ProBIO event: Exploitation strategies for Bioeconomy Research

On 7 June representatives of Knowledge Based BioEconomy (KBBE) research and innovation projects are being invited to meet and discuss ‘Exploitation strategies for Bioeconomy Research proposals’ at an event organised by ProBIO, a Horizon 2020 project that aims to support and facilitate the exploitation of research project outcomes. The event will take place at the Stanhope Hotel in Brussels.

Participants will receive guidance on how to produce successful research proposals with a strong exploitation strategy element. The message from recent interactions between SusChem and European Commission representatives has reemphasised that clear exploitation strategies and an understanding of the potential market impact of research proposals is a vital element for success in Horizon 2020 funding.

Emma Holtz from SP Technical Research Institute in Sweden is the ProBIO team member in charge of providing tailored support for further research and innovation activities and also the event organiser.

“When coaching KBBE projects for ProBIO, we have observed how much uncertainty there is when it comes to market exploitation: many researchers are not aware of the potentials their achievements have to become products for the market or to serve as the starting point for new research,” says Emma.

“Too often, there is a lack of clarity as to the exploitation element of a research proposal, which hampers a proposal’s chances of success. With this clustering event we aim at addressing this area of uncertainty, by giving participants the tools (and sometimes the tips) which help them in developing a successful proposal. At our event, we will be showing bioeconomy projects how to access research funding, by giving them an overview on existing opportunities and financing schemes across the EU and national programmes.”

Keynotes and clustering
Among keynote speakers participating in the event, Alexandros Theodoridis from the BioHorizon project will present ‘Bio National Contact Points’ support to improve the quality of research project proposals’ as well as give hints on how to put together a good consortium.

Christine Bunthof from the Platform2 project will be introducing the platform of bioeconomy ERA-NET actions. Furthermore, exploitation experts at ProBIO will show the participants how to strengthen their project‘s exploitation potential in the early phase of application development by considering the market and potential end users, Intellectual Property Rights (IPR) as well as their choice of business model.

The meeting will also meant to act as a “clustering” event, as it will provide the opportunity for researchers across the bioeconomy area to meet up and discuss proposal writing in a neutral forum.

Participation is open to all project result owners from previous KBBE projects (FP7, Horizon 2020 etc) as well as other invited researchers planning to develop (or taking part in) competitive research project proposals with strong exploitation strategies.

For more information about the event and registration, visit the ProBIO website or contact Emma Holtz.

Integrated Industrial Water Management: Solutions for Practice

The SusChem-inspired FP7 project ‘Economically and Ecologically Efficient Water Management in the European Chemical Industry’ (E4Water) is holding its final conference on ‘Integrated Industrial Water Management: Solutions for Practice’ on 19 and 20 April 2016 at the offices of the Representation of the State of Hessen to the EU in Brussels.

Water is a key pan-European concern for industry. Despite the vast amount of water on the planet scarce fresh water resources and water stress of aquatic ecosystems are current critical issues in Europe and the world and are the result of a myriad of interacting environmental, political, economic, and social forces. Europe is confronted with urgent challenges related to water: adapting to climate change, including mitigation of floods and droughts risks, achieving good quality of surface water, ensuring adequate availability of water to deliver multiple benefits to nature and to the economy.

The chemical industry is both a major water user and a key solution provider to the sector. It offers significant potential for increasing eco-efficiency in industrial water management in its own sector and also in other industrial sectors.

The conference “Integrated Industrial Water Management: Solutions for Practice” presents new integrated approaches, methodologies and process technologies for a more efficient and sustainable management of water in the chemical industry with cross-fertilization potential to other industrial sectors. The conference programme can be downloaded here.

The event will focus on the results obtained during the E4Water project in terms of best practise for water management and how this can provide challenges and opportunities for the chemical sector from the six case studies that form the core of the E4Water effort. Presentations will include:

• Innovative materials, process technologies, tools and methodologies for an integrated water management.
• Open innovation approaches for testing innovative developments with respect to other industries.
• Industrial case studies, representing critical challenges for the chemical industry and other process industries.
• Implementation of improved tools for process efficiency optimisation, linking water processes with production processes- and eco-efficiency assessment.

The above examples were all developed and demonstrated in the E4Water project. In addition to multiple exciting presentations related to E4Water developments, keynote presentations will give insights on industry needs and water related strategies and on European Commission activities and strategies. A get together and poster party will give participants the opportunity to discuss E4Water results and to present their own work related to integrated industrial water management. You can download the Call for Posters template document here.

Registration for the conference is open now and is free of charge.

What is E4Water?
With the chemical industry providing the highest potential to demonstrate increased eco-efficiency in industrial water management, the FP7 project ‘Economically and Ecologically Efficient Water Management in the European Chemical Industry’ (E4Water) addresses a range of crucial process needs to overcome bottlenecks and barriers to a fully integrated and energy efficient water management system.

The project’s main objective is to develop and test integrated approaches, methodologies and process technologies. There are six industrial case study sites at the core of E4Water that are expected to achieve a reduction of 20-40% in water use, 30-70% in waste water production, 15-40% in energy use and up to 60% in direct economic benefits. In addition to the chemical industry, the project is actively seeking opportunities for cross-fertilisation with other industrial sectors.

The project consortium brings together large chemical companies, leading European water sector companies and innovative research and technology development centres and universities. The partners are also involved in the Water supply and sanitation Platform (WssTP) and SusChem, the European Technology Platform for Sustainable Chemistry, and actively collaborate with water authorities in different European countries.

#useCO2 News

Carbon dioxide Capture utilisation (CCU) and carbon storage are certainly hot topics in sustainable chemistry and rarely out of the energy news. Now the European Commission’s Strategic Energy Technologies Information System (SETIS) has devoted a whole issue of its online magazine to the topic including contributions from SusChem and SPIRE.

The January 2016 issue of the SETIS Magazine includes some 20 articles highlighting the many projects and activities on carbon capture utilisation and storage in Europe. Amongst the various contributions from industry and academic experts are two from SusChem and the SPIRE PPP:

• ‘Chemical valorisation of CO2 for Europe’ by Sophie Wilmet of Cefic R&I
• ‘Carbon dioxide – turning an enemy into a valuable friend!’ by SPIRE executive director Loredana Ghinea

SusChem closely follows progress in CO2 utilisation and regularly tweets on developments using the #useCO2 hashtag.

European #useCO2 Events
A couple of important #useCO2 conferences are taking place in Europe during 2016.

Carbon Dioxide Catalysis - Zing Conference on 19 22 April 2016 in the Algarve, Portugal
This conference will showcase the latest advances in the catalytic conversion of CO2. The primary aim of the conference is to gather representatives from the academic and industrial communities to exchange information and ideas, and to find mutual ground for developing new and improved catalytic methods.

