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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

SusChem: ready and set for Horizon 2020

The clear message from the SusChem Stakeholder event that took place in Brussels on 14 and 15 May is that the Technology Platform is already working to engage with Horizon 2020 – the European Commission’s next major Research and Innovation Framework Programme. Over the past year SusChem stakeholders have been contributing to the development and launch of a range of exciting European initiatives that can help stimulate competitiveness, growth and jobs in the European Union. SusChem looks forward to continuing to support the European chemical, industrial biotechnology and process communities in pursuit of sustainability and competitiveness as a ‘model’ ETP 2020.

The theme of this year’s SusChem Stakeholderevent was ‘The root of EU Growth and Jobs: Innovative Materials and Processes’. The meeting was held at the Sofitel Europe Hotel in Brussels.

Welcoming almost 200 delegates on the first day Dr Klaus Sommer of Bayer Technology Services and Chairman of the SusChem Board outlined SusChem’s achievements over the year and the challenges it faced in the near future.

He stated that SusChem is vital for promoting competitiveness and growth in Europe – and cited the F³ Factory results as clear proof. SusChem is also leading the two Public-Private-Partnerships (PPPs) - SPIRE (Sustainable Process Industry through Resource and Energy Efficiency) and BRIDGE (Biobased and Renewable Industries for Development and Growth in Europe) and is heavily involved with the European Innovation Platform (EIP) on Raw Materials, the Smart Cities and Communities EIP, and the EIP on Water.

This widespread involvement not only showed the critical role of sustainable chemistry in many key areas but also the value of SusChem to the successful implementation of Horizon 2020. Dr. Sommer noted that added value proposals from SusChem were found in 30% of NMP calls in 2007-2011 for FP7 and there was a very high participation in FP7 from SusChem members.

F³ - creating the future of production

Just prior to the SusChem Stakeholder meeting the F³ Factory project held an event to mark the end of this important FP7 project. A report of this event is here and more details of the project itself can be found on the F³ Factory website.

The methodology and outcomes of the F³ Factory is of great interest to the SusChem community and the wider chemical and process industries as we enter Horizon 2020. In essence the project demonstrated that large-scale collaborative projects involving multiple large industrial enterprises can be successfully run in a pre-competitive environment and demonstrated that ideas can be quickly moved from laboratory to demonstration stage.

Further details of specific case studies will be released over the summer but the potential impact of the project is clearly huge. For example analysis of preliminary results show that capital expenditure can be reduced by up to 40% by implementing F3 Factory results. According to Cefic facts and figures capital expenditure in the chemical industry in western Europe (EU-15 plus Norway and Switzerland) alone was US$ 50.4 billion (€39 billion) in 2011.

EU Industrial Policy

A series of presentations relating to EU industrial and research policies followed Klaus Sommer’s opening presentation. Bonifacio García-Porras from the European Commission DG Industry and Entrepreneurship gave an overview of Industrial Policy in particular the Task Force on Advanced Manufacturing. The priorities of the task force were chosen in terms of the impact they could have on the current economic crisis.

Paul Rübig MEP (above) made the case for growing the manufacturing base in Europe. He stated that an additional target should be added to the EU 20-20-20 target – to boost the industrial manufacturing contribution to the EU’s GDP to 20%. He called for new ideas from business to stimulate policy and politicians to create jobs and growth as well as protect our environment.

Waldemar Kütt from the Cabinet of MáireGeoghegan-Quinn Commissioner for Research,Innovation and Science also talked about the economic crisis, Horizon 2020 and the need to invest, reform, and transform to maintain and enhance the EU’s competitive position. He argued that the need to produce more with less required innovation – and SPIRE would be a great help here.

Some of the research policy priorities of the Lithuanian Presidency of the EU were outlined by Osvaldas Šmitas from the Permanent Representation of Lithuania to the EU. Lithuania will hold the presidency of EU in the second half of 2013 and the work of the Competitiveness Council will be an essential priority.

The view of a successful SME was given by SusChem board member Fernando Moreno of Solutex. Fernando believes that there is an urgent need for a policy of reindustrialisation based on knowledge in Europe. He stated that a strong SusChem ETP can help as an extraordinary tool to enable SMEs to rise to a high innovation level.

Debate in the Valley of Death

The afternoon was concluded by a panel debate involving figures from the European Commission, Industry and Academia moderated by Tim Reynolds of Inta Communication Ltd. Tim is editor of the SusChem News blog.

The panellists were Jose-Lorenzo Valles of DG Research, Prof. Ulrich Schubert from the Technical University of Vienna and President of EuCheMS, Frederique Backaert from Ghent University and leader of the European Young ChemistsNetwork, Jose Cubillo Capuz of construction materials group AccionaInfraestructuras, and Paul-Joel Derian from Suez Environnement and former chair of the SusChem board.

