SPIRE > be more

A new video for the Sustainable Process Industry through Resource and Energy Efficiency (SPIRE) PPP was premiered at the cocktail event on the eve of the SPIRE brokerage event earlier in the week in Brussels. 'SPIRE > be more' is now uploaded on the web and embedded below. Please feel free to share with colleagues and research partners.



SPIRE is a proposal for a European Public-Private Partnership (PPP) dedicated to innovation in resource and energy efficiency and enabled by the process industries. It is supported by eight European process industry sectors: cement, ceramics, chemical, engineering, minerals, non-ferrous metals, steel and water.

Find out more about SPIRE
To find out more about SPIRE visit the website or contact the SPIRE secretariat.

SPIRE ready to go for Horizon 2020

On the eve (October 21) of its first brokerage workshop, SPIRE, the proposed Horizon 2020 Public Private Partnership (PPP) on Sustainable Process Industry through Resource and Energy Efficiency, celebrated the first anniversary of A.SPIRE aisbl, the legal entity established to manage and implement the initiative, at a sparkling cocktail event at the Crown Plaza Hotel in Brussels.

Members of A.SPIRE gathered to celebrate the achievements of the organisation so far and prepare for the brokerage event that took place today (22 October) at the same venue. The SusChem Horizon 2020 brokerage event also takes place at this venue on Wednesday 23 October.

Dr Klaus Sommer, President of A.SPIRE aisbl (below, left) announced that: "SPIRE was ready to go for Horizon 2020!" He looked forward to the ideas that the Brokerage session would bring. He praised SPIRE members for the hard work that they had undertaken in almost three years of preparation and looked forward to seven years of achievement for the PPP in Horizon 2020.

Soren Bowadt of the European Commission (above, right) also praised the strong support shown for SPIRE by so many industry sectors and Member States. In particular he praised the technical strength of the SPIRE roadmap

A new and inspirational SPIRE promotional video was premiered at the cocktail event to great appreciation from members. The video is now also available on the SusChem blog.

Earlier in the day an A.SPIRE aisbl board meeting had taken place followed by a General Meeting of the association. At the meeting new organisations were approved as members of the consortium bringing the total membership to 90 entities that include companies (large and small), trade and academic associations, and research institutions from eight process sectors and over 14 countries.

Brokerage buzz
The morning of 22 October saw a capacity crowd at the Brokerage session with attendance estimated at over 200 participants. Attendance at the Brokerage meeting was restricted to members of A.SPIRE.

Klaus Sommer opened proceedings outlining the way ahead for SPIRE. "Europe has excellent R&D but had not shown such a great ability to convert this into commercial success." he said. "SPIRE will focus on projects with high TRLs (technology readiness levels) undertaking demonstration initiatives to turn research into market innovation."

And he also praised the SPIRE roadmap saying: "We have good reason to be proud of the SPIRE roadmap; it is not a political document but a tool that outlines the technical challenges for the next seven years. It is a document that is trustworthy and high quality."

Dr. Sommer outlined the immediate timetable for SPIRE. He anticipated the official signing of a Memorandum of Understanding with the Commission in mid December and publication of the first calls would happen very soon after that. Project proposal responses would need to be submitted by the end of Q1 of 2014 - which was why brokerage needed to start now! "SPIRE is part of H2020!" he declared.

Horizon 2020 outlook
Soren Bowadt led the Commission's presentations on the initial potential SPIRE calls in Horizon 2020 in the manufacturing and environmental areas. "It is a real pleasure for me to stand here today and see so many people here," he said. "We still need to get a signature - but we are well on the way!"

He praised SusChem success in FP7 with projects such as the F3 factory that were lighthouse projects and had inspired a new view on the role of the process industries in EU industrial policy. He also stressed the important role in Horizon 2020 for PPPs , such as SPIRE, to implement key enabling technology strategy especially in a cross-sectoral context.

Jeroen Schuppers of the European Commission DG Research described the potential calls of interest to SPIRE in the area of energy. Most of the relevant topics will be under support for transition to a reliable sustainable and competitive energy system including CO2 capture, storage and utilisation, solar heating, and geothermal energy for process use amongst others.

Rolf Riemenschneider of DG Connect outlined potential call opportunities in ICT topics including themes that will be managed under the Factory of the Future PPP. He saw ICT as a key enabler for modernising EU's manufacturing capabilities and areas such as process monitoring and control had clear overlap with the SPIRE roadmap.

