Innovation Forum in Lithuania

From today (4 December) to 6 December the first Vilnius Innovation Forum 2013 “Innovation Drift” is taking place in Lithuania - and SusChem, SPIRE and the Bio-based Industries JTI will all be contributing. The Lithuanian capital is hosting this international event designed to create a high-level discussion platform on innovation, best practices and impact for European economic growth.

The Forum, which is part of the programme for Lithuania’s Presidency of the Council of the EU, is organized by the Ministry of Economy of the Republic of Lithuania in cooperation with the Agency for Science, Innovation and Technology.

In an extensive programme of keynote presentations, panel discussions and industry visits SusChem personalities and SusChem inspired chemical innovation will be well represented.

Innovative Europe
In the afternoon of 4 December SusChem board member Gernot Klotz will be taking part in a panel discussion on the strategic paths that industry sectors are developing to build an innovative Europe.

The panel will debate the practices of leading companies in employing innovation and creating an innovative environment for employees, customers and society. Panellists will review key technological innovations in Europe and discuss how they can enable small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), and larger business and industry interests to address fast-paced global economic growth and achieve improved performance.

Other panellists include representatives of Microsoft, Thermo Fischer Scientific and Lithuanian government and industry leaders.

SPIRE and BioBased Industries
Thursday 5 December will see an all-day conference session on Public Private Partnerships (PPPs) and, of course, the two SusChem Horizon 2020 initiatives – SPIRE and the Biobased Industries Consortium (BIC) – will be taking centre stage.

The BIC JTI session will include contributions from Barend Verachtert of DG Research and Innovation and Kare-Rijs Nielsen of Novozymes, while the SPIRE presentations will be led by A.SPIRE Executive Director Loredana Ghinea and include a contribution from Carmine Marzano from DG Research and Innovation.

SPIRE - PPPs Info Days
If you want to find out more information on SPIRE and the other PPPs in Horizon 2020 then there are still a few places available for the Horizon 2020 PPP Information Day that is taking place in Brussels on 16 to 17 December. Don’t delay register today!