The debate ranged widely over issues such as perceived skills gaps, our perceptions of the innovation problem and society’s view of risk and benefit balance in terms of innovation. A range of views and inputs came from the audience too.

Networking cocktails

An evening cocktail reception concluded the first day of the stakeholder event. Over drinks and canapés delegates heard from Edit Herczog, MEP, (pictured below) who praised the economic and environmental record of the chemical and process industries in the European Parliament but called on the chemistry community to put more “fizz” in their communications and engage more with society and citizens.

Andreas Förster, Managing Director Process Net DECHEMA and a representative of SusChem National Technology Platforms (NTPs) concluded the formal presentations with a discussion of the role of NTPs into the future.

Day 2: Horizon 2020, PPPs, Education

At the start of day two Ron Weerdmeester of PNO Consultants took the audience through what is known about Horizon 2020, the likely timetable to the launch of the programme in January 2014 and how SusChem would be supporting consortium building.

To support brokerage for the initial Horizon 2020 calls SusChem will look to provide a three step process: Defining strategic SusChem innovations via SPIRE and BRIDGE PPPs and other road mapping initiatives, stimulating project generation including the use of SusChem webinars to inform stakeholders on calls and possible areas of interest, and full brokerage and proactive project follow-up. A first SusChem Horizon 2020 Brokerage event would be organised during Q4 2013 when the final timetable for the launch and initial calls was known.

BRIDGE and SPIRE

A joint presentation by the two SusChem-inspired PPPs: SPIRE and BRIDGE highlighted the complementary nature of these important innovation initiatives and their synergies.

Joanna Dupont-Inglis from EuropaBio (pictured below left with fellow presenters Christophe Luguel of IAR, Loredana Ghinea of A.SPIRE and Pádraig Naughton from Cefic) stated that the main objective of BRIDGE was to effectively create value from waste and to develop a competitive biobased economy that has clear benefits for rural and underdeveloped areas of Europe.

A number of the value chain programmes would benefit from SPIRE activities and, similarly, developments in the availability of biobased feedstock was a key outcome from BRIDGE that would influence SPIRE. The PPPs have areas of common interest that may even result in joint calls and both have synergies with other EIPs and PPP initiatives in the SusChem portfolio and beyond.

Clearly the two PPPs are working closely together for mutual benefit. Developments pioneered by SusChem like the modular, low impact process systems coming out of the F³ Factory project are providing common foundations for success for SPIRE and BRIDGE.

EIP initiatives

Parallel sessions on other European initiatives also showed the tremendous amount of work going on across a range of societal challenge areas in preparation for Horizon 2020.

The session on Water was let by Gernot Klotz of Cefic and focused on advances in the ChemWater and E4Water FP7 projects that are contributing to fulfilling a number of the EIP on Water’s objectives. A key issue is how to replicate and deploy best practise and most appropriate technologies in water management across European manufacturing. There is a need to combat risk adversity and ensure that a clear direction is established to ensure actions now.

Robert Schröder from the European Commission discussed progress in the EIP. Its main aims are to identify barriers and develop policy recommendations while developing concrete and useful tools such as an online market place to be launched in August. Proposals for some 64 actions groups had been received and were being analysed. The EIP will hold its annual conference in November.

Renata Koerfer described the ChemWater FP7 project that is creating synergies between process industry and water industry. Its fifth workshop will be held on September 3 in Stockholm during World Water Week. Christina Jungfer described the E4Water project that is looking at six case studies in the chemical process industry with the overall idea to link tools and expected impact.

The session on Raw Materials was led by Antonia Morales of Cefic. This is a critical area for Europe as the EU is very dependent on raw materials. SusChem is working with the EIP on Raw Materials with the aim of removing barriers to innovation in this last area. The EIP seeks to reduce the import dependency of the EU on raw materials and a Strategic Implementation Plan (SIP) will be finalised in June and should be approved by the end of the year.

The session on Materials Technologies and Smart Cities was led by Jacques Komornicki of Cefic. The workshop discussed the revised priorities for Materials Technology in Horizon 2020 and the EIP on Smart Cities and Communities. The focus of discussion was on two recent reports: a SusChem Materials Working Group document proposing a number of priority topics for early Horizon 2020 calls and a SusChem / Cefic report highlighting currently available ‘Innovative Chemistry for Energy Efficiency of Buildings in SmartCities’.

Education: key factor

Concluding this year’s stakeholder event presentations, the Educate to Innovate project described progress in this initiative to use outcomes from FP7 projects – in particular the F³ Factory – to inform higher education.

