SusChem stakeholders met on 16 and 17 May in Brussels to work on the
next SusChem Strategic Innovation and Research Agenda (SIRA), reflecting on the
new opportunities and challenges to be faced in the next European research and
innovation framework programme: Horizon Europe. This SusChem SIRA-dedicated workshop brought together members of the SusChem
Board, the SusChem NTPs and experts from across Industry, Academia and SMEs, to
finalise the technology content of the SusChem SIRA. The SusChem community continued
a process that was initiated at theSusChem Stakeholders 2018 meeting, followed by nominations of experts and two consultation rounds. The communication
of the new SusChem SIRA is expected at the upcoming 2019 SusChem Stakeholder meeting
on 27 November 2019.
On day one, participants focused on
four cross-cutting topics of high relevance for SusChem: 'Circular Economy',
'Process Intensification', 'Sustainability Assessment Innovation', and 'Safe -by-design
innovation'.
Delegates joined roundtable
discussions, moderated by experts, focussing on a specific sub-topic within one
of the four areas and considered the current state-of the-art and grand
challenges. From that analysis they then selected key priority areas for
research and innovation in the timeframe of Horizon Europe. A key output was
the likely impact of research and innovation. Horizontal impacts and
requirements, such as education and training, were also discussed.
For the Process Intensification session,
the sub-topics were: reaction engineering, digitalisation, electrification,
modularisation, and materials. In the Safe-by-Design session research and
innovation themes relevant to process and materials innovation as well as
methodologies towards improved safety and sustainability were discussed. The Circular
Economy session looked at biomass valorisation, CO2 valorisation,
waste valorisation, circularity-by-design and water circularity. Finally, the Sustainability
Assessment Innovation session discussed methodologies, data, tools and uptake
issues to ensure the measurable and sustainable impact of the developed
technologies.
SusChem
key enabling technologies in Horizon Europe
The second day of the workshop began
with a summary of the outcomes of day one, followed by a panel discussion on strategic
research priorities for Sustainable Chemistry and Industrial Biotechnology in
the context of the transition to Horizon Europe.
Contributions were made by SusChem
board members Dr. Jens Rieger of BASF, Dr. François
Monnet from Solvay, Dr. Deirdre Black of the
Royal Society of Chemistry and Dr. Fernando Moreno of Solutex, with Jürgen
Tiedje representing the European Commission DG Research & Innovation. The
panel debate was moderated by Dr. Pierre Barthélemy of Cefic and also a member
of the SusChem Board.
Jürgen Tiedje opened the
discussion with an update on Horizon Europe. He noted that there was a basic
agreement between the Commission, Member States and the European Parliament on
the framework programme, although the budget is still to be finalised. The
Commission is moving ahead with implementation to ensure calls would be available
in 2021.
He described the changes in areas
relevant to industry in Horizon Europe as “not a revolution, but a big change nonetheless”
and he emphasised the need to highlight the impact of any proposed research and
innovation calls. In June the Commission will publish strategic plans describing
“what do we want to achieve” in Horizon Europe, again with a clear emphasis on increasing
impact. A widespread consultation on the document will follow and the plan will
be discussed at and finalised after the next EU
Research and Innovation Days on 24-26 September 2019. He also noted that
the Commission has just published a call for experts to join the new Horizon
Europe Mission boards and invited SusChem stakeholders to be involved in all the
above-mentioned steps of stakeholder consultation. In general, he thought that
the outcome of the SIRA workshop would be an excellent basis for SusChem input
to the Horizon Europe debate.
The panel discussed the
significant impact of SusChem and the previous SusChem SIRA under Horizon 2020,
and how this raised the platform’s ambition for Horizon Europe. The SusChem
Board highlighted how this could be achieved through SusChem’s considerable
experience as a multi-stakeholder platform and an advisory forum on technology
priorities to address EU challenges.
The panel discussion ranged
across the role of the European Research Council in the programme, how to
support SMEs’ involvement and the role of the SusChem NTPs in achieving this, and
Horizon Europe’s aim to provide new open infrastructure such as facilities for innovation
testing and demonstration.
The SusChem Board members highlighted
the need to make the best use of the collaborative synergies and experience established
by SusChem that could be very useful in achieving, for example, a true Circular
Economy faster. They also emphasised how both vertical and horizontal
technologies will contribute to achieving high-impact goals with digital
technology being both enabling and transformative.
Jürgen Tiedje reminded the
audience that the last work programme for Horizon 2020 would be published soon
and would feature a wide-ranging call on circular economy topics which would
emphasise inter-topic connection. “It is important to start to look beyond
individual topics to leverage impact,” he concluded.
The final working session was devoted to three parallel sessions in
which participants considered gaps and prioritisation for research and
innovation topics under the three SusChem technology pillars: Advanced
Materials, Advanced Processes and enabling Digital Technologies.
Over the two days of the workshop a
considerable number of ideas and initiatives were discussed and captured.
Existing input from expert groups and the wider consultation process were
reviewed and validated and technology gaps were identified with relevant input
suggested. All-in-all an excellent basis for refining and completing the
revised SIRA.
Next steps?
The input from the SusChem SIRA workshop will be analysed and incorporated
in the earlier consultation input. As of June, the technology priorities will
be structured into SIRA chapters that will relate to the structure of Horizon
Europe (clusters and intervention areas). Targeted involvement of SusChem
experts will be used to build the SIRA chapters. Once a full draft is assembled,
the text will be reviewed by the SusChem Board and the SusChem NTPs for
approval before sharing with all contributors for acknowledgement of the
document by their organisation.
You can access a photo gallery with images from the workshop event here.
