called for a mindset change in Europe. In the face of the many pressing societal challenges—such as renewable energy and an ageing population —that we face it is essential that we develop key enabling technologies (KETs) such as nanotechnology.

However successful development of KETs requires that both public and political perceptions of the technologies are able to comprehend the relative and differentiated balance of risk and benefit for their wide range of applications.

He argued that “to achieve global leadership in nano and maximise its benefits to society, the benefits and risks research in new technology areas should be tackled together.  The innovation and safety community must work together to ensure that we master these technologies and push forward applications where the use of nano is regarded as safe.”

That means an integrated strategy on KETs is needed that will simultaneously:

• Link technologies to their specific uses for solutions for priority European challenges
• Open a structured dialogue between the innovation and safety stakeholder communities
• Promote more research that integrates risks and benefits within its design to provide us robust data on the benefits from innovation that society wants and the related risks society is willing to take to get the benefits
• Explore existing regulations and voluntary approaches for responsible risk management of KETs
• Initiate broad and structured public dialogue about benefits and risks of KETs in specific application areas

“Innovation is about change. And change requires a mindset change in order for us to accept and adapt to change. The proposed approaches must be part of the discussion on societal challenges. We cannot achieve the EU 20-20-20 objectives and enjoy a better life quality if we do not invest in technology,” he concluded.

You can read the full text of Gernot Klotz’s speech here.

Safe and innovative
These themes were also reflected in a joint document published by a range of European industry associations, including the chemical industry, on 14 June. The document, Europe needs safe and innovative nanotechnologies, demonstrates these sectors backing for the European Commission's Second Regulatory Review on Nanomaterials and ‘its conclusion that the current European regulatory framework adequately covers nanomaterials, is science-based and proportionate’.

The paper also states that ‘[…] the REACH (Registration, Evaluation, Authorisation and Restriction of Chemicals) Regulation provides the [most] appropriate framework to address nanomaterials […]’ and that openness and transparency are vital for the growth of the nanotechnology industries.

SusChem and Smart Cities at #EUSEW13

SusChem will be actively engaged at the EU’s Sustainable Energy Week 2013 (EUSEW 2013) this week (24 to 28 June). SusChem's chemistry-based key innovation proposals was a big hit at the Smart Cities Stakeholder Platform Annual Conference in Budapest and information on our Smart Cities Innovation initiatives will be available at the Smart Cities desk in the exhibition area on the 5th floor of the Jacques Delors building at the Committee of the Regions venue in Brussels.

EUSEW 2013 is set to be an exciting event that is packed full of activities bringing together energy stakeholders and the general public - and a great opportunity to further promote the message on chemistry and energy efficiency to a wider audience.

Full details can be found on the EUSEW 2013 website. This site contains all you need to know about attending events, submitting projects for the annual Awards or organising Energy Day activities that are taking place across Europe. The core message of this eighth edition of EUSEW is: 'One small step from you, one giant leap for Europe!'

If you haven't yet registered for any events, on-the-day registration is possible for some. But check the website for details.

SusChem will be reporting back from a number of Smart Cities orientated sessions at the high-level policy conference taking place in Brussels in particular:

• Towards EU2020 And Beyond – Local And Regional Actions taking place in the European Commission's Charlemagne Building in Brussels on the morning of 25 June
• Energy Efficiency taking place in the Charlemagne building during the afternoon of 25 June
• Towards smart cities and smart housing in Europe also taking place in the afternoon of 25 June in the Committee of the Regions Building, room JDE 51
• Innovation In Energy Efficiency Buildings And Districts For Smart Built Environment taking place on the morning of 26 June in the Committee of the Regions building in Brussels and organised in association with the Energy Efficient Buildings Association (E2BA) and
• From Ambition to Action: How to best deliver European building sector policies on the ground? on the afternoon of 26 June in the Committee of the Regions building and organised by the Buildings Performance Institute Europe.

Look out for our blog report later in the week!

What is EUSEW?
The EUSEW event is organised by the European Commission's Directorate-General for Energy, the Executive Agency for Competitiveness and Innovation (EACI), the European Institutions, major energy actors and private companies. EUSEW 2013 celebrates innovative energy initiatives for a sustainable future – very much a SusChem theme.