Michaël Matlosz of University of Lorraine talked about the need to ensure students obtained a skill set that was appropriate for a more innovative and entrepreneurial work force. A pilot project was being undertaken with the F³ Factory project. This was a very bottom-up approach working with selected teaching staff from European universities to ‘show and tell’ the sort of knowledge and experience coming out of an FP7 project and see what they thought could be usefully adapted for student content.

Sue Fleet of Britest Ltd gave an overview of a recent two-day industry / academic meeting and workshop at the INVITE facility in Leverkusen with twenty “hand picked” teaching academics. The exercise had been very fruitful with the academics evaluating F³ Factory innovation themes and identifying suitable targets for translation into learning resources for specific academic outcomes. The project was now developing flexible and exciting learning resources that will be rich in content and easily accessible.

Summing up the Eleventh SusChem Stakeholder event Gernot Klotz of Cefic described SusChem as the “best technology platform in Europe” and looking at what has already been achieved and what the platform is planned for the future it would be hard to disagree!

EIS5: Watch the Video!

The Fifth European Innovation Summit (EIS5) organised by Knowledge4Innovation (K4I) will take place in the European Parliament in Brussels from 30 September to 3 October. To promote the event K4I has just released a new video trailer. 



K4I believes that Europe’s competitiveness is declining and with high unemployment rates there is a drop in the average living standards of European citizens. At the same time investment in research and innovation also appears to be declining.

EIS5 will be the culmination of K4I’s Wake up Europe initiative, which aims to put forward proposals to reverse these negative trends.

As the new instruments proposed for the next Financial period (2014 – 2020) will be in their final negotiation phase at the time of the event, EIS5 will be as the perfect opportunity to discuss and address any issues that remain unresolved and put forward suggestions to optimize the crucial decisions which remain to be taken.

By EIS5 much attention will have shifted towards the implementation of Horizon 2020 and other European instruments. The summit is a great opportunity for innovation stakeholders to debate and discover how they can embrace these new opportunities.

SusChem will, of course, be there!

More information
For more information visit the Fifth European Innovation Summit website or contact the K4I secretariat.

Wake Up Europe!

On 26 March, key MEPs and Innovations leaders discussed the future of Europe at a special event organised by Knowledge4Innovation (K4I) at the European Parliament. “Wake up Europe: A Call for Action” aimed to deliver a 'Wake-up Call' to European policy-makers, highlighting the main problems for the future of innovation in Europe and drawing up proposals for immediate actions. Of course, SusChem was there!

The event coincided with the publication of several European Commission reports on aspects of innovation that confirm many issues that Europe is struggling with in this vital policy area. The reports show sharp drops in living standards in some Member States, high unemployment rates especially among the younger generations, large disparities in innovation performance among the Member States and declining investment.

K4I President Friedhelm Schmider, Director General of ECPA acknowledged that Europe used to be at the forefront of science, technology and innovation, but is now lagging behind with serious consequences. Europe should therefore create a business climate that boosts innovation, productivity and sustainability, and reverses the anti-technology and risk-averse sentiment of European society and politics. “We need to build trust in society about science and technology and finally shape EU policies and supportive tools to strengthen entrepreneurship, scientific research, development and innovation across Europe,” explained Mr Schmider.

Innovation ecosystem
SusChem board member Dr. Gernot Klotz, representing the European Chemical Industry Council (CEFIC) - a K4I Founding Member, stressed that the European Union needs to have an innovation model, based on its strengths - value chains, “ecosystems” of big and small companies and experience to deal with complex solutions. He pointed out that the EU needs instruments in order to set innovation priorities according to the capacities and interests in the different Member States.

Responding to the proposals put forward, Mr Jerzy Buzek, MEP and former President of the European Parliament said that after the Lisbon and the Europe 2020 Strategies, this is the third Wake up call. Mr Buzek also stated: “The Europe 2020 Strategy is not working because of the crisis, but during the fifth European Innovation Summit, we will send a strong signal that it is still alive”. He emphasized that building an Innovation spirit in Europe requires crucial changes in the education system.

K4I Forum President Mr Lambert van Nistelrooij, MEP pointed out that this Wakeup call is meant to show that there are a lot of possibilities coming with the new funding programmes such as Horizon 2020 and the Structural funds. “The [national] governments however do not present these opportunities enough and much better communication is needed from their side” stated Mr van Nistelrooij. Fortunately organisations such as K4I and SusChem succeed in stimulating communication on these issues in Europe.

The Wake-up Call event is the starting point of series of events, which will culminate at the Fifth European Innovation Summit (EIS), which will take place at the European Parliament in Brussels on 30 September to 2 October. The Summit will bring together MEPs, high level EC officials and Innovation stakeholders. The 5^th EIS will address new perspectives for innovation for the period 2014-2020. For more information contact the K4I secretariat.

Inspiration for Europe!

