Stories from the Biobased Economy

SusChem founding partner EuropaBio has recently launched a collection of short films that ‘show and tell’ how biobased innovation is contributing to a more sustainable, competitive and prosperous Europe. The short films show how we can successfully tackle issues such as food and energy security, climate change and resource efficiency, whilst creating jobs, regenerating industries and reviving rural communities through the application of industrial biotechnology and sustainable chemistry.

The introductory video to the biobased economy is embedded below and you can find it and five other videos on the dedicated biobasedindustries website.


BIO-TIC – your bioeconomy gateway 
The BIO-TIC FP7 project is the largest network dedicated to industrial biotechnology and the bioeconomy.

Launched in September 2012, BIO-TIC is a three-year project offering “a solutions approach” centred on a solid road mapping exercise involving a broad stakeholder base from industry, knowledge organisations, governments and civil society.

A series of stakeholder workshops will take place at national and European level to reach a comprehensive view on the solutions BIO-TIC can offer to accelerate market uptake of industrial biotechnology and the development of the bioeconomy. The final aim of the project will be to draw up a blueprint document with a comprehensive set of policy recommendations for overcoming the identified innovation hurdles within a selection of European business and societal opportunities.

You can find out more about the project at the BIO-TIC website and there is an active BIO-TIC Linked-In group that is open to anyone interested in the transformative potential of industrial biotechnology.

F3: the Future for Process is Fast and Flexible!

Today (May 14) the SusChem-inspired F³ Factory project presented some of the results from this FP7 funded collaborative research on fast, flexible, modular production technology for the future chemical industry and beyond. The presentations made in Brussels show that the project can provide a tangible platform for future manufacturing-led growth in Europe.

Launched in 2009 the €30 million F³ Factory project is a major public-private sector initiative that sought to define and demonstrate a new paradigm in modular sustainable chemical production technology. The results of the project could have a major impact on the competitiveness of the European process industries.

The project’s overarching objective was to strengthen the European chemical industry’s global technology leadership through implementation of faster, more flexible production methods. Crossing country and company borders, interdisciplinary teams from 26 partner organisations in nine EU member states have collaborated successfully to:

• deliver radically new ‘plug and play’ modular chemical production technology, capable of widespread implementation throughout the chemical industry and beyond
• deliver holistic process design methodologies, applying process intensification concepts and innovative decision tools

Case studies
Based on seven industrial case studies spanning a broad range of process industry sectors including pharmaceuticals, chemical intermediates, specialty polymers and consumer products, the project has successfully proved the fast, flexible production concept through:

• demonstration of the F³ Factory modular concept at industrial scale for commercial applications 
• realisation of an open access backbone plant for modular continuous production 
• validation of new intensified and simplified continuous processes 
• design and validation of new/enhanced reactor technologies 
• establishment of design guidelines and standards for modular, container based production units.

Positive for profit and planet
Details of the results from the seven individual case studies will be disseminated widely during the summer when data collection is fully completed for all. However, SusChem stakeholders were given an early overview of the overall potential of the project estimated in terms of business and environmental impacts.

For business the project has demonstrated increased investment flexibility, potential capital expenditure reduction up to 40%, potential operating expenditure reduction up to 20% and enabling a much faster 'time to market' for new products - a major competitive advantage.

From an environmental and resource efficiency point of view the project has demonstrated reduced energy consumption up to 30%, solvent reduction up to 100%, footprint reduction up to 50% and the potential to reduce or eliminate transportation by enabling local or point of use production.

In addition the project has successfully validated new intensified and simplified continuous processes that have demonstrated process intensification up to a factor of 500, increased space-time-yield up to a factor >100, increased capacity >20%, increased production yield >20%, reduced equipment need >60%, reduction of reaction/processing time by a factor of 10 and through these simplified processes achieved reduced reaction and processing steps up to 30%.

Successful design and validation of new or enhanced reactor technologies has been achieved and the F³ Factory has established design guidelines and standards for modular, container based production units that have been defined and implemented in different process equipment containers.

