International Days in CRM

The University of Burgos and its International Research Centre in Critical Raw Materials for Advanced Industrial Technologies (ICCRAM) is organising a conference entitled ‘International Days in Critical Raw Materials: Extraction, recycling and innovative industrial technologies’. The event takes place on 25 and 26 June in Burgos, Spain – and SusChem will be there to present!

This important event will focus on research and business opportunities meeting the challenges regarding extraction and mining, recycling and the circular economy, and substitution of Critical Raw Materials (CRMs).

Presentations will be given by relevant authorities and international actors from the European CRM scene including the Spanish authorities, the European Commission, the Nanotechnology Industries Association, Nanofutures, Euromines, EIT KIC Raw Materials, and Cefic-SusChem. Some of the speakers are shown below.

In addition, parallel technical sessions will take place on ‘Advanced Materials and CRM substitution technologies’, ‘Mining and raw materials’ and ‘Circular Economy and Recycling’.

The event will bring together researchers, experts and business people to create an environment that fosters a dialogue among the participants, leading to discussions and collaboration opportunities.

A Brokerage Event is planned for  25 June that will focus on the main topics foreseen under Societal Challenge 5 (SC5) in Horizon 2020 for the 2016/2017 work programme. An industrial business day and exchange with and between stakeholders is also planned on 26 June.

To find out more, including the full event programme, visit the conference website or register directly here. Be quick - early bird registration fees end on 1 June!

CRM_InnoNet Substitution
And don’t forget the CRM_InnoNet project is hosting a high level conference called 'SUBSTITUTION means EVOLUTION' on 17 June in Brussels. This free conference will be a one-stop shop to find out all you need to know about substitution of CRMs in Europe.

At the event you can:

• Learn about the opportunities provided by substitution and how it can solve technological challenges.
• Witness the state of play of substitution of CRMs in Europe with keynote speeches from companies and government bodies.
• Meet up with key EU industrial sectors in the area of substitution.
• Engage in discussions during dedicated panel 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 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!

Confirmed speakers include:

• 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)
• Mattia Pellegrini, European Commission
• Christos Tokamanis, European Commission

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

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.

Innovation in Raw Materials Policies, Technologies and Strategies

The availability of raw materials and their sustainable use is of increasing concern in Europe and globally and is a significant focus for research and innovation activity. Cefic, together with ERRIN and the East & North Finland EU Office, is organising a seminar and brokerage event in Brussels on 22 October at Norway House to discuss and demonstrate how European Regions and the Chemical Industry can work together to address the challenges in this area.

With around 30 million EU jobs depending on the availability of raw materials, there is a need to bring innovation and new ideas into the sector in terms of policy initiatives such as the future Raw Materials Knowledge Innovation Community (KIC), the European Innovation Platform (EIP) on Raw Materials, and the SPIRE (Sustainable Process Industries through Resource and Energy Efficiency) PPP.

The supply and use of our raw materials must be smarter and more sustainable and, with recent increased attention on the concept of a truly circular economy, must be able to keep added value in products for as long as possible and work towards the elimination of waste.

The transition to a more circular economy requires changes throughout our value chains but also regional commitments - many of which are linked to smart specialisation strategies. This workshop will be an opportunity to get an excellent overview of EU policy and industry perspectives and how these perspectives are being implemented at the regional level.

The 22 October workshop will also be an excellent opportunity to network and to find collaborative partners for future Horizon 2020 calls in this topic. Registration is for the workshop is open now!

For more information on the workshop, please contact Antonia Morales at Cefic.

Material partners
In addition to Cefic the workshop is being organised by ERRIN and the East & North Finland EU Office.

Founded in 2001, ERRIN is a Brussels-based platform of Research and Innovation Organisations and Stakeholders based in the European regions. ERRIN aims to strengthen regional Research and Innovation capacities by exchanging information, sharing best practice, supporting European project development, helping to shape policy and raising its profile by working together for a partnership-based approach. ERRIN helps regions get their voice heard in Brussels!