International Conference on Carbon Dioxide Utilization (ICCDU XIV) on 11-15 September 2016 in Sheffield UK
The ICCDU is the premier scientific conference on CO2 utilisation research and  provides a multi-disciplinary forum on recent innovations in fundamental and applied aspects of carbon dioxide utilization. There are three broad themes and abstracts are welcome in the following areas by 29 February:

• CO2 insertion any processes in-which CO2 is inserted i.e. polymerisation, mineralisation.
• CO2 splitting any process in which CO2 is split, i.e. electrochemistry, plasma, photochemistry.
• Enabling technologies i.e. carbon capture, LCA, CO2 utilisation in the circular economy, hydrogen production for CO2 utilisation, energy integration, whole systems approaches.

SCOT project
The Smart CO2 Transformation (SCOT) project has launched its Vision for Smart CO2 Transformation in Europe, a long-term Vision for CO2 utilisation that puts forward why Europe should make CCU a priority and accelerate the development of #useCO2 technologies.

The report suggests three core reasons why Europe should accelerate the market development
of its CO2 utilisation sector:

• CO2 utilisation can be one of the major growth areas in Europe’s future low-carbon circular economy
• CO2  utilisation can help to facilitate Europe’s energy transition
• CO2 utilisation can contribute to achieving Europe’s aims for decreasing carbon emissions

The project also has two further events:

How to deal with oil price ups and downs: SCOT & CO2Chem Workshop on 23 March 2016 in Frankfurt, Germany
The significant work on CCU in recent years is being jeopardised by the current depressed fossil fuel price. For successful market implementation, it is crucial for CCU technologies to compete economically, thus the low oil prices are a major barrier for the development of CCU technologies. The goal of the workshop is to describe the current situation and to discuss how CCU can develop constantly and safely within these uncertain framework conditions.
http://www.scotproject.org/

CO2 Utilisation as a Strong Catalyst for the European Industrial Renaissance on 29 June 2016 in Brussels
The final conference of the SCOT FP7 project will present the Research and Development and the regulatory needs that SCOT has identified as levers for the development of CO2 Utilisation. The day will be split in two parts; in the morning, the CO2 recycling community will gather key industrial and academic players in order to discuss the Strategic European Research and Innovation Agenda (SERIA) and the next steps necessary to implement the Joint Action Plan.  In the afternoon, discussion will move to European and regional policy makers and what can be done from a policy perspective to allow the industrial deployment of these technologies.

About CO2Chem
The information provided in this blog is supplied by the CO2Chem network that brings together academics, industrialists and policy makers over a wide range of disciplines to consider the utilisation of carbon dioxide as a single carbon chemical feedstock for the production of value added products. Network activities are geared towards the founding of strong cross-disciplinary research clusters that will lead research in this increasingly important area.
A calendar of forthcoming events covering carbon dioxide utilisation (#useCO2) topics can be found on the CO2Chem Website.

FP7 KYROBIO Biocatalyst Project Results Webinar

EU FP7 project ‘KYROBIO' have produced an end of project webinar titled 'The Discovery, Development and Demonstration of Biocatalysis for use in the Industrial Synthesis of Chiral Chemicals'. The webinar gives a brief overview of the four year project whose main objective was to broaden the toolbox of single enantiomer chiral chemicals manufactured in Europe using biotechnological routes. Its specific focus was to enable the industrial application of the lyase class of enzymes which can selectively synthesise molecules with multiple chiral centres.

The KYROBIO project used an SME-focused approach to address industrially identified needs for chiral synthesis using biocatalysis with partners that have the potential to exploit the project results. The overarching challenge was that multiple chiral centres form a significant feature in several chosen industrially useful chemicals.

The control of reaction stereochemistry was targeted for added value in the KYROBIO technology. This leads to challenges in molecular biology, enzymology and process engineering to name but a few. All these areas are covered in the webinar that is embedded below. The project ran from 1 Dec 2011 to 30 November 2015.



About KYROBIO
The objective of KYROBIO project was to broaden the toolbox of single enantiomer chiral chemicals that are produced by industry in Europe using biotechnological routes. The main target is applications of lyase enzymes to selectively synthesize molecules with multiple chiral centres applying enzymatic carbon-carbon and carbon-nitrogen bond formation as the key technical platforms. Synthetic biological techniques were then applied to improve fermentation processes in order to generate better enzymes.

Chiral compounds are an important class of chemicals that have great potential to compete with chemocatalysts in their production processes with associated benefits from reduction in use of organic solvents, toxic metals and energy. However their application has been relatively limited so far. KYROBIO addressed the main challenges to moving forward to the next generation of added value industrial applications of white biotechnology for high value chemical synthesis.

Using a supradisciplinary approach ranging from enzyme development, chemistry, molecular biology, fermentation and innovative isolation techniques the bottlenecks to applying this new technology have been addressed.

KYROBIO has emphasised the dissemination of green sustainable chemistry to a broad audience of industry leaders, academics, policymakers and the public. Researchers have conducted a vigorous public outreach campaign including networking events, webinars, and public science education and training events.

The novel biocatalysts developed in the project are targeted for commercialisation within three years of the project completion. KYROBIO expects to put the EU at the forefront of efficient, sustainable and eco-friendly chemical production that benefits industry, consumers and the environment.

You can find more information about KYROBIO activities and results on its CORDIS information page (that includes links to some research papers reporting project results), or on the KYROBIO website or by contacting project coordinator Ed Jones.

Save the date: E4Water Final Conference

The SusChem-inspired FP7 project ‘Economically and Ecologically Efficient Water Management in the European Chemical Industry’ (E4Water) will be holding its final conference on ‘Integrated Industrial Water Management: Solutions for Practise’ on 19 and 20 April 2016 at the offices of the Representation of the State of Hessen to the EU in Brussels.

The event will focus on the results obtained during the E4Water project in terms of best practise for industrial water management and how this can provide challenges and opportunities for the chemical sector in particular the lessons learnt from the six case studies that form the core of the E4Water activities. Registration will open soon and the event will be free of charge. 

A full programme for the conference will be available soon. To catch up with the latest news from the E4Water project download their latest newsletter.

What is E4Water?

With the chemical industry providing the highest potential to demonstrate increased eco-efficiency in industrial water management, the FP7 project ‘Economically and Ecologically Efficient Water Management in the European Chemical Industry’ (E4Water) addresses a range of crucial process needs to overcome bottlenecks and barriers to a fully integrated and energy efficient water management system.

The project’s main objective is to develop and test integrated approaches, methodologies and process technologies. There are six industrial case study sites at the core of E4Water that are expected to achieve a reduction of 20-40% in water use, 30-70% in waste water production, 15-40% in energy use and up to 60% in direct economic benefits. In addition to the chemical industry, the project is actively seeking opportunities for cross-fertilisation with other industrial sectors.

The project consortium brings together large chemical companies, leading European water sector companies and innovative research and technology development centres and universities. The partners are also involved in the Water supply and sanitation Platform (WssTP) and SusChem, the European Technology Platform for Sustainable Chemistry, and actively collaborate with water authorities in different European countries.