The project has realised an innovative open access backbone plant (INVITE) facility for modular continuous production – a resource for European process development that will have continuing value for many years to come.

There is already tangible evidence of exploitation of the project’s results in terms of new, improved scientific knowledge, new decision methodologies, improved production processes and technologies, new standards and design guidelines with more than 15 patents submitted or in progress.

Wide dissemination of F³ Factory learning has seen more than 150 conference presentations, papers or posters already given, more than 30 peer reviewed technical papers submitted or in preparation and open engagement with EU academia and industry through regular Interest Group meetings.

SusChem vision
The event heralded the opening of the SusChem annual stakeholder event 2013. SusChem is pleased to have hosted the official F³ Factory closing session as the project was one of SusChem’s original three visionary projects on future concepts for a sustainable chemical industry.

SusChem Chairman Dr Klaus Sommer said: "It was a privilege and an honour to be involved with this project that has not only produced excellent new scientific knowledge, but also shown how to bridge the innovation gap and with a consortium including many major companies working very effectively together."

Seven major European Chemical Companies (Arkema, Astra Zeneca, BASF, Bayer, Evonik, Procter & Gamble and Rhodia-Solvay) worked collaboratively in the project demonstrating that large scale, pre-competitive collaborative research is both manageable and potentially highly fruitful.

It is hoped that the fruits of the ground-breaking F³ Factory project will feed into future major SusChem programmes such as the SPIRE and BRIDGE 2020 public-private initiatives during Horizon 2020.

SusChem Stakeholder 2013 to be bigger than ever!

With registration closed and less than one week to go to the 2013 SusChem Stakeholder event it looks like once again the annual SusChem meeting will be the biggest and best yet! With over 190 delegates set to attend, it is important that those that have registered make the most of the two-day event on 14 and 15 May at the Hotel Sofitel Europe.

The Stakeholder event itself will kick off at from 12:00 on 14 May with high level speakers from SusChem, the European Commission, the European Council and European Parliament debating the role of SusChem and European Technology Platforms in Horizon 2020, innovation and the new EU Industrial Policy, improving competitiveness and much, much more. The first day concludes with a networking cocktail.

SusChem News editor Tim Reynolds will be facilitating a panel debate on day one on aspects of the innovation 'valley of death'.

The second day includes parallel sessions on the European Innovation Partnerships (Water Efficiency, Raw Materials, Energy materials and Smart Cities) and the two Public-Private-Partnerships (SPIRE and BRIDGE 2020) that SusChem is involved with. Delegates will also be updated on progress in the SusChem ‘Educate to Innovate’ initiative.

For more details about our speakers see the event programme.

If you are registered for the event but have not yet selected your preferences for the parallel sessions on day two, please contact Rebecca Hilltout in the SusChem secretariat as soon as possible.

Live Blog and Twitter coverage
Both days of the event will be covered live on Twitter and on the SusChem newsblog. Both these SusChem social media tools will allow all stakeholders, both at the event and those unable to attend, to follow and comment on the topics covered at the Stakeholder Event.

To access the live coverage keep an eye on the SusChem newsblog during the event and on Twitter follow our tweets at @suschem. If you want to make a specific comment on the 2013 SusChem Stakeholder event, please tweet with the hashtag #suschem2013.

Flexible future
The theme of the main SusChem event is ‘Essential elements for EU Growth and Jobs: Innovative Materials and Processes’ and the meeting will primarily address the benefits of innovation partnerships and joint public-private initiatives to boost EU growth and improve competitiveness and how SusChem and sustainable chemistry will play a role in this.

Just prior to the main SusChem event (14 May) a separate session on the SusChem-inspired F³ Factory modular manufacturing platform and FP7 project will be held. This €30 million collaborative research project worked to strengthen the European chemical industry’s global technological leadership through faster, more flexible production methods. It is one of the leading projects in the Nanotechnologies, Materials and Production research priority of the European Community’s FP7 research programme.