You can follow EUSEW 2013 on Twitter by searching for the hashtag #EUSEW2013. For more information on SusChem's Key Innovations in Energy Efficiency in Buildings for Smart Cities access the SusChem report here.

Cefic-LRI Grants 2013 open

The Long-range Research Initiative (LRI) is a major voluntary initiative of the European chemical industry to support its competitiveness and innovation potential. The LRI programme aims to identify and fill gaps in the understanding of the hazards posed by chemical substances and to improve the methods available for assessing any associated risks. The topics in which proposals for research during 2013 are requested have just been announced.

LRI sponsors high-quality research, published in peer-reviewed journals, and seeks to provide sound scientific advice on which industry and regulatory bodies can draw to respond more quickly and accurately to society’s concerns.

In the context of its LRI programme for 2013, the European Chemical Industry Council (Cefic) is accepting grant applications to carry out research in the following areas:

• LRI-B14: Skin sensitisation - chemical applicability domain of the Local Lymph Node Assay (LLNA)
• LRI-B15: Efficiency of Risk Management Measures (RMM)
• LRI-ECO23: Combining passive sampling and toxicity profiling to assess mixture toxicity of surface waters
• LRI-ECO24: Prediction of Non-Extractable Residues (NER) using structural information 
• LRI-ECO25: Development of soup tests for the risk assessment of NER in soil
• LRI-EMSG58: Quality assessment of the epidemiological evidence of adverse effects to humans of endocrine active substances in the environment
• LRI-N4: Grouping nanomaterials and establishing criteria for Safe by Design
• LRI-S3: Benefits and risk evidence streams for decision makers

Further details of each research area can be found by following the links on each topic.

More information
The deadline for applications is 1 September 2013. Project specifications, budget details and application forms can be found on the Cefic LRI website. Only proposals that fit the project specifications and are submitted via the official LRI application form will be considered.

The scientific evaluation and selection of applications for funding are managed by a scientific committee provided by ECETOC. In particular, within LRI, ECETOC has the responsibility of maintaining three “core teams”: health effects, human exposure & risk assessment and environment.

For further information, please read the complete LRI Requests for Proposals on the Cefic LRI website, or contact Dr. Bruno Hubesch, Cefic-LRI Manager, or the LRI Secretariat.

EFIB 2013 – Get your Brochure now!

The European Forum for Industrial Biotechnology and the Biobased Economy 2013 (EFIB2013) takes place in Brussels from 30 September to 2 October at the Square conference facility. A full brochure for the event is now available – get your copy now!

With over 1,000 biotechnology professionals expected to attend, a growing exhibition hall with 50 exhibitors, over 14 hours of one-to-one networking available and a brand new Technology Showcase Theatre the EFIB has clearly continued to evolve for 2013.

"EFIB is the most important event on the calendar for the biobased economy," says Ian Hudson, President of DuPont EMEA and a member of the executive committee of Cefic and a board member at EuropaBio – joint organisers of the event with Smithers Rapra.

Diverse agenda
The new brochure shows the wide range of activities on offer at EFIB 2013 including:

• Choose the conference agenda to suit your interests with 8 dedicated conference sessions focused on policy, finance, innovation and including a dedicated session on BRIDGE: the SusChem supported  proposal for a €3.8 billion Public Private Partnership (PPP) for the biobased industries
• Be the first to witness the latest innovation and product development at the ‘new for 2013’ Technology Showcase in the Exhibition Hall
• Take part in CEO Question Time and put your questions to the ‘movers and shakers’ in strategic positions to move the industry forward
• Visit over 50 exhibitors and see for yourself first-hand what the European and wider industrial biotechnology industry has to offer
• Take advantage of the one-to-one Partnering at EFIB2013 to make efficient use of your networking time, during over 14 hours of active partnering sessions

Get the brochure
Find out more about EFIB2013 in the brand new event brochure including the full programme, workshop agendas, exhibition floor plan, Technology Showcase Theatre agenda, one-to-one Partnering, prices, event highlights and travel information.

Water EIP: First Action Groups selected

The European Innovation Partnership (EIP) on Water has announced the successful applicants from the first call for expressions of interest for establishing Action Groups. More than sixty proposals were submitted for evaluation.