For more information about SusChem involvement with water issues, please contact Antonia Morales-Perez at Cefic, or visit the water priority page on the SusChem website.

Get Going with Grant-It

Use our Grant-it tool to find your partners for the 2016-2017 Horizon 2020 calls! Following the SusChem brokerage event on October 6 2015 in Brussels, more than 20 project proposals can now be found on the Grant-it website and are freely accessible to all SusChem members. You can also browse for calls of interest to you and post our own proposals.

Connect to Grant-it now!

The project proposals can be found here and range across the portfolio of SusChem inspired calls in the Horizon 2020 work programmes for 2016-17. The proposals include ideas to optimize biocatalysis and processing, recovery of high-value raw materials from waste streams, novel smart food packaging, and 3D printing applications amongst many, many more ideas. Just use your SusChem username and password to get access!

One-stop shop
Launched in 17 December 2013, the Grant-it portal is your ‘one-stop’ shop for information and project building tools for Horizon 2020 and a range of other financing initiatives for collaborative research and innovation projects in Europe.

The experience gained by SusChem in FP7 was used to shape the Grant-it portal to enable SusChem stakeholders to successfully engage with the new opportunities presented by Horizon 2020. The Grant-it website is your ‘one-stop’ access to funding opportunities from the European Commission and from selected national and regional governments in the field of sustainable chemistry.

With Grant-it you can search for funding opportunities, search for and identify project opportunities, propose project ideas, and search for potential project partners. The system also allows searches of past funded EU projects including FP5 to FP7 and other initiatives.

For SusChem
Grant-it is a password protected free service offered by Cefic to its members and SusChem stakeholders to further boost industry participation in collaborative research and innovation activities. SusChem members can log-in with their SusChem username and password.

Grant-it is based on the cloud-concept of sharing innovation knowledge, projects and funding between stakeholders in Europe and has been specially developed by Cefic for the SusChem community working with PNO Consultants and its software partner Innovation Engineering.

Carbon Dioxide Utilisation: A Catalyst for European Industrial Renaissance?

Essen will be the “place to be” at the end of September for those working on CO2 recycling and #useCO2 projects in Europe. The city will be the venue for the Fourth Conference on Carbon Dioxide as Feedstock for Fuels, Chemistry and Polymers on 29 and 30 September organised by the Nova Institute. And before the conference the SCOT (Smart CO2 Transformation) FP7 project will hold its mid-term conference on Carbon Dioxide Utilisation (CDU) on 28 September. All the events take place at the same location: Haus der Technik in Essen, Germany.

On 28 September the SCOT team will present its Vision for Carbon Dioxide Utilisation and a Strategic European Research Agenda for Europe. The floor will then be open for the views of high level speakers from politics and industry. Plenty of discussion is expected and you are welcome to take part!

SCOT wants to hear the voices of a wide range of participants. Break-out sessions in smaller groups will also provide opportunities for intense knowledge exchange and discussions on the various aspects of #useCO2 policy and technical issues.

Interactive sessions
This one-day conference will be THE place to hear about the latest developments on Carbon Dioxide Utilisation and help shape the future of CDU/ #useCO2 in Europe. Input from the conference will directly feed into SCOT advisory reports to the European Commission. These reports will cover both the future role of CDU in Europe and future support mechanisms for CDU.

The SCOT conference aims to actively engage academics, politicians and industry to discuss the Vision and business opportunities of CDU up to 2030. The break-out sessions will be in small groups of (20-25 people) and will involve a single presentation and a moderator to guide the discussion. The outcomes can help the SCOT team to further narrow down the project’s Vision, Research Objectives and Action Plan.

The sessions are on:

• The Potential of Carbon Dioxide Utilization for Mineralization and Waste
• Availability of low-cost low-carbon electricity for CDU
• Making chemical building blocks using CO2
• Working towards better LCA for CDU and System boundary definitions of CDU
• Power to X: Synthetic fuels from CO2? 
• Framing Carbon Dioxide Utilisation
• Bridging the Gap: (Policy) options to get from lab to market

The SCOT project team are certain that there are already many ideas for CDU that only require a good platform and funding to make them happen. At the end of the conference, SCOT is organising a matchmaking event to allow people to find projects and partners to respond successfully to the European research calls of 2016 on Carbon Dioxide Utilisation. Information will be available on next year’s Horizon 2020 calls including those under the SPIRE PPP initiative and the forthcoming Horizon Prize on CO2 utilisation. Come along to pitch your project ideas and expertise!

Participation in the SCOT conference (including the matchmaking event) costs €50 and you can register here. Students have the opportunity of getting a free ticket on a first-come-first-serve basis.
For more information, please contact the project secretariat. You can download the programme here.

CO2 as Feedstock
The SCOT conference takes place back to back with the Fourth Conference on Carbon Dioxide as Feedstock that is hosted by the Nova-Institute on 29 and 30 September at the Haus der Technik in Essen.

Over the last few years, the rise of this topic has developed rapidly from several research projects and industrial applications to become more and more dynamic, especially in the fields of solar fuels (power-to-fuel, power-to-gas) and also in CO2-based chemicals and polymers. At this conference leading players will showcase some enhanced and also new applications using carbon dioxide as feedstock. Representatives from political bodies and research institutes will be on hand at the event to present and discuss the latest national and regional policies, strategies and visions.

You can access the full programme for the event here and registration is here.

Shape the future of EU R&I policy in Climate Action, Resource Efficiency and Raw Materials

On 23 and 24 September the second RECREATE Strategic Workshop will be held at the Diamant Conference and Business Centre in Brussels. The theme of the workshop will be “Defining tomorrow’s research and innovation funding priorities” and participants will help outline policy needs with other key stakeholders to support the development of the EU’s research funding programme Horizon 2020 in the area of Climate, Resource Efficiency and Raw Materials. Registration for the workshop is now open!

The RECREATE (REsearch network for forward looking activities and assessment of research and innovation prospects in the fields of Climate, Resource Efficiency and Raw Materials) project is a Coordination Action funded by the European Commission under FP7 and SusChem (via Cefic) is involved with the project. RECREATE aims to provide evidence and intelligence concerning the future direction for research in Horizon 2020 in the areas of Climate, Resource Efficiency and Raw Materials. To do this the project is involving a large network of stakeholders, making extensive impact assessments and developing a range of forward looking activities (with a time horizon to 2050) to provide the insights and knowledge required. The RECREATE project started in July 2013 and will run until June 2018.

Workshop objectives
The objectives of the September workshop include:

• Presentation of the project's first results and findings
• Gathering stakeholders’ viewpoints and feedback
• Identification of future research and innovation funding needs in the relevant fields

The workshop will open on the afternoon of 23 September and will include a keynote presentation on ‘Expectations and new developments at DG RTD with regard to Climate Action, Environment, Resource Efficiency and Raw Materials’ from Kurt Vandenberghe, Director Environment, DG RTD, European Commission and a report on recent progress in RECREATE from Robbert Fisher, Managing Director of JIIP and RECREATE Project Coordinator. A second Keynote presentation will be given by Eva Kaili, MEP.