The  F³ Factory project is a excellent example of collaborative research in Europe and a springboard for significant innovation in the process industries. Within the project 26 partners worked together across company and national borders shaping a modular, container-based manufacturing platform. The F³ Factory session will run from 9:30 to 12:00 on 14 May.

See you there!
The SusChem team is looking forward to welcoming you to the 11^th Stakeholder Event on May 14 and 15 in Brussels! For more information on any aspect of the event, please contact the SusChem Secretariat. See you there!

One Month to 2013 Stakeholder Event – Now with added F3!

It is just one month until our eleventh SusChem Stakeholder event takes place on 14 – 15 May in Brussels. With well over 100 delegates already registered it is time to reserve your place now – you won’t want to miss out! And you will also not want to miss a special pre-event meeting on the morning of 14 May: the F³ Factory Project Closing Event. The F³ Factory event will take place at the same venue as our Stakeholder event - the Hotel Sofitel Europe - but requires separate registration. Book for both today!

The theme of the main SusChem event is ‘Essential elements for EU Growth and Jobs: Innovative Materials and Processes’ and the meeting will primarily address the benefits of innovation partnerships and joint public-private initiatives to boost EU growth and improve competitiveness and how SusChem and sustainable chemistry will play a role in this. Join us and get the latest insights!

F³ Factory event

On the morning of the Stakeholder event (14 May) SusChem is pleased to be hosting a very special session on future concepts for the chemical industry developed and implemented under the SusChem-inspired F³ Factory modular manufacturing platform and FP7 project.

The F³ Factory project is a €30 million collaborative research programme that will strengthen the European chemical industry’s global technological leadership through faster, more flexible production methods. It is one of the leading projects in the Nanotechnologies, Materials and Production research priority of the European Community’s FP7 research programme.

The  F³ Factory project is a excellent example of collaborative research in Europe and a springboard for significant innovation in the process industries. Within the project 26 partners worked together across company and national borders shaping a modular, container-based manufacturing platform.

Project partners included seven major European chemical companies (Arkema, Astra Zeneca, BASF, Bayer, Evonik, Procter & Gamble, and Rhodia-Solvay) working together to implement Process Intensification and modularization concepts with horizontal networking between these leading companies and research institutes boosting the implementation of leading edge innovation to develop novel sustainable processes.

The closing event will showcase the potential impact of intensification, modularization and standardization, and process design on different product groups from pharmaceuticals to bulk chemicals and how the results of this highly successful project can lay the path for future sustainable innovations across the process industry sector.

The programme for the F³ Factory event is now available and to participate in this landmark event make sure to register. Registration is free but separate to that for the SusChem event. You will also need to register for the SusChem stakeholder event, if you intend to participate in both events. The F³ Factory session will run from 9:30 to 12:00 on 14 May.

The main event
The SusChem Stakeholder event itself kicks off from 12:00 on 14 May with high level speakers from SusChem, the European Commission, the European Council and European Parliament debating the role of SusChem and European Technology Platforms in Horizon 2020, innovation and the new EU Industrial Policy, improving competitiveness and much, much more. The first day concludes with a networking cocktail.

The second day includes parallel sessions on the European Innovation Partnerships (Water Efficiency, Raw Materials, Energy materials and Smart Cities) and the two Public-Private-Partnerships (SPIRE and BRIDGE 2020) that SusChem is involved with. Delegates will also be updated on progress in the SusChem ‘Educate to Innovate’ initiative.

Confirmed speakers include:

• Waldemar Kütt, from the Cabinet of the Research and Innovation Commissioner Maire Geoghegan-Quinn, who will outline the expectations of the new ETPs framework
• Paul Rubig MEP who will reassert the needs of manufacturing in and for Europe
• Klaus Sommer, SusChem chairman, who will speak about the added value that SusChem can bring to  Horizon 2020
• Sue Fleet, from Britest Ltd., and Michael Matlosz, coming from the University of Lorraine, who will describe how SusChem is looking to bridge education and innovation for Europe's future

More details about our speakers see the event programme!