Nine Action Groups were selected out of 64 applications at the end of May 2013. In total, over 700 individual organisations participated in the first call for expressions of commitment demonstrating the relevance of the EIP Water. The successful projects were:

• W4EF: Framework for evaluation and reporting of the energy impacts on water
• Renewable Energy Desalination (RE-Desalination)
• Anaerobic membrane Bioreactor for Recovery of Energy and Resources
• Industrial Water Re-use and Recycling
• Smart Pricing and Drought Insurance Schemes in Mediterranean Countries
• CITY BLUEPRINTS: Improving Implementation Capacities of Cities and Regions
• WaterCoRe: Regional governance of water scarcity and drought issues
• ESE - Ecosystem Services for Europe
• FINNOWATER

Officials from ten different Directorates General of the European Commission participated in the evaluation of the proposals. The selected Action Groups were deemed to fulfil all requirements and showed the most promising approaches, combining innovative ideas with partners across the innovation value chain and demonstrating the potential to deliver concrete results.

All the submitted Action Group proposals have received detailed feedback and the European Commission has strongly encouraged the partners involved to further strengthen their proposals and submit them again during the next call for expressions of commitment. Some general information on the proposals submitted for evaluation in the first call can be found here.

The EIP’s annual conference will be organised in November which will be an opportunity to showcase ideas and seek further consortium partners, and the second call for action groups will be published at that time.

Detailed information about all nine successful Action Group proposals, their origins and other details can be found here.

Ad-hoc Group
In separate news the EIP on Water has established an ad-hoc group as part of the task force set up to develop the EIP’s Strategic Implementation Plan (SIP) to identify  barriers and bottle necks to innovation in the sector and propose some new solutions. SusChem and Cefic via Antonia Morales Peres is heavily involved in this initiative with Thomas Track of Dechema.

For more information on the EIP and other SusChem work on water issues, please contact Antonia Morales Perez at Cefic.

SusChem Materials Priorities: What are the next steps?

Feedback from the workshop session on Materials at the SusChem Stakeholder meeting is being analysed and incorporated into the SusChem Materials Working Group report. For the second half of 2013 the identified topics will be further assessed and the scope of future research and innovations calls developed. And your participation is encouraged! 

Following the initial analysis, from June to the end of 2013 SusChem will be engaging with key value chain partners through a series of focused workshops to refine the research and innovation agenda and set the basis for successful collaborative project calls early in Horizon 2020.

SusChem News will keep you informed of workshop dates and venues etc.

Of course Horizon 2020 is just one possible route to develop collaborative R&I projects and SusChem is willing and able to facilitate development of materials research programmes under other regional, national or multi-national funding initiatives.

To obtain a copy of the full SusChem Materials Working Group report, please contact the SusChem secretariat.

How can I get involved?
If you want to join the SusChem Materials Working Group and share your expertise and knowledge to enhance the future European materials research and innovation agenda, or have a specific interest in a particular priority topic, please get in touch with SusChem coordinator Jacques Komornicki at Cefic directly.

“Please join us in our quest to ensure European materials research and innovation can make a significant impact on competitiveness and sustainability in Europe and develop more circular, resource efficient value chains,” concludes Jacques.

SusChem Materials Priorities: The Analysis Process

The process leading to the selection of SusChem’s priority topics in Materials for Horizon 2020 was the result of ongoing dialogue with stakeholders and value chain partners. Here the process is described more fully.

Advanced materials are defined as one of Europe’s Key Enabling Technologies (KETs) by the European Commission and have been a priority research theme for SusChem since its inception.

Recently, as part of its revised strategy, SusChem has grown its engagement with value chain partners to develop ‘through-the-value-chain’ initiatives that can make a significant impact at European level extending beyond single sectors or individual companies. This ‘innovation ecosystem’ approach has led to proposals for major Public-Private-Partnership initiatives (PPPs) such as SPIRE and BRIDGE.

In the materials area SusChem has adapted this way of working via its Materials Working Group to look at a value-chain approach to assess priorities for the field of advanced materials.

Priority analysis
The following three prioritised value chains were identified :

• Automotive
• Building Construction and Refurbishment
• Energy Production and Storage

In addition the group identified the concept of circularity of material flows in the economy as an area of important cross-cutting organisational and technology development.

“The current, typical linear value chain approach of extraction – concentration – transformation – use – disposal is clearly unsustainable and developing a circular approach, where waste is used as a resource, is key to developing a more resource efficient and sustainable society,” comments Jacques Komornicki.