The first day will also feature a presentation and discussion on the RECREATE scoreboard work package that is being developed to compare and benchmark the performance of Member States in terms of ‘Green Innovation’ and assess the implementation of the European Research Area in the fields of Climate Action, Resource Efficiency and Raw Materials. The scorecard should be able to identify the main strengths and weaknesses of the various approaches pursued in the Member States and reflect on different opportunities as well as potential barriers and failures.

The day will be completed by a poster and networking session

On 24 September will feature a dual track with TRACK 1 looking at RECREATE’s evidence-based narratives on Climate Information Services, Nature Based Solutions, and Systemic Eco-Innovation and TRACK 2 discussing RECREATE’s Trends and Scenarios.

More information on the workshop can be found here and registration for the workshop is here.

This workshop is the second of four RECREATE workshops that will be held in Brussels to:

• Share information on the fields of Climate Change, Resource Efficiency and Raw Materials.
• Enable networking with relevant stakeholders on these arenas
• Gather feedback on research needs, gaps and recommendations that contribute to creating a clear cut research and innovation agenda for the Horizon 2020

By participating in these workshops, stakeholders will be helping the project consortium and the European Commission in their efforts to develop a programme which addresses research, innovation and industry needs in these fields.

What does RECREATE do?
The overall objective of the project is to support the development of the European Union’s new research funding programme Horizon 2020, with a specific focus on Societal Challenge 5 - Climate Action, Resource Efficiency and Raw Materials - by providing an evidence base.

To do this RECREATE will:

• Create, launch and manage a Stakeholder Network
• Develop and monitor indicators for assessing the impact of EU research and innovation programmes (including policy, economic, society, sustainability)
• Analyse technology, policy and market developments as well as policies and programmes as a basis for forward looking activities
• Produce quantitative and qualitative briefings with R&I information, trends and strategic options for EU research

Further information about the event and the workshop's travel reimbursement policy can be requested from the RECREATE secretariat.

Innovation across Regions: Shaping Solutions for Resource Efficiency in Europe

To mark the end of the successful three-year SusChem-inspired FP7 project Chemical Regions for Resource Efficiency (R4R), the project team will be presenting its final findings and recommendations on 30 September in Nice, France. The R4R closing event will be part of the major ECCE10 + ECAB3 + EPIC5 conference.

The combined 10th European Congress of Chemical Engineering, 3rd European Congress of Applied Biotechnology and 5th European Process Intensification Conference is the perfect venue to present the R4R findings.

The R4R workshop will gather policymakers, regional experts, captains of industry and academia to hear the key learnings from the project and provides an excellent discussion forum to exchange and discuss ideas on how chemical and related industries along their various chemical value chains can be transformed into eco-efficient, high-technology solution providers – and a key enabling element of the circular economy.

At the R4R workshop you can:

• Learn about the role of regions in promoting resource efficiency
• Discuss with policy makers, industrial players, entrepreneurs and academia during our networking breaks
• Engage in discussions during dedicated panel debates with mentors from R4R's four flagship initiatives to implement recommendations for a resource efficient Europe
• Hear about resource efficiency success stories with keynote speeches from representatives from R4R's six European regions
• Explore our exhibition space
• Shape future prospects for the R4R flagship initiatives including topics such as industrial symbiosis, education and bio-based SMEs.

A complete overview of the workshop will be available soon, but the draft agenda is available now.

Register now!
To register for the R4R workshop you need to register for the entire ECCE 10 + ECAB 3 + EPIC 5 conference that takes place from 26 September to 1 October. A special Early-Bird rate is offered for the first 150 persons who register at this link! The discount code is: ECCE-CEFIC1

The full ECCE 10 + ECAB 3 + EPIC 5 conference programme can be accessed here.

For more information, please contact Jacques Komornicki, Cefic Innovation Manager. We look forward to seeing you in September in Nice!

About R4R
Under the Chemical Regions for Resource Efficiency (R4R) project, launched in late 2012, six complementary European chemical regions came together to overcome fragmentation and create a platform for international collaboration on resource efficiency. A Joint Action Plan was developed comprising tools and best practise to improve the triple helix collaboration between the participating regions involving industry, academia and public sector.  Find out more at the R4R website.

RESIDE gets Results

The heating and cooling of buildings contributes around 30% of the gross energy demand in Europe. Although new buildings follow more stringent energy efficiency standards, the existing and extensive estate of old buildings with poor energy rating is significant. Around 35-40% of Europe’s building stock was built before 1960 and 45-50% of the remainder before 1991. The density of old building stock varies extensively by regions, but the vast majority of Europe’s built environment more than 25 years old. In order to meet its emission and energy consumption reduction targets, Europe needs to urgently target and refurbish these older buildings in a cost-effective way.

Launched in December 2013 the SusChem-inspired FP7 project RESIDE aimed at supporting the implementation of EU Strategies to boost demand for innovation in the buildings refurbishment market by:

• Adapting and applying of a promising emerging scientific approach, Technology Innovation Systems (TIS) for an extended localised market assessment
• Defining, implementing and monitoring multi-level strategic roadmaps for Demand Sides Policy Measures (DSPM), based on the TIS market assessments, and
• Proactive engagement of all target groups in the whole process

CEFIC was a partner in RESIDE together with CiaoTech (Italy), Bax & Willems (Spain) and the University of Utrecht (NL)

RESIDE has assessed the market and set up a baseline scenario of the EU refurbishment sector with a focus on three EU regions (Lombardia-Italy, Catalonia-Spain, Noord Brabant-The Netherlands), using the TIS methodology to identify the interactions among different parts of the system.

The main results of RESIDE, in particular from the TIS analysis and confirmed through direct discussions with the regional stakeholders, are that the three regions have clear targets and comprehensive plans for building refurbishment and that the main barriers to implementation are not the existence of financing schemes or refurbishments technologies from construction companies but are more due to:

• Lack of knowledge of existing schemes
• The speed of market formation
• Resource mobilisation issues

Smart cities
The final results of the eighteen-month RESIDE project were presented to the General Assembly of the European Innovation Partnership on Smart Cities and Communities (EIP SCC) at the Metropolitan Solutions conference in Berlin on 21 May 2015.

RESIDE representatives attended the plenary session of the EIP Smart Cities Conference, chaired by European Commissioner for Transport Mrs. Violeta Bulc and European Commissioner for Digital Economy and Society Mr. Günther H. Oettinger. The conference attracted more than 450 representatives of EU organisations and communities including Mayors, CEOs and High-level speakers from all around Europe. The RESIDE project displayed a poster as part of the EIP event within the Berlin “Metropolitan Solutions” fair along with other 20 EU-funded projects on similar topics.