Where and when?
The Eleventh SusChem Stakeholder event will take place at the Hotel Sofitel Europe on Place Jourdan in the heart of the European Quarter in Brussels on 14 - 15 May.

For more information on SusChem activities, please contact the SusChem secretariat. Places are limited so you are advised to register as soon as possible for these events!

SPIRE, BRIDGE Joint Presentation

!UPDATED 12 April 2013! On the opening day of Europe's largest Science and Business Congress on Chemical Engineering and Applied Biotechnology the two proposed Horizon 2020 Public-Private-Partnership (PPP) initiatives, SPIRE and BRIDGE 2020, will be giving a joint lunchtime plenary presentation. The two complementary concepts will also be presented by SusChem board director Marcel Wubbolts of DSM at a latter plenary session of the conference.

This important  European congress has the theme ‘Shaping a Sustainable Future’ - the ultimate objective of both the PPP initiatives - and combines two major scientific and industrial innovation events: the Ninth European Congress of Chemical Engineering (ECCE9) and the Second European Congress of Applied Biotechnology (ECAB2). The event takes place from 21 to 25 April in The Hague, Netherlands.

At lunchtime on Monday 22 April the SPIRE and BRIDGE 2020 PPP initiatives will be presented jointly. This plenary session, which is scheduled to take place in the World Forum Theatre, will see Pádraig Naughton, Innovation Manager - Resource and Energy Efficiency, from Cefic present on the SPIRE initiative and Annita Westenbroek, director of the Dutch Biorefinery Cluster give an overview of BRIDGE 2020.

With no parallel presentations anticipated in the programme at present it is expected that the session will be very popular and an ideal opportunity to get to know more about these two exciting proposals and their synergies. Following the presentations there may be an extended question and answer session.

Relevant and important
The Biobased and Renewable Industries for Development and Growth in Europe (BRIDGE 2020) and Sustainable Process Industries through Resource and Energy Efficiency (SPIRE) initiatives are the most relevant and important European PPP initiatives for this forum as their aims and objectives coincide perfectly with the audience from the chemical engineering and applied biotechnology communities in Europe and worldwide.

“This is a great opportunity to present SPIRE together with BRIDGE,” commented A.SPIRE aisbl Executive Director Loredana Ghinea. “It will allow us to emphasise the synergies between SPIRE and BRIDGE and the importance of both initiatives to future competitiveness and sustainability in Europe.”

SusChem and A.SPIRE aisbl board member Dr. Marcel Wubbolts of DSM will also be including SPIRE and BRIDGE 2020 in his opening plenary lecture ‘Sustainable Solutions for a Changing World’ on Tuesday morning thereby ensuring maximum exposure for these two ‘SusChem inspired’ initiatives at this important conference.

The two PPPs will also be presented together at this year's SusChem Stakeholder event that takes place on 14 and 15 May in Brussels. The two initiatives will feature in the Resource Efficiency stakeholder dialogue session to be held on the morning of the second day. This will be an opportunity for an in-depth discussion on the two programmes.

Registration offer
The 9th European Congress of Chemical Engineering (ECCE9) and Applied Biotechnology (ECAB2) takes place from 21-25 April in The Hague, The Netherlands and the organizers have just announced a ‘last minute’ registration offer.

You can register for the whole four and a half day programme for €650 – 750 or for just one day the fee is €395 Euro.

The theme of the conference ‘Shaping a Sustainable Future’ promises a first-class scientific programme and a special Innovation Track that will deliver cutting-edge examples on “How to drive the bumpy road from science and technology to business”.   Delegates can also visit the high-tech innovation market, career fair, and there are plenty of opportunities for networking.

Registration via the conference website is open until 18 April. After that date only on-site registration in The Hague is possible.