Ignacio Calleja of Tecnalia (above) and SPIRE's R&D Chair completed the formal plenary presentations. With so many people at the brokerage he already hailed it as a real success. He also thanked the Commission experts for the very clear descriptions of possible SPIRE topics in Horizon 2020 and outlined the process to develop topics from SPIRE's roadmap and their transition into potential calls. Seven SPIRE calls could be  anticipated in the first Horizon 2020 calls.

Presentations
Following the formal plenary presentation there were four breakout workshops covering the SPIRE roadmap Key Components: WASTE2RESOURCE, FEED, PROCESS, and a combined session on APLICATIONS and HORIZONTAL. In total 73 individual project proposal presentations were made over two sessions either side of lunch in these workshops.

This was followed by some short verbal presentations covering Expressions of Interest from industrial members in SPIRE-related topics before a final wrap-up session.

Clearly SPIRE is ready to take on the challenges of Horizon 2020 and make a clear and considerable impact to boost EU competitiveness by ensuring that our talent for research reaches its full potential for delivering innovations to the marketplace. SPIRE - be more!

More information
Membership of this important initiative is open to all and new members are always welcome. For more information on the SPIRE initiative and how to get involved, please visit the SPIRE website or email the SPIRE secretariat.

SusChem: real innovation for growth

One of the highlights of the Knowledge4Innovation (K4I) Fifth European Innovation Summit held at the beginning of October was the Cefic and SusChem organised lunchtime debate on Innovation for Growth. Entitled ‘Think Big, Think Possible, Think Tomorrow’ the session explored what sustainable chemical innovation can bring featuring the SPIRE public private partnership (PPP) and novel concepts to exploit an untapped European resources: carbon dioxide (CO2).

The host of the session was Edit Herczog, MEP and K4I Governing Board Member. She opened the session saying: “That change is important for Europe and that we cannot talk about change without talking about chemistry: this is a key enabler for change across so many sectors.”

Dr Klaus Sommer of Bayer Technology Services and Chairman of A.SPIRE described the proposed PPP. He stressed that SPIRE represented a very large part of EU industry and would enable a focus on areas where Europe has real globally competitive strength.

An important element of SPIRE’s proposed programme will be demonstration activities and the initiative was attracting a lot of attention in the process community across Europe. Large-scale collaboration between competitor companies would be a feature of SPIRE’s programme. He did not see that this would be a problem due to the success of SusChem FP7 project: The F3 Factory.

In this €30 million initiative competitors had united around a single project and also the infrastructure for the project had been enabled through a German regional PPP. Some of the results from this project included reduction in capital expenditure of up to 40% for processes and production operation costs reduced by up to 20%.

SPIRE commitment
The SPIRE PPP was a commitment for open innovation he said and the financial input from industry would beat least € 200million industry per annum. “This is really about ‘Thinking Big’ and thinking what is possible,” he said. “The SPIRE roadmap is only the beginning – we need to achieve projects and we are ready to go!”

Rudolf Strohmeier, Deputy Director-General of DG Research and Innovation at the European Commission said that for growth “research and innovation are not sufficient by themselves. There was also a need for a market and the need for strong collaboration between public and private partners.”

He said that PPPs can make the research and innovation cycle more efficient. He felt that the chemical industry was uniquely positioned as it represents the economic roots of the EU and that SPIRE includes key parts of the manufacturing base in Europe and therefore was key to enabling progress in resource efficiency. He also saw CO2 as a potentially interesting feedstock. He concluded by saying that the Commission was ready to support SPIRE.

CO2 for Growth
The final presentation was by Prof Gabriele Centi from the University of Messina, who gave a technical overview of the potential of CO2 as a feedstock. He said that “CO2 is neither a polluter nor a waste” and that it could be “a raw material that enabled change for society.”

He sees CO2 as a valuable carbon source and a key element to realise energy and resource efficiency and introduce new renewable energy concepts. The carbon-based economy would provide a new scenario for sustainable chemicals production that integrated biomass and CO2 as feedstocks for a “new chemistry for the future”.

Prof Centi described a variety of CO2 using processes that were already developed or would be in the short to medium term. He also looked at a long term vision of developing artificial leaves that would remove ambient CO2 foe the air to make fuel or materials.