The RESIDE work raised high interest with the stakeholders present. In particular, Commissioner Bulc (see above Commissioner Bulc centre with Laszlo Bax on left from RESIDE) showed high interest in the RESIDE methodology and the three regional case studies, asking for more feedback on project’s results.

In the afternoon sessions, Laszlo Bax, the RESIDE project coordinator, presented the final results of the project to the EIP SCC’s Action Cluster “Sustainable Districts and Built Environment”. The Action cluster, chaired by Mrs. Rinske van Heiningen of Akzo Nobel and the Action Cluster leader, gathered about 40 people, all experts with multidisciplinary background and experience including architects, representatives of various EIP SCC commitments, entrepreneurs, university professors specialising in urban planning and energy efficiency in building, among other disciplines.

Finally, RESIDE partners participated to the break-out sessions on “Business Models for Sustainable Districts” and “District Regeneration” where representatives of the Action Cluster further discussed these topics and links and synergies with the EIP SCC in general, including the next steps for follow up.

RESIDE received several expressions of interest for future collaborations and was included in the list of projects on which the Action Cluster wants to push for a follow up within the EIP SCC community.

BIO-TIC’s 10 Recommendations to enable € 50 billion EU Bioeconomy

Today (23 June), the BIO-TIC project has launched its final roadmap report for tackling barriers to realising the full potential of industrial biotechnology in Europe. The report is entitled ‘The bioeconomy enabled - A roadmap to a thriving industrial biotechnology sector in Europe’ and was introduced at the project’s high level policy conference “From bugs to business: Unlocking the Bioeconomy in Europe” that took at the Royal Flemish Academy of Belgium for Science and the Arts in Brussels. The conference brought together industry, academia, policy makers, innovation agencies and other bioeconomy stakeholders to discuss the actions needed to stimulate the development of industrial biotechnology in Europe. 

The BIO-TIC report highlights that the EU market for industrial biotechnology-derived products is expected to increase from € 28 billion in 2013 to € 50 billion in 2030. This growth will be largely driven by replacement of fossil carbon materials, reflecting Europe’s desire to develop more sustainable and resource-efficient products and processes.

However, in spite of this market growth, significant hurdles remain and hamper the full development of industrial biotechnology in Europe. For example, the principal barrier to fully exploiting industrial biotechnology opportunities in Europe relates to product cost-competitiveness, both compared to fossil alternatives and to equivalent products sourced from elsewhere in the world.

Recommendations
To tackle this and other hurdles, and to ensure that most of this potential is realised in Europe, the BIO-TIC roadmap outlines ten pragmatic recommendations for action. Presenting the main findings of the report Antoine Peeters of EuropaBio (below) said that: "The projected market of up to € 50 billion meant that there were many opportunities for competitive European positions - it was now up to you [the European bioeconomy stakeholders] to make it happen!"

The ten main recommendations in the report are to:

• Improve opportunities for feedstock producers within the bioeconomy; 
• Investigate the scope for using novel biomass; 
• Develop a workforce which can maintain Europe’s competitiveness in industrial biotechnology; 
• Introduce a long-term, stable and transparent policy and incentive framework to promote the bioeconomy; 
• Improve public perception and awareness of industrial biotechnology and biobased products; 
• Identify, leverage and build upon EU capabilities for pilot and demonstration facilities; 
• Promote the use of co-products; 
• Improve the bioconversion and downstream processing steps; 
• Improve access to financing for large scale biorefinery projects; 
• Develop stronger relationships between conventional and non-conventional players in the value chain. 

Nathalie Moll, Secretary General of EuropaBio, which coordinated the project, said: “We are thrilled to see BIO-TIC come to fruition. The roadmap represents a comprehensive summary of expertise and insight from across the Member States. In 10 recommendations, it highlights ways of capturing the huge potential for environmental, societal and economic solutions that this cutting-edge technology offers in the development of a more competitive, circular EU bioeconomy.”

The roadmap
‘The Bioeconomy Enabled: A Roadmap to a Thriving Industrial Biotechnology Sector in Europe’ roadmap is a key deliverable of the EU funded BIO-TIC project. The results are based on an extensive literature review, complemented with over 80 expert interviews and 13 stakeholder workshops organised across Europe in 2013 and 2014. It is based on three detailed reports covering market potential, research and development and regulatory/policy issues, available separately as appendices to the main document. All BIO-TIC roadmaps can be downloaded from the BIO-TIC web portal.

The ‘From bugs to business: Unlocking the Bioeconomy in Europe’ conference was chaired by Professor Patricia Osseweijer of TU Delft and featured keynote speeches by BioAmber, Biobased Delta, Energochemica and Ecover to illustrate the issues and potential of industrial biotechnology in Europe.

Panel debates covered project financing for industrial biotechnology projects and issues around biomass availability. The conference concluded with contributions from MEP Lambert van Nistelrooij and Waldemar Kütt, ‎Head of Unit for BioBased products and Processes at DG Research and Innovation, giving their views from Parliament and the Commission respectively on industrial biotechnology.

Lambert van Nistelrooij highlighted the need to “introduce a long-term, stable and transparent policy and incentive framework to promote the bioeconomy” while Waldemar Kütt said that: “Industrial biotechnology can make a change to enable a future bioeconomy and a future circular economy. BIO-TIC’s ten recommendations will be very valuable making progress in this area.”

The event included an exhibition of industrial biotechnology-related tools (including 3D printing machines) and a range of biobased products (above). Conference delegates were also invited to visit the Bio Base Europe Pilot Plant on the morning of 24 June.

About BIO-TIC
The Industrial Biotech Research and Innovation Platforms Centre towards Technological Innovation and Solid Foundations for a Growing Industrial Biotech Sector in Europe (BIO-TIC) project was launched in September 2012 with the vision to establish an overview of the hurdles to biotech innovation and find solutions to accelerate the uptake of industrial biotechnology in Europe. BIO-TIC was a three-year project funded by the FP7 Programme of the European Commission and is operated by 12 partners. These are EuropaBio, Cefic, PNO Consultants, TNO, Dechema, nova Institut, Clever Consult, KTN, IAR, Poyry Management Consulting Oy, Ciaotech and PNO Innovation. The consortium is led by EuropaBio.

More information
For more information, contact Claire Gray Project Co-ordinator for BIO-TIC at EuropaBio or visit the BIO-TIC website.

ACHEMA 2015 - Global Summit of Innovation!

With over 3,800 exhibitors and a huge exhibition space ACHEMA opened on 15 June in Frankfurt am Main, Germany. The growing international reputation of Europe’s premier event for the process industries was underlined by the fact that, for the first time, the majority of exhibitors come from outside Germany. With well over 160,000 participants anticipated to attend from 15 - 19 June one focus of interest for SusChem amongst the varied technical programme are three sessions on CO2 utilisation.