R4R launches Survey, Website

Today (April 9) the SusChem supported FP7 project ‘Chemical Regions for Resource Efficiency’ (R4R) launched its new website and an online survey. SusChem stakeholders are invited to contribute to the survey which will set the priorities for the project that aims to overcome fragmentation across Europe’s innovative regions and set the agenda for achieving some ambitious resource efficiency targets.

Global chemicals and manufacturing industries are at the core of our modern industrial society, developing and producing the key chemicals, materials, medicines and products that allow us to achieve ever better standards of living.

Both industry and society are looking to develop real opportunities to rejuvenate and transform the chemical and process industries into highly eco-efficient high-technology solution providers through changes such as:

• Switching to biobased feedstock
• Improving efficiency of processes
• Recycle wasted materials
• Facilitating an integrated approach to ensure synergies between industrial sectors

R4R survey
Today, on its new website, the R4R project launched an online survey around Europe to picture where the chemical regions are in terms of resource efficiency and fully understand where the focus of the project should be.

“One of the first steps for the R4R project is to understand the regions, the agendas and strategies of the companies and how these align to the regional agendas,” says Pádraig Naughton, Innovation Manager - Resource and Energy Efficiency, at Cefic R&I.

Currently interviews are being conducted to understand the direction of the most important companies and partners in the project. The new online survey that has launched with the opening of the R4R website today serves to supplement and enrich these interviews and gather additional information from the wider community. The survey only takes a few minutes to complete and is available in English, German, Polish and Spanish.

“Once the information has been assembled, by beginning of May, the analysis of the data will be used to pinpoint the priorities in the various regions and to highlight synergies and potential opportunities for cooperation across the regions,” continues Pádraig. “The end result of the project should be joint action plans, which then can feed into proposals for the SPIRE or BRIDGE public-private partnership (PPP) initiatives."

Pádraig Naughton started at Cefic R&I in February and is responsible for R4R amongst other projects. He is on secondment from Dow Chemical, where he has had a long international career mostly in research and development.

“I am a mechanical engineer by training and have focused mostly on application development with customers,” he explains. “My expertise in this field relates to composites, plastics, adhesives, foams and use of computer modeling and simulation to develop applications.”

At Cefic Pádraig will concentrate on defining the needs for the industry in the area of resource and energy efficiency and position this to align with the challenges of the forthcoming Horizon 2020 programme.

About R4R
Launched in late 2012, R4R is funded for three years under the European Commission’s FP7 Research and Innovation Framework Programme. The ‘Chemical Regions for Resource Efficiency (R4R)’ project aims to overcome fragmentation of European ambitious and innovative regions. Through its methodology, R4R could lead the path to a range of promising and positive impacts on resource efficiency.

R4R brings together six complementary EU Regions (Aragon in Spain, Göteborg in Sweden, North Rhine–Westphalia in Germany, the Port of Rotterdam and the South-West regions in the Netherlands, and West Pomerania in Poland), each with their own public and private research and innovation expertise. The R4R project aims to achieve a major step improvement in regional and transnational cooperation among its participating regions and will develop practices, tools and examples which can be easily disseminated to and adopted by multiple European regions to improve regional and cross-regional collaboration in general, and in the process industry on resource efficiency in particular.

Finally, R4R will create a platform for international collaboration on resource efficiency with clusters in third countries to improve and accelerate innovation and promote European eco-innovative technologies globally.

To find out more visit the website or contact Pádraig Naughton at Cefic R&I or project coordinator AnnaSager at SP Technical Research Institute in Sweden.

Shaping a Sustainable Future in The Hague

Europe’s largest Science and Business Congress on Chemical Engineering and Applied Biotechnology will be taking place in The Hague, Netherlands from April 21 to 25. This important  European congress is taking the theme ‘Shaping a Sustainable Future’ and combines two major scientific and industrial innovation events: the Ninth European Congress of Chemical Engineering (ECCE9) and the Second European Congress of Applied Biotechnology (ECAB2).