The East & North Finland EU Office represents several regions of Finland in Brussels with a focus on regional policy, research, development and innovation policies, transport and energy policies, external relations, demographic challenges, industrial policies and international co-operation between the regions.

Climate-KIC unveils four new climate change innovation programmes

Today (15 May) the Climate-KIC, the European Union’s main climate innovation initiative, has announced €100+ million funding for long-term programmes aimed at fighting the climate change challenge. At least two of these new programmes will be of interest to SusChem stakeholders.

The four new flagship pan-European innovation programmes will accelerate efforts in climate change mitigation and adaptation and will be supported by a combination of Climate-KIC, partner and external sources of funding to the tune of more than €100 million over the next four years. The programmes will start this year.

The new innovation programmes will incorporate a range of pioneering research, innovation and entrepreneurship in diverse technology sectors including:

• Sustainable urban environments
• Climate-friendly homes and offices
• Exploiting CO2 as a resource
• Catastrophe models for the finance industry

Mary Ritter, Climate-KIC Chief Executive Officer, said: “These new flagship initiatives will provide focus and impact for Climate-KIC’s approach to climate change mitigation and adaptation. These innovation programmes enable us to expand our work with climate experts, educators and innovative entrepreneurs across Europe to address climate change mitigation and adaptation – and shape the world’s next economy.”

The four programmes were announced at the European Business Summit in Brussels.

Exploiting CO2 as a resource
Under the leadership of Bayer MaterialScience, the enCO2re programme will further broaden the approach for CO2 re-utilisation, connecting technology leaders as well as leading European universities and institutes in order to leverage a broad utilisation of CO2 as feedstock for chemical value chains. Bayer MaterialScience has successfully demonstrated the feasibility of utilising CO2 as polymer feedstock and the news on this new project came on the same day as Bayer announced plans for an industrial scale plant producing CO2-based polyols in Europe.

Following a successful test phase and promising market analysis, Bayer MaterialScience plans to invest € 15 million in the construction of a production line at its Dormagen site to use CO2 to produce a precursor for premium polyurethane foam. The line will have an annual production capacity of 5,000 metric tons. The objective of the “Dream Production” project is to launch the first product on the market in 2016. Processors of polyols and polyurethanes have already expressed considerable interest.

#useCO2
Within the new enCO2re programme turning CO2 into high-value products, as well as evaluating the required infrastructure, will contribute to further decoupling energy and resource consumption from industrial growth a major objective of SusChem and the SPIRE2030 PPP.

Christoph Sievering, Head of Strategic Energy Management, Bayer MaterialScience commented: “Bayer believes in the potential of industrial symbiosis and open innovation. Climate-KIC offers a unique umbrella for further leveraging our ambitions to turn value chains into closed carbon cycles. The Climate-KIC enCO2re flagship is an industry initiative for enabling CO2 re-use. Climate-KIC drives innovation by connecting industry and technology leaders and convinced us with its three-pillar concept of innovation support, educational programmes and start-up acceleration.”

Other Partners of the enCO2re project include: Imperial College London, Delft University of Technology, Chalmers University of Technology, Laborelec, Institute for Advanced Sustainability Studies, RWTH Aachen, GDF Suez, TU Berlin, and AkzoNobel.

Climate-friendly homes and offices
The Building Technologies Accelerator will bring together multidisciplinary ‘living lab’ teams across Europe to address the climate impact of new building technologies and accelerate the potential of low carbon products and services in the built environment. By the end of 2014, a range of new prototype technologies will be ready to be launched across Europe’s building sector.

Last year SusChem published a report on Key Innovations in Energy Efficiency in Buildings for Smart Cities that could contribute here and other sustainable chemistry contributions to improved resource and energy efficiency can be found at the Cefic-SusChem Smart Cities website.