ACHEMA is the world forum for chemical engineering and the process industry providing an international platform for new chemical process innovations and technologies. And innovation was the main focus of the first day of ACHEMA. At the opening press conference Prof. Dr. Rainer Diercks, Chairman of the Board of organiser DECHEMA e.V. described ACHEMA as: “the global summit of innovation.” Being interdisciplinary and highly international, ACHEMA is a “melting pot of ideas.” Diercks also pointed out that the significant contribution of chemistry and process engineering to the solution of global challenges such as water supply, food or health is not well-known to the general public. ACHEMA is therefore aiming to increase its activities directed towards engaging with the public on these subjects.

The importance of the chemical industry for overall innovation should be brought much more strongly to the attention of the general public DECHEMA believes. All speakers in the press conference panel warned that Europe could fall back as a place for innovation if the political and societal framework was not improved.

Innovation in terms of CO2 utilisation technology is of growing interest to SusChem and the chemical industry generally. At ACHEMA DECHEMA has organised a special stand on the German #useCO2 funding programme in the Exhibition area in  Hall 9.2, stand E46 (link text in German). If you are at ACHEMA go visit!

In addition two ACHEMA conference sessions and a workshop are of direct interest in this field.

Energy and alternatives
Energy, water and feedstock are essential for any chemical or biotechnology conversion. As these resources become scarcer, new methods for efficient use are being introduced. This includes energy efficient transformations and operations as well as the temporary storage of energy in the form of electricity or heat. Renewable energy resources that produce electricity depending on weather conditions rather than in response to demand may create a temporary and regional surplus of energy. This can be usefully employed for the production of basic chemicals as well as for conversion of unconventional feedstock such as CO2.

The ‘Power to chemicals’ conference session majors on this latter theme and takes place on the morning of Thursday, 18 June from 10:30. The session will describe  a number of interesting processes in this field including the use of ammonia as a storage medium for fluctuating (renewable) energy sources; synthetic fuels from a sustainable pathway; storage of power as chemicals using gasification plants; tailored foams as catalyst support for highly exothermic processes; and comparison of biological and catalytic methanation for power-to-gas applications.

You can find more information, including downloadable abstracts of all the presentations, here.

On the following morning (19 June) a dedicated session on Industrial carbon dioxide utilisation covers topics including: Materials for the 21st century - can carbon come from CO2?; CO2-based polyurethanes on the way to commercial scale (the Bayer DREAM process); an evaluation of the economic and environmental potentials of using CO2 in chemical processes; Combinatorial screening of catalyst materials for electrochemical CO2 reduction; and Environmentally sustainable syngas production from carbon dioxide and hydrogen.

Again you can find more information, including downloadable abstracts of all the presentations, here.

SCOT workshop
Also on the afternoon of 18 June from 15:00 the EU FP7 project Smart CO2 Utilisation (SCOT) is organising a workshop at ACHEMA entitled: ‘PtX: A new paradigm for energy and gas networks?’

The event will present the draft of the SCOT Project’s Vision for Power to Gas and Power to Liquids and open a discussion on  the potential of these technologies in Europe.
The workshop will address the following questions:

• In which fields will PtX provide added value?
• What needs to happen for the technologies to be viable (policy, technical progress, etc)?
• What impact will PtX have on electricity and gas network operators and industries in Europe?

To guide the discussion, three high-level experts will lead the exchanges with the audience that will consist of people from industry, research institutes as well as policy makers.

A joint Cefic-European Commission Workshop on the Chemistry and Processes of CO2 Utilisation was recently held and the outcomes will be published soon.

CRM_InnoNet - Final Newsletter, Video and Conference

The end is nigh! SusChem's FP7 CRM_InnoNet project is approaching its final few days of activity and has just published its tenth and final Issue newsletter. This final issue covers the project's final high level conference (see below), announces the project's new video and much more! 

As well as highlighting the “SUBSTITUTION means EVOLUTION” conference on 17 June 2015 the newsletter features the project's new video addressing the importance of substitution of CRMs for Europe’s economic growth and competitiveness. The video is embedded below.

Also covered are a short summary and link to the project‘s five roadmaps and summary report, a  summary of the CRM policy workshop that took place on 3 March (with links to all the presentations given), a close-up article on the UK's Knowledge Transfer Network (KTN) and plenty of links to other upcoming events!

Final act
There is still time to register for CRM_InnoNet's final high level conference called 'SUBSTITUTION means EVOLUTION' taking place on 17 June in Brussels. This free conference will be your one-stop shop to find out all you need to know about substitution of CRMs in Europe.

At the event you will:

• Learn about the opportunities provided by substitution in terms of CRMs and how it can solve technological challenges.
• Witness the state of play of CRM substitution activities in Europe with keynote speeches from companies and government bodies.
• Meet up with key EU industrial sectors in the area of substitution.
• Engage in debates to implement recommendations towards a European circular economy.
• Discuss with policy makers, industrial players, entrepreneurs and academia during the networking cocktail.
• Become part of the continuing European CRM Innovation Network and meet potential partners for substitution projects in Horizon 2020.

At the conference you will also be able to explore applications of substitution in the exhibition space! If you wish to bring your own products and have your own stand contact the conference organisers now! The final agenda is shown below.

Confirmed speakers include:

• Eva Kailil, MEP - first STOA vice-chair
• Iñigo Charola, Graphenea
• Dario della Sala, ENEA, Italian Agency for new technologies, energy and sustainable economic development
• Thomas Lograsso, Critical Materials Institute, USA
• Holger Gruenewald, Juelich Forschungszentrum Juelich GmbH
• Eberhard Gschwindt, European Investment Bank (EIB)
• Christos Tokamanis, European Commission

Find out more on the CRM_InnoNet website and you can register via this link. See you there!

More on CRM_InnoNet
The CRM_InnoNet Innovation Network is a Coordination and Support Action (CSA) funded under FP7 that is creating an integrated community to drive innovation in the field of critical raw material substitution for the benefit of EU industry. SusChem is a significant supporter of the network.

For more information on CRM_InnoNet and the conference, email the project secretariat at the UK’s Knowledge Transfer Network (KTN) and you can also follow the project on Twitter.

Register now for BIO-TIC webinars: Biosurfactants on 22 May

The Cefic and SusChem supported FP7 BIO-TIC project is organising a series of webinars to present the main findings from the project. SusChem and Cefic invite you to participate in the next webinar on the biosurfactants product group that will take place on Friday 22 May 2015 from 3-4 pm CET. The webinars are free but you will need to register beforehand. 

The agenda for the first BIO-TIC webinar on 22 May on biosurfactants includes:

• Introduction to BIO-TIC from Pierre Barthélemy, Cefic Executive Director for Research & Innovation
• Industrial Biotechnology (IB) market roadmap by Anna Saarentaus, Principal in Pöyry
• Overview on Biosurfactants by Prof. Wim Soetaert, Bio Base Europe Pilot Plant
• Future of Biosurfactants according to BIO-TIC by Pierre Barthélemy
• Q&A session

Biosurfactants are one of five business cases which the project has identified to have significant potential to enhance the European economic competitiveness and introduce cross-cutting technology ideas. Europe has already an established biosurfactants market and is currently the global leader in terms of both biosurfactant production and consumption. Still, the market share could be higher if the various innovation hurdles to biosurfactants are addressed.