The (re)use of CO2 could be a massive opportunity for Europe he concluded. It could exploit a currently untapped resource and contribute to reducing GHG emissions and be a major driver of innovation and growth.

Earlier Jos Keurentjes of Akzo Nobel described some of the smart and green chemistry that was being used and developed at his company. The main focus was on areas such as energy and resource efficiency, products and services based on renewable and biobased raw materials, and looking at how to close loops in materials supply through recycling and reuse. He saw the use of CO2 as potential feedstock for a variety of processes (see image above). He concluded by emphasising that: “Speeding up growth is about value chain innovation.”

Don’t bury CO2
In questions at the end of the session Gernot Klotz of Cefic said that the concept of a ‘CO2 economy’ was a big beast that required vision.

Paraphrasing Shakespeare he said: “I come here to praise CO2, not to bury it.” Utilisation of CO2 as a feedstock will be part of the SPIRE project portfolio, but there needs to be a discussion about where it might be placed within the Horizon 2020 programme.

SPIRE Brokerage and SusChem Survey

There are only a few places left for the SusChem Pre-Brokerage event taking place on 23 October in Brussels - so register fast to secure your place with SusChem at the Horizon 2020 table! If you are already registered you are invited to take part in a brief survey of research and innovation interests that will inform the meeting. Just prior to the SusChem event SPIRE will also be holding a brokerage event for members of the A.SPIRE consortium.

With registrations close to capacity, the 2013 SusChem Pre-Brokerage Horizon 2020 event already looks like being a great success. And the draft agenda has just been published.

The meeting kicks off from 9:00 at the Crowne Plaza Le Palace, Rue Gineste 3 in Brussels. Jacques Komornicki, SusChem Programme Manager at Cefic, will be the Master of Ceremonies for the day. Delegates will first get to hear the latest SusChem-relevant news on the first Horizon 2020 programme calls from Soren Bowadt of the EuropeanCommission's DG Research and Innovation.

Survey
This will be followed by an overview of the results of SusChem's survey of delegate intentions and areas of interest in Horizon 2020 from Jacques Komornicki.

This survey has just been launched by SusChem and is open to all registered participants for the Brokerage event.The survey, also known as the Expression of Interest Form, will be used to arrange the on-site 'speed dating' between stakeholders with similar interests. The survey should only take delegates around three minutes or less to complete and will help make the most of your Brokerage day. And the sooner participants complete it the better!

You can find the survey form here.

An explanation of the brokerage process and the various activities open to delegates throughout the day will then be given by experts from PNO. From thereon its over to the delegates who will be able to present their project ideas and start the process of finding the right collaborators to form a winning project team for Horizon 2020.

Following a hectic day of brokerage and discovering new ideas and project partners, delegates will end the day with more relaxed networking at the closing early evening cocktail session.

A.SPIRE Cocktail and Brokerage

A.SPIRE - the multi-sector industrial consortium behind the proposed SPIRE (Sustainable Process Industry through Resource and Energy Efficiency) Public-Private-Partnership (PPP) - will also be holding its first preparative event for the first calls of Horizon 2020 the day before the SusChem event. The A.SPIRE first Brokerage Event ‘Preparation for Horizon 2020’ will take place on 22 October also at the Crowne Plaza - Le Palace hotel.

The A.SPIRE Brokerage event will be an unique opportunity for the SPIRE community to learn the latest information about the 2014-2015 Horizon 2020 work programmes and calls to be announced in December or early 2014, to express their research interests and start creating partnerships by discussing potential project ideas.

An overview of the way ahead for SPIRE will be given by SusChem and A.SPIRE Chairman Dr. Klaus Sommer. There will also be presentations and discussions on project concepts related to the SPIRE roadmap in key components: Waste, Feed, Process and Applications.

The Brokerage Event will be opened by a cocktail and a networking event on the evening of 21 October at the Crowne Plaza – Le Palace hotel.

Participation in the A.SPIRE Brokerage Event is limited to the members of the A.SPIRE consortium. New members are welcome to join A.SPIRE at any time. You can find more information on how to get involved with here.

More information
For more information on the SusChem Pre-Brokerage event and our activities around strategic research and innovation in sustainable chemistry for Europe, please contact the SusChem secretariat.

For more information on SPIRE and A.SPIRE activities contact the SPIRE secretariat.