Partners for the Building Technologies Accelerator include: Delft University of Technology; ETH Zurich; EMPA; Chalmers University of Technology; Knight Frank; and IVE Spain.

Sustainable urban environments
The Smart Sustainable Districts initiative will help some of Europe’s highest profile city district developments become global exemplar projects testing smart, sustainable systems for replication in other urban areas world-wide. Initially working with four pilot districts from a wider collaborative network of 12, the project will bring together some of the most advanced innovations from Climate-KIC’s network of over 200 partners. The project is led by Imperial College; Institute for Sustainability; TU Berlin; TNO; TU Munich; and Utrecht Sustainability Institute.

The fourth KIC covers ‘Catastrophe models for the finance industry.’

Raw Materials launch University Days, KIC

The European Commission has recently launched a communication campaign entitled ''Raw Materials University Day'' within the framework of the European Innovation Partnership (EIP) on Raw Materials. In addition the European Institute of Innovation and Technology (EIT) has launched a selection process on February 14 to set up a new Knowledge and Innovation Communities (KICs), with partners from higher education, research and business in the area of raw materials.

One of the main challenges to the successful implementation of the EIP on Raw Materials is to communicate on the challenges and issues around the sustainable supply of raw materials to various audiences. Although Europe boasts many universities with a long tradition and excellent programmes in the raw materials sector, knowledgeable and skilled professionals are still highly in demand. Therefore, the European Commission wishes to promote skills and employment in the raw materials sector to boost competitiveness and sustainable growth while showing the huge potential of European raw materials research, development an innovation.

The aim of the Raw Materials University Day is to attract young people that are choosing what to study in further education or future graduates and inform them about the study and working opportunities in the raw materials sector.

A series of events in various Member States is planned, with University Days scheduled for four times per year between 2014 and 2020. To date 21 universities from 16 Member States have expressed their wish to take part. The next event will take place on 12 May 2014 in Darmstadt, Germany.

Speakers sought
The European Commission is seeking people from industry, research organisations and academia who are willing to participate in these events either as a speaker or in the event workshops. The purpose of the workshops, which usually take place in the afternoon, is to give students an opportunity to come closer to their future employers, and get a clearer picture of the working environment in the field of raw materials. In parallel an exhibition might be organised, where participating organisations could promote their activities.

Below is a video ''Raw Materials – the stuff that dreams are made of'', which was shown by European Commission Vice-President Antonio Tajani at the initial University Day event at Sapienza University in Rome on 6 December.

Vice-President Tajani said at the event in Rome: "Innovation in raw materials – be it in mining, processing, recycling, or substitution – holds the key to future growth and jobs. We need our young people to take up the challenge help to create a sustainable supply and use of raw materials in the EU".



For more information on the University Days events, the point of contact at the European Commission is Marcela Válková. The video is also available German, French, Spanish, Polish and Italian.

Raw materials KIC
The European Institute of Innovation and Technology (EIT) launched a selection process on February 14 to set up two new Knowledge and Innovation Communities (KICs), with partners from higher education, research and business. One of the two KICs will focus on raw materials – sustainable exploration, extraction processing, recycling and substitution. The application process is open until 10 September.

"This is the first step in our expansion of the EIT, with five new KICs planned over the next seven years. We're looking for great innovators and entrepreneurs with the drive to tackle concrete challenges and deliver results. I hope that many organisations will respond to this call and join us in this exciting journey," said Androulla Vassiliou, the European Commissioner responsible for the EIT.

Following an independent evaluation of the proposals, guided by specific selection criteria, one KIC in each field will be designated.

The KICs are autonomous public-private partnerships which bring together top-class higher education institutions, research centres, companies and other organisations committed to tackling societal challenges through, among other means, the development of products, services and processes.

The partnership for the new KICs must consist of at least three organisations, established in at least three different EU Member States. It must include at least one higher education institution and one private company.