The BIO-TIC project has extensively examined the market, R&D and technological hurdles for biosurfactants and with this webinar is now presenting its findings to the public. Later this year, an integrated roadmap with the main findings of the project including examples on all the five business cases will be publicly available on the project website and will be presented at the project final conference 'From bugs to business: Unlocking the Bioeconomy in Europe' on 23 June.

Webinar schedule
The project’s dissemination activity will continue over the summer with more webinars scheduled on the other BIO-TIC business cases and on the uptake of IB in general. Note the webinar schedule is your agenda now!

• Tuesday 26 May 2015, 10-11 am CET:  Chemical Building Blocks organised by TNO
• Monday 8 June 2015, 10-11 am CET: CO2-based Chemicals organised by Nova Institute
• Wednesday 10 June 2015, 10-11 am CET: European Bioeconomy revisited organised by DECHEMA
• Tuesday 7 July, 1-2 pm CET: Where next: Industrial Biotechnology? – A review of the results of the BIO-TIC project organised by EuropaBio
• TBD, Webinar on Biofuels organised by DECHEMA

You can register for all the webinars for free via: https://dechema.ilinc.com.

BIO-TIC Final Conference
As mentioned above the SusChem inspired FP7 BIO-TIC project will be holding its final conference entitled ‘From bugs to business! Unlocking the Bioeconomy in Europe’ on the afternoon of 23 June 2015 in central Brussels.

The conference will provide all you need to know about industrial biotechnology (IB) in Europe in one compact and easily digestible event. It will be the place for you to embark on the bioeconomy journey! Registration for the event is now open and is free of charge.

What is BIO-TIC? 
Funded by the European Commission, BIO-TIC is an FP7 project launched in 2012 with with the vision to investigate hurdles and critical success factors to deploy industrial biotechnology in Europe.

Modern use of industrial biotechnology is critical in a bio-based economy. Deploying the full potential of biotech innovation will enable European industry to deliver high-value products to consumers and create new commercial opportunities. New feedstock demands will lead to synergies amongst SMEs and large industrial partners. New technological developments will boost European export of technology and facilities by bringing some of Europe’s top sectors together: chemical industry, engineering and renewables.

For more information about BIO-TIC visit the project website or contact Pierre Barthélemy, Cefic Executive Director for research and innovation.

E4Water on Euronews

The SusChem inspired FP7 project E4Water is featured in the latest Euronews video on its science and technology channel ‘Futuris’. The new video (see below) features one of E4Water’s successful case study demonstration plants in the Netherlands. And keeping with news on water innovation the latest EIP Water newsletter has just been published – more details below.

Producing chemicals and plastics requires a lot of fresh water to cool down industrial processes, and this water is not always readily available. Euronews reporter Denis Loctier visited a Dow Benelux plastics plant on the southern coast of the Netherlands. This seaside plant cannot pump water from the ground: it must buy it from a supplier located dozens of kilometres away, uses it once and then pours it out into the sea.

Salty or dirty water can damage installations, and for now it is cheaper for companies to buy fresh water than to recycle it. But a European research project - "E4Water (Economically and Ecologically Efficient Water Management in the European Chemical Industry)" - wants to change all that.



About E4Water
With the chemical industry providing the highest potential to demonstrate increased eco-efficiency in industrial water management, the FP7 project ‘Economically and Ecologically Efficient Water Management in the European Chemical Industry’ (E4Water) addresses a range of crucial process needs to overcome bottlenecks and barriers to a fully integrated and energy efficient water management system.

The project’s main objective is to develop and test integrated approaches, methodologies and process technologies. There are six industrial case study sites at the core of E4Water that are expected to achieve a reduction of 20-40% in water use, 30-70% in waste water production, 15-40% in energy use and up to 60% in direct economic benefits. In addition to the chemical industry, the project is actively seeking opportunities for cross-fertilisation with other industrial sectors.

The project consortium brings together large chemical companies, leading European water sector companies and innovative research and technology development centres and universities. The partners are also involved in the Water supply and sanitation Platform (WssTP) and SusChem, the European Technology Platform for Sustainable Chemistry, and actively collaborate with water authorities in different European countries.

For more information about SusChem involvement with water issues, please contact Antonia Morales-Perez at Cefic, or visit the water priority page on the SusChem website.

Latest EIP Water newsletter out

The May 2015 edition of the EIP Water newsletter is out. The e-publication reports on the World Water Forum 7 in South Korea during which new analyses and perspectives on global water challenges and markets were published. In Europe, the Horizon 2020 water call closed on 21 April having received 915 applications showing increasing interest in innovation in the water sector.

Within the partnerships, EIP Water has been appointed to the Water JPI Stakeholder’s Advisory Group (SAG) and the Water JPI is currently holding a consultation on its Strategic Research and Innovation Agenda, which will provide valuable input for the SAG’s next meeting in early June. If you want to participate in the consultation the deadline for input is 24 May.

Finally the next EIP Water Conference will be held in February 2016 and five hosting proposals have been received from across Europe. A decision on the venue will be made by mid-June at the latest.

SPIRE already making a big Impact!

On 21 and 22 April the SPIRE consortium and the European Commission organised a workshop on the impact of the SPIRE PPP and associated FP7 and Horizon 2020 projects. The workshop took place at Committee of the Regions offices in Brussels. This event was billed as the first in a series of annual impact workshops and saw some 40 process-related projects represented: 12 from Horizon 2020 and 28 from FP7. SusChem News will be looking to follow up on some of these projects and investigate their outcomes and potential impact in more detail.

Chairing the opening session  José Lorenzo Vallés from the European Commission said that PPPs offer a framework to encourage projects to work together and supports transfer of results to the market. But key issues remain: What impact is actually achieved? How can impact be improved? And specifically for SPIRE how is it adding value?

Søren Bøwadt of the European Commission outlined the current status of SPIRE projects in Horizon 2020. “SPIRE is an integral part of the circular economy,” he stated. “As development of the circular economy requires significant RTD and Innovation investments.”

Project presentations
The first day of the workshop saw presentations on project clusters with the aim of assessing the impact achieved, the potential uptake and exploitation, the benefits of clustering and identifying good practise to maximise impact.

The first session covered efficient processes. Prof Andrzej Gorak of TU Dortmund presented results from eight projects in the domain of process optimisation: COPIRIDE, F3-Factory, INCAS, POLYCAT, SYNFLOW, MAPSYN, INNOREX, and ALTEREGO.

Prof Gorak highlighted a range of technical impacts from the development of highly selective hydrogenation catalysts through new synthesis methodologies, and novel modularised processes, process intensification and advanced design of integrated technologies, to combined reaction and separation processes. Cost reduction, better safety characteristics and improved resource and energy efficiency were also targeted.