Fifth European Innovation Summit to put Innovation at the Heart of Europe

Every year, the Knowledge4Innovation association (K4I) - a group of MEPs who believe that innovation is vital to creating economic growth and jobs in Europe - gather together all the most important players in this area for a three-day event that aims to put innovation at the centre of the political debate. And the sustainable chemical industry as a main driver of innovation across many sectors of the European economy is a keen participant.

This year’s event, the 5th European Innovation Summit, will present how innovation can play a key role in getting Europe out of the current economic crisis. The culmination of the Wake up Europe initiative, the event will focus on the new instruments in the forthcoming financial programme for 2014-2020, particularly on the funds for research and innovation in Horizon 2020. The Innovation Summit will take place from 30 September to 2 October in Brussels.

Chemical innovation
Innovation in the chemical sector can provide sustainable solutions for Europe’s societal challenges. The Smart cities of tomorrow will require new materials for increasing energy efficiency through the insulation of buildings and for new mobility solutions, both in vehicles and in infrastructure. New advanced materials will be required to to build a sustainable future for society. This will include the introduction of new raw materials, like CO2-based or biomass-based feedstock, that will be necessary to keep pace with technological progress and societal needs.

The chemical sector stands side-by-side with K4I in its effort to create more space for innovation and innovation-related policies in Europe.  Present with speakers and participants for many years, this year the chemical sector will be represented by Dr Gernot Klotz (right), Executive Director for Research & Innovation at Cefic and many more. He will be a keynote speaker in a breakfast briefing session on the role of intellectual property protection in benefiting society and competitiveness that takes place on the morning of Tuesday October 1. Dr. Klotz will also participate in the event' closing event on the evening of Wednesday October 2.

Economic debate
The chemical sector will also actively participate in the debates: Loredana Ghinea, Cefic’s Innovation Manager and Executive Director of A.SPIRE, will chair a major debate on the potential impact of Horizon 2020 on the EU’s economy also on Tuesday morning.

In addition Cefic is hosting a lunch debate on Tuesday on the potential of innovation to keep Europe at the forefront of new technologies and as the vehicle for creating new jobs in the continent. Speakers will include SusChem chairman Dr.Klaus Sommer of Bayer and Rudolf Strohmeier, Deputy Director-General, DG Research and Innovation at the European Commission.

The event will help put forward an agenda for a more competitive European Union, where partners collaborate to drive progress and advance technologies and the whole innovation value chain is connected, without being stifled by byzantine regulations and slow bureaucracy.

More information
For more information on the Fifth European Innovation Summit visit the website for details on the full programme, speakers and how to register or you can contact K4I by email. All the events will take place in the European Parliament building in Brussels.

SPIRE is at Manufuture 2013

‘MANUFUTURE 2013 View on Horizon 2020: Sustainable Re-industrialisation of Europe’ is the major conference organised by the European Technology Platform on Future Manufacturing (Manufuture) in Vilnius during the Lithuanian Presidency of the Council of the EU. The conference, which takes place from 6 – 8 October, will be major event in the Lithuanian presidency and the SusChem inspired SPIRE PPP will be presenting there.

In the Lithuanian capital MANUFUTURE stakeholders from industry, academia and the public sector will discuss and exchange views on how to implement Horizon 2020 and related national programmes in a coherent and flexible manner. It is vital that ways to better transform Horizon 2020 investments into wealth, growth and jobs be discussed including supporting better coverage of the entire innovation cycle, promoting better alignment with national and regional policies and funding programmes, and creating framework conditions for growth and jobs to help Europe stay globally competitive.

Resource efficiency
In a plenary session on the morning of October 7 devoted to Horizon 2020 and roadmaps for manufacturing, Dr. Klaus Sommer, the President of the A.Spire Board of Directors, will present the strategic SPIRE Roadmap and describe what SPIRE will do in practice to create a world-leading, resource efficient process industry for Europe.

A special focus of the conference will be given to increasing the efficiency of EU regional and national RTD support tools through their mutual synergy and national / regional smart specialization.

For more information on the conference, please visit the MANUFUTURE 2013 website. More information on SPIRE can be found here.

SPIRE and the Commission’s Innovation Investment Package

Today (10 July), the European Commission released a Communication on Horizon 2020 and public-private partnerships (PPPs): powerful tools to deliver on innovation and growth in Europe. The Communication outlines how the strengths of the PPP concept will be enhanced, contribute to generating sustainable growth, and put Europe back on track in the race for global competitiveness.