This unique partnership of academia, industry and society will bring together international researchers, European politicians, companies, policy makers, promising students and innovative start-ups to jump-start forward-thinking efforts to improve the speed and efficiency of innovation processes. SusChem is involved via numerous presentations by stakeholders and through its partnership in the Chemical Regions for Resource Efficiency (R4R) FP7 project.

The five-day event offers the chance to catch up with all the latest inventions in the field of chemical engineering and applied biotechnology: two key areas for SusChem and future PPP initiatives such as SPIRE and BRIDGE 2020.

ECCE2013 offers a wealth of lectures, workshops and seminars with multiple parallel sessions. The full programme can be downloaded here or you can consider a first-class scientific programme with plenary lectures and keynotes by renowned scientists, poster presentations and over 300 scientific oral presentations in areas from the educational needs of future chemical engineers and novel biobased processes and products to nanotechnology and CO2 capture and use.

Or take a look at the industry focused innovation track: effectively highlighting where science meets business. The special innovation track is tailored to the specific interests of industry, bringing delegates in contact with new clients, business partners and the latest innovations from SMEs and promising start-ups.

As SusChem has demonstrated since 2004 there is immense innovative strength in these sectors offering enormous opportunities to achieve a sustainable society with collaboration between science, government and the corporate world playing an essential role in realising that objective.

EPIC Participation
The event organisers anticipate well over 2000 attendees including several hundred of the brightest and best PhD and MSc students.

Also within the ECCE9 programme is EPIC2013 - the fourth European Process Intensification Conference – that will include the award of the Process Intensification Award for Industrial Innovation organised by EFCE’s Working Party on Process Intensification.

ECCE2013 is jointly organised by the Association of Dutch Process Technologists (NPT) and the European Society of Biochemical Engineering Science (ESBES) on behalf of the European Federation of Chemical Engineering (EFCE). The organisation is supported by the Institute for Sustainable Process Technology (ISPT).

For more information, check the ECCE2013 website to see the inspiring programme, the names of the renowned keynote speakers and to find out all about the Holland Pavilion and the Exhibition and Networking Fair. Alternatively please contact the Congress organisers at MCI-Group. You can also follow the Congress via Twitter @ECCE9ECAB2 or join the ECCE2013 LinkedIn group.

MatVal makes debut in Rome

MatVal, the new SusChem-supported FP7 project, was launched at a conference in Rome on 7 and 8 February. The two-year, €1.3 million project aims to integrate requirements, ideas and solutions in materials across sectors to create synergies and develop a truly coordinated and competitive materials R&D programme for Europe.

The Rome event brought together partners in the Alliance for Materials (A4M), policymakers, R&D experts, material manufacturers and end-users.

The first day set the scene with descriptions of the European materials research, development and innovation (R&D&I) landscape with a specific focus on the forthcoming Horizon 2020 programme.

Value chain
The value chain approach is a key element of the thinking behind MatVal. Working along value chains can drive synergistic benefits through a common path which integrates players, resources and strategies starting from fundamental aspects of materials science up to the industrial systems that turn materials into valuable products.

How SusChem will contribute to this value chain approach to materials R&D&I was presented by Jacques Komornicki, Innovation Manager at Cefic. Jacques described SusChem’s links with a portfolio of European research and innovation initiatives including the Key Enabling Technologies policy area, to European Innovation Partnerships (EIPs) on Water and Raw Materials, and Public-Private-Partnerships (PPPs) such as SPIRE and BRIDGE 2020: all of which require sustainable materials development input.

Jacques also outlined specific SusChem inputs to the MatVal programme. For work package two (Material Stakeholders) and work package four (Boosting Research) SusChem will be reviewing its own Materials Implementation Action Plan (IAP - see previous article) with a view to value chain application. As part of work package three (Common Elements between ETPs) and work package five (Boosting Innovation) SusChem’s involvement with EIPs and PPPs with major materials research agendas will be useful to identify potential synergies and key innovation elements. SusChem will also be leading the development of the Implementation Plan (work package six) with other MatVal stakeholders.