Members of the European Parliament, senior European Commission officials and a packed meeting room of stakeholders, supporters and the public participated in an inspirational lunch debate on the proposed SPIRE PPP on Thursday 24 January. The potential value of SPIRE to lead a new industrial revolution in Europe for sustainable growth, jobs and competitiveness was outlined. Through its ambitious, but achievable, research and innovation agenda to improve resource and energy efficiency in the process industries, SPIRE can make a huge difference to Europe. And it is ready to run now!

The lunch time debate was hosted by Amalia Sartori, MEP chairwoman of the ITRE (Industry, Research and Energy) Committee of Parliament in association with A.SPIRE (the European Association for Sustainable Process Industry through Resource and Energy Efficiency) the organisation that is managing and coordinating the Public Private Partnership (PPP) proposal.

Revolution
The debate was entitled a ‘New industrial (R)evolution through the SPIRE Public Private Partnership’. Opening the debate Madame Sartori (below, left) outlined the EU’s priorities to regain high rates of employment, boost competitiveness and ensure greater social cohesion. Within this strategy a rejuvenated industrial policy was essential.

“We need to have a new industrial revolution that gives voice to the manufacturing system that is the real economy of Europe,” said Mme Sartori. “We need the will and resources to bet on the sectors that can make the difference [to competitiveness].”

“We must fill the gap between the market and research and the creation of a PPP is one way to fill this gap,” she added. “We need instruments that can increase our competitiveness and allow us to address the great challenges that face our continent: we need industry - and industry needs us. SPIRE is perfectly aligned with Europe's needs – the European Parliament will pay strong attention to the outcomes of this debate.”

Reduce, reuse, replace, reinvent
A.SPIRE President Klaus Sommer of Bayer (above, right) responded by outlining the ambitions and objectives for SPIRE. He suggested that SPIRE’s coherent and integrated vision could help “close the circle” of the various European policy proposals in research, innovation and competitiveness.

The eight industrial sectors involved in SPIRE all have a clear commitment and track record in innovation: the essential bridge from research to the market. The SPIRE proposal exploits the synergies and commonalities between sectors that represent 20% of the EU’s economy with a focus on innovation for resource and energy efficiency.

“SPIRE is also a partnership involving industry, academics and research and technology organisation as stakeholders,” said Dr. Sommer. “The PPP is the glue.”

“Reduce, reuse, replace, reinvent are the four words that summarise SPIRE’s research and innovation road map,” stated Dr. Sommer. “Our aim is to decouple economic growth from use of resources.”

Summarising the SPIRE PPP Dr Sommer stated” “SPIRE is a broad commitment from eight industrial sectors in Europe representing a combined turnover of some € 1.6 trillion. SPIRE will help Europe's competitiveness through its focus on societal needs. If the policy environment is also prepared then SPIRE is ready to go!”

Future trend
Enrico Gibellieri, Member of the European Economic and Social Committee (EESC) described how SPIRE resonated with the opinions of the Consultative Commission on Industrial Change (CCMI) within EESC.

He stated: “The SPIRE PPP is the most important initiative in this field. It is changing the approach to research and innovation policy in Europe and showing the future trend.”

Mr. Gibellieri (above, left) commended this bottom-up approach – initiated by the establishment of technology platforms, such as SusChem, in 2003-4 – as the way to ensure that the real needs of industry and society were at the heart of research and innovation policy.

“These initiatives are important to re-establish industry at its rightful place in Europe,” he concluded.

Research efficiency
The final speaker was Waldemar Kutt (below), Deputy Head of Cabinet with Research Commissioner Geoghegan-Quinn. He described the value of SPIRE with respect to another limited resource: public finance. “Research efficiency and resource efficiency are important for all areas,” he said. “We have to do more with less.”

He agreed that SPIRE is fully in line with a range of European policy initiatives. “Only through working closer with industry will we manage to bridge the innovation gap in Europe,” he said.

He praised the ability of SPIRE to coordinate a single voice for whole industry and articulate clearly what is needed for industry to successfully innovate – this was very constructive. Clear measurable objectives were needed to demonstrate the success of the PPP and other policy requirements outside research and innovation, such as standards, were needed to make sure the road to market was clear.

“Co-operation with SPIRE is on a good track,” he concluded and he looked forward to a successful outcome for the PPP.

Consensus
A lively question and answer session followed that reinforced the compelling arguments for the SPIRE approach and the remarkable consensus that has developed between policy makers and industry about the need to improve the way we manage resources and energy, especially when these are rare or finite.

Industry has a responsibility and a unique ability to respond to these challenges facing society. This lunch debate showed that it is responding in an innovative, open and transparent way.

A number of MEPs contributed to the discussion. Lambert van Nistelrooij was very supportive and congratulated all those involved on the SPIRE initiative. He described the PPP as: “Absolutely necessary and a first for industrial leadership to bring sectors together in such a way for innovation along the value chain.”