The whole analysis process searched for areas where chemistry-led projects can be pursued with a multi-stakeholder innovation approach. And where clear added value for a European-level – and EU-funded – effort can be demonstrated.

The analysis resulted in the identification of four provisional research, development and innovation topics that are considered to be key priorities for inclusion in early calls for Horizon 2020.

To obtain a copy of the full SusChem Materials Working Group report, please contact the SusChem secretariat. More information on how you can get be involved can be found in this article.

SusChem proposes Priority Materials Topics for Horizon 2020

SusChem has published the results of its preliminary analysis of research needs for materials in the early calls of Horizon 2020. The analysis is the result of ongoing dialogue with stakeholders and value chain partners undertaken by SusChem’s Materials Working Group and was discussed at the SusChem Stakeholder workshop in mid-May.

From analysis of the size of opportunities and societal challenges faced by Europe SusChem has focused on three prioritised value chains:

• Automotive
• Building Construction and Refurbishment
• Energy Production and Storage

“The SusChem working group then examined these value chains more closely, segmenting sub areas of potential research and analysing the importance of developments for the future, looking at current coverage in the areas by global research activities and identifying significant research gaps,” said Jacques Komornicki SusChem coordinator and Innovation Manager at Cefic.

The results were reviewed at a SusChem Materials Working Group workshop held in March 2013 and further discussed at a workshop that was part of the SusChem Stakeholder event in mid May.

Priority topics
Four provisional research, development and innovation topics considered to be key priorities for inclusion in early calls for Horizon 2020 have been identified. They are:

• Advanced structural composites for cost effective volume production of complex high performance lightweight parts
• Circular economy and how this concept can be developed within the three identified key value chains (and elsewhere) of importance to the chemical industry and society
• Thermal energy conversion and storage (including solar cooling)
• Stationary electricity storage 

These four topics are generally perceived as being at technology readiness levels 4 to 7 (TRL 4 – 7) and therefore have potential for industrial impact in the short to medium term (see diagram above).

Two other topics were also identified as of continuing interest but at a lower TRL. These are:

• Self-healing materials
• Printed electronics

SusChem will maintain a watching brief in these two areas in order that partners can consider more specific developments possibly via funding from sources such as the Future and Emerging Technologies area. You can find more on the analysis process for selecting the priority topics here in a related blog article.

In the working group report proposals for all six topics are described in terms of:

• The general ambition and time frame envisaged
• The Key Stakeholders that should be involved
• Value chain specifics
• The proposed programme
• What the Chemical Industry brings to the topic area

More information?
To obtain a copy of the full SusChem Materials Working Group report, please contact the SusChem secretariat.

This is also the place to find out how you can get involved with the ongoing analysis and work being undertaken by the Working Group to prepare for the first Horizon 2020 calls in 2014.

Sustainable Surfactants and the Bioeconomy

CESIO 2013 - the 9th World Surfactant Congress and Business Convention – has convened in Barcelona from 10 to 12 June and Pádraig Naughton Innovation Manager - Resource and Energy Efficiency at Cefic is participating today (12 June) in a panel discussion entitled: ‘BioEconomy – Opportunities and Challenges'. SusChem News caught up with Pádraig before he be departed for Barcelona.

The bio-economy and the use of bio-based feedstocks and energy are seen by many as major contributing solutions to societal challenges such as climate change, availability of fossil-based resources and the competitiveness of Europe for the future. And the surfactant sector is no exception.

Europe has a strong research and development tradition and Pádraig is confident that the development of the technology and knowledge to meet these expectations will be forthcoming and Europe can play a leading role in the world.

However, Europe's recent track record on commercialisation of new technology does not instill confidence that we can convert newly developed expertise in the bioeconomy into local growth and jobs. Other regions are also working hard in this field and are ramping up their investment. Pádraig’s contribution addresses concerns in this area and is entitled ‘BioEconomy: Growth and jobs for Europe or elsewhere?’

Balanced approach
An integrated, balanced approach is needed, building on Europe’s strengths and identifying and addressing the gaps to reach a long-term vision for the future of this region argues Pádraig.

“In order to create growth and jobs in the European economy, it is essential to ensure sustainable business through market pull, rather than technology push,” he says. “Past EU developments have a good track record in research and development and technology development, but too often we have not been able to reap the benefits locally.”