Next steps
The second day continued discussion on materials R&D&I issues along a number of value chains: energy, transport, construction, health and the creative sector. The conference concluded with presentations on the next steps for A4M and the MatVal project from Michal Basista, General Secretary of EuMat.

Outcomes for the project include the publication of an A4M strategic networking document describing a shared approach to future materials activities in Horizon 2020, conclusions on life cycle thinking and sustainable development issues, identification of critical standards and proposals for future regulations, work on a project exit strategy plan (looking at the continuing impact of the project beyond its endpoint) and the implementation road map itself.

Further workshops and conferences are envisaged including a workshop in horizontal innovation issue, a workshop on the strategic plan to boost research and a final project conference.

All the presentations and photographs from the conference are available here.

About MatVal
The MatVal project was initiated by the Alliance for Materials (A4M):  the grouping of European Technology Platforms (ETPs), including SusChem, that are working together to collaborate and coordinate their strong materials research and innovation agendas.

Through the A4M organization and the MatVal project Europe is now equipped with a multi-stakeholder forum to develop and share a single view on materials needs and accelerate the implementation of material innovations towards the end-user market applications. A4M is a new way of thinking: a partnership and networking initiative for materials research and innovation.

Get involved
The MatVal project is funded by the European Commission’s FP7 programme. Its full title is ‘Alliance for Materials – A Value Chain Approach to Materials Research and Innovation’. More basic information on the project can be found on the Cordis website.

For more information on SusChem and chemical industry involvement in MatVal and A4M, please contact SusChem Innovation Manager Jacques Komornicki at Cefic.

Register now for the 2013 SusChem Stakeholder Event!

Registration for the 2013 SusChem Stakeholder is now open. The event has the theme ‘Essential elements for EU Growth and Jobs: Innovative Materials and Processes’ and takes place on 14 – 15 May 2013 in Brussels. The meeting will primarily address the benefits of innovation partnerships and joint public-private initiatives to boost EU growth and improve competitiveness - and how SusChem and sustainable chemistry will play a role in this. Join us and get the latest insights!

The draft programme for the event is now available and the two days are packed with presentations, workshops and networking opportunities.

On the first day high level speakers form SusChem, the European Commission, the European Council and European Parliament will discuss the role of SusChem and European Technology Platforms in Horizon 2020, innovation and the new EU Industrial Policy, improving competitiveness and much more.

The second day includes parallel session on the European Innovation Partnerships (Water Efficiency, Raw Materials, Energy materials and Smart Cities) and the two Public-Private-Partnerships (SPIRE and BRIDGE 2020) that SusChem is involved with. Delegates will also be updated on progress in the SusChem ‘Educate to Innovate’ initiative.

Strategy in action
SusChem has evolved into a Europe-wide platform that captures the full benefit of Europe’s strengths in research and provides a well-connected network for innovation in the chemical and biotechnology value chain. As a result, its strategy has evolved too.

The new SusChem 2020 strategy retains research, innovation and education actions at the heart of our activities. These three activities are important to engage with policy makers and partner organizations to shape research and innovation policies and deliver truly sustainable innovation that creates value in and for European society.

To achieve its ambitious objectives, the platform’s partnership activities will also need to expand strategically. This means a substantial increase in multidisciplinary and cross-sector working along value chains. The new strategy is also designed to strengthen cooperation between SusChem Europe and our network of National Technology Platforms.

With this new strategy and its broad and growing stakeholder base, SusChem aims to ensure that research is effectively turned into innovative products and services that will shape Europe’s future.

Where and when?
Join us on 14 and 15 May at the SusChem Stakeholder Event in Brussels to see examples of the new strategy in action!

The event will take place at the Hotel Sofitel Europe on Place Jourdan in the heart of the European Quarter in Brussels.

For more information on SusChem activities, please contact the SusChem secretariat. Places are limited so you are advised to register as soon as possible!