Van Nistelrooij also reminded participants that regional funding for smart specialisation and innovation should also be a key element in an integrated approach to industrial innovation. “The SPIRE PPP can do a lot but in a comprehensive, European way,” he concluded.

Maria Da Graça Carvalho also praised the initiative and applauded the increased prominence of essential industrial priorities into the research and innovation agenda. She approved of improving existing industrial processes but asked if new processes were envisaged?

Klaus Sommer replied that initially cross sector communication would bring transfer processes across sectors but new, disruptive processes were also envisaged. Gernot Klotz of Cefic added that SPIRE would also take the first steps to achieve a “negative CO2 economy” – one in which carbon dioxide was used as a feedstock.

SPIRE’s high ambitions are matched by strong industrial commitment on an unprecedented scale and, through it, Europe can make a giant leap to enhance its competitiveness and sustainability and achieve its goals for smart, inclusive and sustainable growth.

To find more information on the SPIRE project, its objectives and how you could be involved, visit the SPIRE website or contact the A.SPIRE secretariat.

MatVal launches in Rome

A new SusChem-supported FP7 project will hold its launch conference in Rome on 7 and 8 February. 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. The Rome launch conference promises to be one of the major events of the European materials community this year!

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.

The two-year, €1.3 million MatVal 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.

Two days, two venues
The MatVal launch conference event will take place at two venues in Rome over the two days. The conference will open on the afternoon of 7 February at MAXXI – Italy’s new National Museum of 21st Century Arts and continue on 8 February at the National Research Council (CNR). The event will bring together policymakers, R&D experts, material manufacturers and end-users.

Opening speakers will include Maria Da Graça Carvalho, MEP, a member of the European Parliament’s ITRE (Industry Research and Energy) committee and rapporteur for Horizon 2020, and Herbert von Bose, Director of Industrial Technologies at DG Research.

The first day will set the scene for A4M, describe the European materials research, development and innovation (R&D&I) landscape with respect to the forthcoming Horizon 2020 programme and outline the value chain approach to materials R&D&I including a presentation of SusChem activities by Jacques Komornicki, Innovation Manager at Cefic.

The value chain approach is a key element for A4M that 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.

The second day will examine issues with materials R&D&I along a number of value chains: energy, transport, construction, health and the creative sector. The conference will conclude by discussing and outlining the next steps for A4M and the MatVal project.

The conference will also offer some great networking opportunities – including a private tour of the MAXXI museum.

What is MatVal?
The MatVal FP7 project aims to develop an integrated and efficient materials R&D programme for Europe by answering questions such as:

• How best to move from research to innovation in materials R&D?
• How can Europe cluster R&D along value chains?
• What are the implications and opportunities of the EU initiative on raw materials?
• How can we create strong and durable partnerships in the European materials community?

Essentially MatVal aims to be the crossroads where materials developers, manufacturers, suppliers and end-users meet to improve efficiency in European materials innovation and boost competitiveness.

MatVal’s key objectives include:

• Contributing to the implementation of the A4M view and strategy
• Integrating the diversity of ideas in Materials across ETPs
• Promoting the Value Chain concept as a main driver for integration.
• Accelerating industrial exploitation of materials
• Supporting the European Commission in establishing R&I priorities.

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 information on the MatVal project can be found on the Cordis website.

For more information on the MatVal launch event in Rome, please contact the organizing secretariat Giorgia Camilla Gelati.

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

SPIRE Goes To Parliament

A date for your 2013 diary. On Thursday 24 January 2013 MEPs will be talking SPIRE at a lunch time debate on innovation for resource efficiency at the European Parliament in Brussels. The meeting is hosted by Amalia Sartori, MEP and Chair of the ITRE (Industry, Research and Energy) Committee of Parliament in association with A.SPIRE (the European Association for Sustainable Process Industry through Resource and Energy Efficiency) and registration is open now.

The debate is entitled a “new industrial (R)evolution through the SPIRE Public Private Partnership’ starts at 13h00 and will include contributions from Madame Sartori (pictured left), A.SPIRE President Klaus Sommer of Bayer and Waldemar Kütt from Commissioner Geoghegan-Quinn cabinet among others.

Compelling arguments and a remarkable consensus exist between policy makers and industry about the need to improve the way we manage resources and energy, especially when these resources are rare or finite.

Industry has a responsibility and a unique ability to respond to these challenges. Through an ambitious research and innovation agenda, the proposal for a public-private partnership for Sustainable Process Industry through Resource and energy Efficiency (SPIRE) is one of the instruments that can help achieve Europe’s aspirations in this area.