Pádraig’s talk will address the consequences of this weakness and the barriers that need to be addressed to cross the “innovation valley of death” to a sustainable bioeconomy in Europe.

He is hopeful that Europe can rise to the challenge in a united manner and that large-scale collaborative research and innovation has a role to play in this. “Conducting innovation and creating long-term value from these efforts is a primary goal of Horizon 2020,” concluded Pádraig.

What is CESIO 2013?
CESIO 2013 is organised on behalf of the European Committee of Organic Surfactants and their Intermediates (CESIO) a sector group of Cefic, the European Chemical Industry Council.

The Congress offers a one-of-a-kind location to meet the relevant actors in the global surfactant industry, its suppliers and customers, and service companies to share expertise, discuss market trends, learn about new developments and to network within the supply chain, consultants and academia.

How Europe can benefit from SPIRE?

In this interview, adapted from the Cefic Sustainability Flagship initiative website, Cefic Gernot Klotz, Cefic Executive Director for Research & Innovation (right), explains how SPIRE – the proposed Public-Private-Partnership for a Sustainable Process Industry through Resource and Energy efficiency  -  can provide sustainability solutions for Europe while at the same time creating jobs and improving the global competitiveness of Europe. The debate on how Europeans can manage resources and energy in a sustainable way has been going on for many years. The chemical industry not only has the responsibility, but also the unique ability to respond to these challenges. One of the most ambitious projects addressing them is SPIRE, which has been selected as one of Cefic’s flagship initiatives on sustainability.

What is SPIRE about?
SPIRE is one of the first innovation-driven public-private partnerships in Europe. We want to push concrete action towards innovation in resource, energy efficiency and optimise cooperation between the different process sectors. Eight of those sectors, including steel, water, minerals and chemicals have joined forces to bring Europe closer to the objectives it needs to reach.

What are the objectives of SPIRE?
SPIRE wants to provide a long-term sustainable solution to Europe’s main challenges, which are competitiveness, environmental issues and employment. Our aim is to develop the required technologies and solutions along the value chain to address those challenges.

Our two main ambitions are:

• reducing fossil energy intensity by up to 30% from current levels 
• reducing non-renewable, primary raw material intensity by up to 20% from current levels

Both ambitions will contribute to efficiency improvement in CO2-equivalent footprints of up to 40% by 2030.

When did the project start?
We started one and a half years ago. There is a strong consensus between policy makers and industry about the need to improve the way we manage resources and energy. Industry has the tools to address these challenges, but cannot do it alone. As we want to address expectations coming from the public, the best model is for the public and the private sector to join forces and to push Europe forward.

How do you plan to reach your ambitions by 2030?
Currently we have finished work on a roadmap concerning the ways to achieve this. The roadmap has clear, visible and committable targets on renewable resource, CO2 footprint and energy use.

In July of 2012, we founded a new association called A.SPIRE. The members are companies, associations and especially research and technology organizations which help us carry the “baby” from research into adulthood. We involve top-academia and high-tech SMEs to activate the value chain and make solutions available to less performing sectors. We want to make the EU process industry the leading global competitor.

What are the next steps for SPIRE?
In January 2014 Horizon 2020 (the next EU Framework Programme for Research and Innovation) will start, and we have to be ready to go forward. As the process industry is an industry which is based on long-term investment, we think that by 2020 - that’s how long SPIRE will run - we will have all the scale-up and innovation ready. Let’s assume that it will take 5 to 10 years to bring it to the market. We are quite certain that by 2030 we can achieve all the targets. That’s the rough timeline.

What impact do you anticipate SPIRE making on the European economy?
Our approach should allow Europe to create new jobs, encourage world-class research and help create better products and technologies. All this would stimulate entrepreneurship and create new markets.

What would the impact on sustainability be?
Europe would make a giant leap in sustainability. Our focus on innovation and our ability to connect across sectors will create a shift in the mentality of industry’s main drivers. SPIRE addresses many sustainability areas, such as the low-carbon economy and energy efficiency. The benefits for Europe would be huge.

For more information on SPIRE visit its website and find more information on other Cefic Sustainability Flagship Initiatives here.