These collaborative public-private initiatives will be based on transparency, clear objectives, stronger focus on close-to-market activities, stronger industry commitment and major simplification.

Since strong industry input and commitment have been identified as indispensable elements for achieving the objectives of Horizon 2020 and the Europe 2020 strategy, and building on the experience with PPPs in FP7, the European Commission intends to engage in a number of structured partnerships for the implementation of the Horizon 2020 programme.

Along with seven other contractual PPP proposals and five Joint Technology Initiatives, the Sustainable Process Industry through Resource and Energy Efficiency (SPIRE) initiative has been acknowledged by the Commission as a mature proposal in a highly relevant area for both its industrial partners and for the strategic European agenda.

Start of a journey
Dr. Klaus Sommer (below), President of A.SPIRE Board of Directors, appreciated this announcement and emphasised the novelty of the SPIRE cross-sectorial approach where eight major industrial sectors have recognized the potential of the synergies of working together. He also recognised the essential role of the public partner in this ambitious strategic endeavour.

“We have worked very hard to come to this point and we have a long programme now in front of us, but it is our chance to work on a programme that we have all identified as being a priority. We have the opportunity to work on what drives us, which is ultimately competitiveness, resource and energy efficiency in Europe,” said Dr. Sommer. “With all the encouragement that we have received from the Commission and other partners, this is the moment in time when we can say ‘we can do it’ and we are ready to start this journey right now!”

By the end of July, the Commission will conduct their final evaluation of industry proposals against criteria established under the Horizon 2020 Regulation.

Subject to this final positive evaluation, a SPIRE Contractual Arrangement (in the shape of a Memorandum of Understanding) will be concluded between the Commission and A.SPIRE, the organisation representing the industrial partners behind SPIRE, setting out the PPP’s global and specific objectives, commitments, key performance indicators and outputs to be delivered within the period of seven years from 2014 to 2020. The Commission will aim to conclude this arrangement in time to launch SPIRE activities at the beginning of 2014 in parallel with the start of Horizon 2020.

About SPIRE
SPIRE is a proposal for a European PPP dedicated to innovation in resource and energy efficiency and enabled by the process industries.

SPIRE’s objective is to develop the enabling technologies and solutions along the value chain required to reach long-tern sustainability for Europe in terms of global competitiveness, ecology and employment.

SPIRE represents industry’s response to real, tangible and urgent needs. Compelling arguments and a remarkable consensus exists between policy makers and industry about the need to improve the way society manages finite resources and energy. Industry has a responsibility and a unique ability to respond to these challenges and provide adapted solutions.

SPIRE will focus on three fundamental challenges facing Europe:

• The urgent need to create growth and increase the competitiveness of Europe in the global market
• The need to rejuvenate the European process industry that forms the basis of the European economy in terms of turnover, employment and the generation of technologies for all industrial sectors
• The imperative to reduce resource and energy inefficiency and the environmental impact of industrial activities including the reduction of waste and CO2 emissions.

SPIRE is a ground-breaking proposal with two main ambitions for 2030:

• 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 these ambitions will contribute to efficiency improvements in CO2 equivalent footprints of up to 40% by 2030. And these potential improvements extend beyond ‘industry’ to all indirectly supplied and dependent economic sectors such as transport, construction, water and electronics etc.

Participative process
No fewer than eight major industry sectors have contributed to the development of SPIRE. Sectors such as steel, chemicals, minerals, water, non-ferrous metals, engineering, cement and ceramics, representing large and small companies, have joined forces and set up common aspirations for innovation in resource and energy efficiency in their sectors and beyond.

This has resulted in a practical roadmap to help ensure that EU innovation projects address the right needs and achieve the optimal impact through Horizon 2020

With SPIRE Europe can make a giant leap forward to enhance its competitiveness and sustainability

• SPIRE is innovation and market focused
• SPIRE represents a shift in industry mentality: actively addressing drivers of societal issues and connecting sectors across the value chain
• SPIRE promotes new business models and encourages social innovation
• SPIRE proposes a united, Europe-focused and cross-sectorial approach – the only way to tackle the current challenges facing Europe.

A.SPIRE is the European association which is committed to manage and implement the SPIRE PPP. It represents innovative process industries, 20% of the total European manufacturing sector in employment and turnover terms, and more than 60 industrial and research process stakeholders from over a dozen European countries.

For more information on SPIRE visit the website or contact the A.SPIRE secretariat.