Commitment for competitiveness
SPIRE’s high ambitions are matched by strong industrial commitment on an unprecedented scale (at least 20% of total European manufacturing industry, both in terms of employment and turnover, are represented in the SPIRE consortium) and, through it, Europe could significantly enhance its competitiveness and sustainability and achieve its goals for smart, inclusive and sustainable growth.

The lunch debate will be an ideal opportunity to hear more about the proposed SPIRE PPP, discuss its aims and ambitions with leading members of the eight major European industry sectors that are support and developing the SPIRE initiative.

The ITRE Committee is meeting on 23 – 24 January and the latest study requested by the committee is ‘Resource Efficiency in European Industry’ so the lunch time debate is well timed.

For more information on SPIRE visit its website. To find out more about the lunch debate including registration possibilities contact the SPIRE secretariat.

Fourth European Innovation Summit

The Fourth European Innovation Summit (EIS) will take place on 9 and 10 October in the European Parliament in Brussels. Knowledge4Innovation (K4I) and its partners are organising the EIS under the motto “Building Bridges – Creating Synergies” and SusChem will be playing an active role.

The meeting will provide an excellent opportunity for innovation stakeholders from the public, private and academic sectors to meet with Members of the European Parliament, Commissioners and other high-level EU-officials. EIS is the ideal occasion to discuss the main challenges to Europe’s innovation performance and work towards an improved mutual understanding of goals and needs to the benefit of the EU and its citizens.

Lambert van Nistelrooij, MEP, President of the Knowledge4Innovation Forum of the European Parliament says: "Please join us in the 4th European Innovation Summit and share your ideas about Europe’s innovation policies. Together with the Council and the Commission, we look forward to discussing and analysing the future of Innovation in Europe, continue to build bridges among the different actors and create synergies between the various programmes and policies."

The Knowledge4Innovation Forum will continue the success story of the last three years, when more than 250 speakers, including the Presidents of the European Parliament and the European Commission, and some 2500 innovation stakeholders, from Europe and beyond, discussed how Europe can successfully build and improve its Innovation Ecosystem.

Programme
The K4I EIS programme can be downloaded here and you can register for the Summit here.

This year’s high profile speakers include the Commissioner for Innovation and Research Maire Geoghegan-Quinn, Chair of the “Friends of the EIT Group” MEP Maria Da Graca Carvalho, Director General of the Joint Research Centre (JRC) Dominique Ristori, COST President Ángeles Rodríguez-Peña, and representing Cefic and SusChem Gernot Klotz Executive Director Research and Innovation at Cefic.

The debates will bring together innovation practitioners, including those that participated in the ‘Innovation Reality Check’ online survey, and EP Rapporteurs currently dealing with innovation-related Commission proposals including “Horizon2020”, the Cohesion Policy Framework, the Programme for the Competitiveness of Enterprises and SMEs (COSME) and the Multiannual Financial Framework (MFF).

The Closing Reception on Wednesday 10 October will address in particular the “Challenge of Aligning Needs and Means, Policies and Instruments.” This will be a great opportunity to check whether the new instruments really meet practitioners’ needs. Gernot Klotz is one of the speakers in this closing debate.

For more information on K4I EIS please contact the K4I secretariat.

Steering the Water EIP

Last week was a big week for the European Innovation Partnership (EIP) on Water with the first meeting of its High-level Steering Group on 4 September. This initial meeting was chaired by European Commissioner for the Environment Janez Potocnik and representing SusChem and the chemical industry on the Steering Group was Anton Valero, Dow Country Manager for Spain and Portugal.

The EIP Steering Group provides strategic guidance for the development of the partnership’s Strategic Implementation Plan (SIP). Discussion at this first meeting of the Steering Group focused on four questions:

• Which enabling factors are required to develop a strategic agenda for water and innovation?
• Which do you consider to be the key priority areas of action and what do you consider to be a realistic number of priorities for the EIP on Water?
• What are the key crosscutting themes which the EIP on Water should address?
• Which assessment criteria do you consider to be relevant to judge the success of the EIP on Water?

Commissioner Potocnik outlined some of the outcomes of the meeting during a session of the European Parliament’s Water Group that followed the Steering Group kick off meeting. In particular he highlighted priorities including the water-energy nexus, water governance, financing for innovation, resource efficient urban water supply and wastewater treatment, balancing supply and demand, integration of rural water management and land-use planning, water supply and sanitation for small rural communities, and best practices in industrial water management.

The definition of priorities to be addressed will be an important step in the preparation of the SIP.

Task Force
The Steering Group consists of 30 members and a Task Force consisting of 45 members representing a wide cross-section of Stakeholders engaged in various areas of water management has also been set up. The nomination of Task Force members was one of the actions carried out during the 4 September meeting. SusChem will be represented in the Task Force by Gernot Klotz and Anton Valero has appointed Markus Busch, also from Dow, as his representative on the body.