Adaptable processes

Denilson da Silva Perez of Institut Technologique Foret Cellulose Bois-construction Ameublement (FCBA) based in Bordeaux presented a cluster of projects looking to enable the use of renewable resources, such as biomass and residues from different EU regions, and increase the efficiency and economic viability of the transport of pre-treated  biomass from decentralised rural locations.

The projects were AFORE, EUROBIOREF, FASTCARD, BIOGO, CASCATBEL, STEAMBIO, MOBILE FLIP, and PRODIAS.

Five projects in the domain of modelling and elements of process control were described by Sebastian Engell of TU Dortmund. All were of high industrial relevance and covered process control and resource efficiency monitoring. Projects COOPOL and OPTICO focus on control: OPTICO examining multi-scale, multi-phase phenomena to enable new technology and processes with process improvements of ~17%, while COOPOL worked on control and real-time optimisation providing a framework for intensification of chemical processes within a limited timeframe.

MORE looked at near real time monitoring of resource efficiency indicators (REIs) producing novel analytics, and a new process dashboard including visualisation of multi-dimensional REIs. Similarly TOP-REF looked to develop homogeneous audit and diagnosis tools based on thermo-economics techniques. Finally REFFIBRE modelled the impact of innovations on the circular economy for improved resource efficiency.

Integrated process control

Peter Singstad of Norwegian company Cybernetica AS described four SPIRE projects covering control, instrumentation and mathematical modelling with potential to transfer technology and knowledge between sectors.

RECOBA covered real time sensing, advanced control and optimisation of batch processes that could save energy and raw materials. From an economic standpoint the project could lead to material savings of typically to 1-5% and up to 25%. The DISIRE project also used integrated process control based on distributed in-situ sensors to optimise belt conveyor transportation schemes used in minerals, mining and industrial combustion processes. Similarly CONSENS (website under construction) used integrated control and sensing for sustainable operation of flexible intensified processes. The ProPAT project was also developing an integrated process control platform able to utilise individual sensors and methods for multi-sensory inputs leading to more efficient control of processes.

Sebastian Engell noted that for control solutions there was a huge gap between proven technology and what is actually applied broadly in industry. Technical innovation was slow to permeate through to the factory floor despite the relatively low investment required and low risk. This needed to be improved to maximise impact.

Sustainability and Circular Economy

The first domain discussed in the field of sustainability and the circular economy was integrated management of resources. Anna Sagar of SP Technical Research in Sweden described four projects E4WATER (developing and implementing more efficient and sustainable water management in the chemical industry), R4R (improving research and cooperation between chemical regions in Europe), MefO2 (using waste CO2 to make methanol) and TASIO (demonstrating a modular approach to waste heat recovery in the cement industry).

Jan Meneve of VITO then described projects involved in waste recovery. He defined three waves of waste management: first remediation driven by health and safety concepts; then commodity recycling driven by volume issues; and now specifity recycling driven by value considerations. This last wave was the focus of nine projects: RECLAIM, REMANENCE, HydroWEEE, RECYVAL-NANO, REEcover, RecycAl, ReFraSort, C2CA, and BIOMETALdemo. Jan stated that recycling by definition represented the use of smart green technologies that reduced waste generation while improving resource efficiency.

Life cycle Management

The final set of three projects on day one were presented by Amy Peace of BRITEST Limited and concerned lifecycle management. All focused on developing recommendations on the current use of sustainability indicators, tools and methodologies. There was close cooperation between the three projects: SAMT was gathering industrial best practise; STYLE was a pragmatic project looking to see what can be achieved on a day-to-day basis; and MEASURE had the most academic focus to develop an in-depth cross-sectorial Lifecycle Analysis (LCA) methodology. The joint aim is to ensure that the sustainability impact of new SPIRE technologies can be evaluated on a consistent basis.

Plenary and panel discussion

The second day of the workshop was opened by Clara de la Torre, Director ‘Key Enabling Technologies’ (KETs) at DG Research and Innovation (below, right). She noted that SPIRE was now the second largest PPP in Horizon 2020 after the Factories of the Future initiative and she stressed the importance of financial leverage in PPPs. “PPPs follow the same processes as the normal Horizon 2020 programme, but represent a long-term commitment by the Commission to support, and by industry to invest,” said Ms de la Torre. But she emphasised that “Impact is the name of the game!”

This theme was taken up by Dr Klaus Sommer, Chairman of A. SPIRE (above, left). “[SPIRE] must focus on the ‘wow’ factor,” he said. “Finding good stories to promote in terms of impact and outcomes.” The integrated character of SPIRE allowed for a systematic approach to impact from raw materials to end user industries and R&D to the market.

He summarised the expected impacts of SPIRE: to integrate and demonstrate at least 40 innovative systems and technologies. This meant every SPIRE member needed to contribute. He also emphasised the need to make it easier for SMEs to get involved. “The advantage of being in SPIRE is that you can contribute to shaping the future,” concluded Dr Sommer. “Rather than just experience it.”

The instruments available from the European Investment Bank (EIB) for financing investments in KETs were outlined by Piermario Di Pietro with a specific focus on the InnovFin scheme. He also sought views on access-to-finance experiences, current or past, from established larger SMEs or small mid-caps firms (minimum € 5 million annual turnover).

The next session highlighted four projects that have made high impact: SYNFLOW (looking at innovative synthesis in continuous flow operations in particular to reduce waste in the production of pharmaceuticals and other fine chemicals); COOPOL (looking at control of emulsion polymerisation; specifically intensifying this 100 year-old process); E4Water (looking at increasing eco-efficiency in industrial water management); and R4R, (involving analysis of innovation systems and research agendas in six regional clusters).

The workshop’s formal sessions concluded with a wide ranging panel discussion on maximising impact and successful innovation strategy.

Concluding remarks

The meeting rapporteur, Keith Simons (below), remarked that the FP7 projects presented had clearly developed new technology and methodologies. But he also noted that there was a need to communicate success in terms of hard economic figures. He knew that some excellent process technology success stories were out there that could be used to promote SPIRE. He thought that SPIRE as a concept had been a political masterstroke and that European process community has taken up the challenge. He believed that SPIRE had already had an impact, but needed to better recognise and exploit success.

Loredana Ghinea, chief executive of the A.SPIRE consortium, outlined the objectives for SPIRE in the coming 12 months. These included preparing for the Horizon 2020 work programmes in 2016-17. There will be a SPIRE brokerage event on 29-30 June and a SPIRE knowledge and dissemination platform was planned to be available by January 2016. This would help to forge connections between businesses and connect the work programmes with actual projects to enable a continuing discussion on future programme development.

A thematic workshop will be held later in 2015 bringing together the different SPIRE sectors to identify and tackle common challenges. The PPP also aims to follow up with all SPIRE projects and provide support for communication and dissemination activities.