EU Sustainable Energy Week 2013

Following the tremendous interest in SusChem’s chemistry-based proposals for increasing energy efficiency in buildings shown at the Smart Cities Stakeholder Platform Annual Conference in Budapest stakeholders will be interested in the events being organised during the EU’s Sustainable Energy Week 2013 (EUSEW 2013) in late June.

One small step from you, one giant leap for Europe! That’s the core message of this eighth edition of the EUSEW. The event takes place from 24 to 28 June and registration is open now!

EUSEW 2013 is set to be an exciting event that is packed full of activities that bring together energy stakeholders and the general public - and a great opportunity to further promote the message on chemistry and energy efficiency to a wider audience.

Details can be found on the EUSEW 2013 website that has been designed to ensure all participants can easily manage their involvement in the Week. The site contains all you need to know about attending events, submitting projects for the annual Awards or organising Energy Day activities that are taking place across Europe.

To participate in the high-level policy conference taking place in Brussels, or any event happening in your region or city, you must first create an account and then register for the conference, workshop, guided tour or exhibition of your choice.

A number of events taking place as part of the high-level conference in Brussels have caught SusChem’s eye:

• Towards EU2020 And Beyond – Local And Regional Actions taking place in the European Commission's Charlemagne Building in Brussels on the morning of 25 June
• Energy Efficiency taking place in the Charlemagne building during the afternoon of 25 June
• Towards smart cities and smart housing in Europe also taking place in the afternoon of 25 June in the Committee of the Regions Building, room JDE 51
• Innovation In Energy Efficiency Buildings And Districts For Smart Built Environment taking place on the morning of 26 June in the Committee of the Regions building in Brussels and organized in association with the Energy Efficient Buildings Association (E2BA) and
• From Ambition to Action: How to best deliver European building sector policies on the ground? on the afternoon of 26 June in the Commitee of the Regions building and organised by the Buildings Performance Institute Europe.

What is EUSEW?
The EUSEW event is organised by the European Commission's Directorate-General for Energy, the Executive Agency for Competitiveness and Innovation (EACI), the European Institutions, major energy actors and private companies. EUSEW 2013 celebrates innovative energy initiatives for a sustainable future – very much a SusChem theme.

The first EUSEW took place in 2006 and showcases activities dedicated to energy efficiency and renewable energy solutions. It is designed to spread best practices, inspire new ideas and build alliances to help meet the EU’s energy and climate goals.

SusChem voted Key Innovator for Smart Cities

A set of chemistry-based proposals for increasing energy efficiency in buildings from the European Technology Platform (ETP) for Sustainable Chemistry (SusChem) has been voted as one of the top three key innovations needed to transform European cities at the Smart Cities Stakeholder Platform Annual Conference in Budapest.

On Wednesday 5 June, SusChem’s proposal on advanced materials for energy efficiency and buildings was voted as one of the top three Key Innovations critical to the sustainable development of European cities at the Smart Cities Stakeholder Platform annual conference. The SusChem proposal highlights five major chemistry-enabled solutions that have been tested and proven to significantly reduce energy consumption in buildings as well as contribute towards achieving the EU 20-20-20 targets.

The vote for the participants'  favourite Key Innovations closed the first day of the Smart Cities Stakeholder Platform Annual Conference. Following a full afternoon of parallel sessions where the conference delegates learned more about the 13 Key Innovation proposed by the Platform, the audience had the chance to vote its 'top three'.

Chemical winners
Key Chemistry-enabled Solutions for Smart Cities:

• High Reflectance Indoor Coatings
• High Reflectance and Durable Outdoor Coatings
• High Performance Insulation Foams 
• High Performance Vacuum Insulation Panels
• Phase Change Materials (PCM) 

The chemistry industry’s Key Innovations were presented by Rinske van Heiningen of Akzo Nobel in his presentation on Advanced Materials for Energy Services.

According Jacques Komornicki, SusChem coordinator and Innovation Manager at Cefic: "Using these tested energy efficiency solutions can reduce energy use in buildings by up to 70%."

“These innovations are particularly suited to the renovation market and this market in turn has the potential to create growth and jobs in Smart Cities that adopt them whilst also contributing significantly to their emissions reduction goals - a double win!” he continues.

You can learn more about these Key Innovations for Smart Cities in the SusChem report: "Innovative chemistry for Energy efficiency of buildings in smart cities." For more information, please contact Jacques Kormornicki at Cefic directly.