The first Task Force meeting will take place on 25 September and the body has the specific task of writing the SIP. The document should be finished by the end of November and approved by the Steering Group before the end of the year.

Chemical viewpoint
At the initial meeting Anton Valero outlined the role of the Chemical Industry in the EIP. The chemical industry thinks the EIP should be considered as a framework to boost know-how, innovation and job creation across the EU on water related technologies and solutions.

Water is on the one hand a valuable and necessary resource for our industries’ activities, future growth and investments depends on the availability of water; while on the other hand the industry uses water in its products and manufactures products for water offering new solutions to the market.

The chemical industry has identified four key water-related challenges in Europe:

• Water as a resource: Quantity and Quality
• Waste water treatment: more sustainable
• Water – Energy resources nexus
• The development of the bio-based economy and eco-industries

The industry fully supports the overarching objectives of the EIP to develop innovative solutions bringing benefits for the whole society and to fully exploit the commercial opportunities for these water related innovative solutions inside and outside Europe building a more sustainable and competitive European industry.

Background
The background to the European Innovation Partnership (EIP) on Water is outlined in the European Commission Communication of May 2012. The EIP will be a tool to support the Blueprint to safeguard Europe's water resources, which will be presented by the Commission in November 2012 as the water milestone of the European Commission’s Resource Efficiency roadmap.

For more information on SusChem activities in the water sector contact Antonia Morales Perez, Innovation Manager at Cefic.

Key Enabling Technologies for Industrial Value Chain

On the evening of Wednesday 30 May 2012, Knowledge4Innovation in cooperation with Cefic organized a Dinner debate in the European Parliament to discuss the issue of Key Enabling Technologies (KETs). The event underlined the importance of KETs to European industrial competitiveness and examined the issues that might impede their development and deployment.

The event attracted representatives from the EU institutions and industry stakeholders and was chaired by Ioannas Tsoukalas, MEP. "Europe has a major drawback: we are thinking too much but not reacting and the Key Enabling Technologies are important to change this by being integrated in an effective way into the Horizon 2020 programme,” stated Prof. Tsoukalas, who opened the event.

According to Gernot Klotz, Executive Director of Research and Innovation at Cefic (above), we need to focus on new business, but also strengthen the sectors where Europe is still a world leader. “The future is in advanced manufacturing and materials”, he added, “but we need critical mass and a new way of thinking – working together across Europe along value chains and between sectors”.

KETs: the future
"KETs are the technologies of the future," said Michel Catinat from the European Commission DG Enterprise. “In Europe we have excellent research assets, but we need an effective bridge to transform science into technical knowledge. Now is the right time to implement KETs, which will require alignment of priorities across institutions, adaptation and coordination of instruments."

Herbert von Bose of the European Commission’s, DG Research Industrial Technologies unit agreed saying "Public Private Partnerships (PPPs) are the key instrument [to implement KETs]." He continued: "Industry must use KETs and - preferably - implement them in Europe."

Dr. Horst Soboll, Former Chair of the European Research Advisory Board, explained that KETs are connected strongly with societal challenges, but the ultimate goal must be that their benefits are understood clearly by society. Risk and innovation is a delicate balance between cost and control, but “the greatest risk for Research and Innovation is to stop taking risks,” he concluded.

What are KETs?
The Key Enabling Technologies (KETs: nanotechnology, micro-nanoelectronics, advanced materials, photonics, industrial biotechnology and advanced manufacturing) are a key source of innovation. They provide the indispensable technology bricks that enable a wide range of product applications as they feed into many different industrial value chains and sectors in heterogeneous ways.

In the KETs domain, the EU is now facing growing global competition from both developed and emerging economies in particular in North America and East Asia. Horizon 2020, EU’s new framework program for research and innovation puts a strong focus on further developing KETs with a proposed budget of €5.9 billion in the period 2014-2020.

European Chemicals Sector publishes first-ever Sustainability Report

Today (8 May) Cefic launched its sustainable development vision at a special event at the European Parliament in Brussels. The European chemical industry is determined to play a key role in ensuring that by 2050 the world population of over nine billion people can live within the resources of the planet.

The evening event marked the publication of Cefic’s first-ever sustainability report: ‘The Chemical Industry in Europe: Towards Sustainability'.

The report presents a vision of how the chemicals industry will help meet future challenges and was unveiled in the European Parliament (below) at a special event hosted by MEPs Karl-Heinz Florenz and Vittorio Prodi. The report provides 17 key performance indicators that serve as a benchmark of ongoing industry sustainability initiatives that the sector can measure future progress against.

Cefic President Giorgio Squinzi, outlining the report’s vision, said: “All of the industry’s activities will be directed towards enabling a future where people have access to the necessities of a healthy life, to economic prosperity and to societal progress.”

Three pillars

The 70-page report details the three “pillars” of sustainability - planet, people and profit – and includes case studies drawn from across Europe that illustrate contributions to sustainability, including energy-efficient water purification, lightweight materials for cars and better building insulation.

Carl Van Camp, Cefic Sustainability Strategy Group chairman, said: “[The chemical industry has] a good track record when it comes to sustainability, and remains committed to programmes like Responsible Care. We are a partner in ensuring that the REACH chemicals legislation works and stand ready to have a lead role in EU-led public-private projects such as key enabling technologies.”

Initiatives such as SusChem – and its predecessor programme SusTech – have played and will continue to play a key role in the chemical sector’s commitment to enabling sustainable development.

The European chemical industry is in no doubt that sustainability is not an option but an absolute necessity, not only for the industry itself, but for all businesses and society as a whole. Cefic hopes that the report will stimulate a genuine dialogue on what can be achieved if industry, academia, government and society at large work together.

Sustainable start point

The Cefic report will serve as a starting point in developing a sustainability framework for the European chemicals industry. It will also help the trade group identify flagship initiatives to increase and improve the sector’s contribution to the sustainability policy agenda, which includes environmental, health and safety, and chemicals management practices.

Squinzi concluded: “Sustainability is about a mindset change in the way we work and high-tech products the chemicals industry makes. The flagship initiatives are one way in which stakeholders expect us to continue to drive the technological breakthroughs that society will need.

“We can help ensure a sustainable future by working with stakeholders, having a well-trained workforce in place, and through strong business performance that attracts further investments.”

The full report can be downloaded direct from the Cefic website.

SusChem Stakeholder Speaker: Prof. Jerzy Buzek

Polish MEP Prof. Jerzy Buzek will address the opening session of the 10^th Annual SusChem Stakeholder event on 17 April. The former President of the European Parliament and former Polish Prime Minister is one of a handful of MEPs with a scientific background and has been influential in shaping European research and innovation policy. His talk will cover the status of EU innovation policy, the role of technology platforms and sustainable chemistry in achieving sustainable growth, and how industry can become more engaged in European innovation initiatives.

Jerzy Buzek was born in 1940 in Śmiłowice, a town in south-eastern Silesia which is now part of the Czech Republic. His science career started in the mechanical and energy engineering department at the Silesian University of Technology in Gliwice graduating in 1963. He then started work at the Institute of Chemical Engineering in the Polish Academy of Sciences in Gliwice gaining his doctorate in 1969. Jerzy Buzek continued his scientific work throughout the 1970s including a research placement at the University of Cambridge in 1971.

His research work was largely in the field of environmental protection and he was a highly regarded lecturer at the Silesian University of Technology, and later at the Opole University of Technology. In the early to mid 90s Buzek was Poland’s representative at the International Energy Agency programme on the Greenhouse Gas effect. Jerzy Buzek's achievements in scientific research and in teaching were recognised when he was appointed Professor of Engineering.

Polish politics
In late 1980 Jerzy Buzek became a member of Solidarność and in summer 1981 he was a delegate to the First National Congress of Solidarność and became an increasingly important member of the movement. By February 1997 Buzek was coordinator of the panel of economics experts within the Solidarity Electoral Action (AWS) party and was elected to the Polish parliament. The AWS’s success in this election was largely due to its economic policies and the party nominated him for the office of Prime Minister.

Jerzy Buzek's government was sworn in at the end of October 1997 and continued until October 2001, during which time Buzek took Poland into NATO and negotiated the term's of Poland's accession to the European Union. When the AWS lost the parliamentary elections in the autumn of 2001, Jerzy Buzek withdrew from active politics for a few years.

EP President
However, following Poland’s accession to the EU in 2004 Jerzy Buzek was elected to the European Parliament with the largest majority in Poland. Once in Brussels, he threw himself into the parliament's work. In particular from a research and innovation view point he was the European Parliament's rapporteur for the Seventh Framework Programme for Research and Development (FP7) legislative package, and for the European Strategic Energy Technology Plan. Between 2004 and 2009 he was a member of the European Parliament's Committee on Industry, Research and Energy (ITRE).

Jerzy Buzek's personality and skills, combined with his professional approach to politics led to his election to the office of President of the European Parliament on 14 July 2009. He obtained the biggest majority of any EP President since the first direct elections in 1979 and he was the first President to hail from one of the EU's new Member States. His two and a half year term ended in January 2012.

Prof. Buzek remains an MEP and is actively participates in ITRE activities and the EP's Committee of Foreign Affairs (AFET).

Event registration
Registration for the Stakeholder event on 17-18 April is open now on the new SusChem website. Click here to find out more about the stakeholder event! We are expecting a record attendance and registration will close on 6 April. So don't delay - register today!