Pact for Innovation launched at European Innovation Summit

The Seventh European Innovation Summit (#7EIS) opened today (7 December) at the European Parliament with the signing of the ‘Pact for Innovation’ (INPACT). The objective of INPACT is to create a space for close collaboration between key innovation stakeholders and the European Institutions resulting in concrete solutions addressing the multiple barriers that currently prevent a strong and globally competitive innovation performance in Europe. The Pact was signed and handed-over to Carlos Meodas, European Commissioner for Research, Science and Innovation at the #7EIS ceremony.

Speaking at the opening ceremony of the Innovation Summit, Commissioner Moedas welcomed the Pact for Innovation initiative saying he recognised four key words in the document's priorities that aligned with Commission innovation strategy: coherence, refocus, citizens, and future. He said it was necessary to "acknowledge that innovation is tough - it takes you out of your comfort zone."

In his speech he also called for an innovation equivalent of the European Research Council to be established that could find the great innovators in Europe and "cherish them". He observed that it was often those outside the formal research and innovation system that are doing the most important work.

Opening the summit Lambert van Nistelrooij MEP, President of the Knowledge4Innovation Forum called for greater integration of European funds to stimulate further the implementation of innovation.

Following the speeches, the INPACT document was signed by Lambert van Nistelrooij MEP, Chair of the K4I Forum Governing Board (second left above), Prof. Jerzy Buzek MEP, Vice-Chair, K4I Forum Governing Board (second right), Dr. Gernot Klotz, President of K4I (left) and Dr. Roland Strauss, Managing Director, K4I (right) and handed to Commissioner Moedas (centre above).

Why Europe needs INPACT 

The objectives of INPACT reflect SusChem thinking on innovation and the need to promote collaboration across industrial sectors and along value chains to ensure Europe’s innovation performance is optimised and globally competitive.

INPACT will help to overcome barriers to innovation that prevent a strong and globally competitive innovation performance in Europe at all levels: national, regional and local. Close cooperation both at the level of the different Commission DGs as well as the stakeholder community will help strengthen Europe’s innovation performance.

INPACT calls for a joint effort to create pro-innovation conditions to overcome well-known weaknesses in turning knowledge created by research and invention into innovation that can provide jobs and growth for Europe. The signatories of INPACT share the vision that a globally competitive and successful Europe needs stakeholders and institutions to work together in an integrated approach to ensure that innovation can deliver solutions to major societal challenges Europe.

To move quickly from research and invention to innovation and accelerate the market uptake of innovations, Europe must build on its existing strengths but also address shortcomings by creating a favourable environment and encouraging the next generation of entrepreneurs to take risk. The signatories of the pact believe that it is imperative that Europe seizes the opportunity and position innovation at the heart of the Europe 2020 Review.

INPACT Priorities 
The priorities set out the INPACT document are grouped under four main headings:

• A coherent set of EU policies for innovation 
• Re-focusing and aligning EU budgets and investments towards innovation
• Improve Citizens and Investor confidence in Europe
• Paving the way for the next generation

The focus of INPACT is on implementation of actions within identified priorities, where timely changes can be achieved best at EU level. Harnessing Europe’s innovation will be best achieved by creating strong value chains and effectively orchestrating innovation ecosystems at all levels. The signatories commit to implement INPACT projects across EU borders, individual regions and sectors by 2020.

INPACT is open to cooperate with all other dedicated stakeholder groups working in the field of innovation within Europe. The initial signatories are inviting committed stakeholders to join as co-signatories. To find out more visit the Knowledge for Innovation (K4I) website or contact K4I direct.

You can find the full programme for the Seventh European Innovation Summit on the Knowledge4Innovation website.

Europe’s Energy Future

Competitive, secure and sustainable energy is vital for a thriving European economy and society. In the aftermath of the ambitious European Commission goal-setting for 2030, a high-level round table addressing the current fragmentation challenges and the promises of innovative technologies in the energy sector will place policy targets on the path to implementation. This discussion will take place on 19 March 2014 at the European Parliament in Brussels hosted by Mr. Jerzy Buzek MEP, Chairman of the Knowledge for Innovation (K4I) Forum.

The meeting entitled ‘Europe’s Energy Future: Efficiency and competitiveness through smart integration’ will examine the EU’s ambitious 2030 energy targets. These will only be meaningful if we manage the sustainable integration of a portfolio of energy technologies, elevate the current level of debate and action to broader concepts across sectors and national / regional activities and their implications on sustainability and competitiveness, and consider the significant recent changes in global context including emerging economies, access to energy supply, dependency, technological leadership, and Europe’s role and needs.

 The key note speech will be made by Günther H. Oettinger, European Commissioner for Energy, with contributions from: Dominique Ristori, Director-General at DG Energy; András Siegler, Director of Energy at DG Research and Innovation; Gernot Klotz Executive Director Research and Innovation, CEFIC; Pedro de Sampaio Nunes Head of Secretariat, EUREKA; David Salisbury President of the European Gas Research Group (GERG); and Gabriel Marquette General Manager of EUROGIA 2020: the EUREKA cluster for low-carbon energy technologies.

This high-level round table could mark the setting of some new directions for a more efficient articulation of a sustainable European energy system highlighting new business models, new opportunities and synergies.

Both SusChem and SPIRE have and continue to contribute chemical innovations to the sustainable energy sector and have leading roles to play in development of new low-carbon technologies.

Scope and issues
The EU needs new, high performance low-cost, low-carbon sustainable energy technologies to be brought to the market. However, the greatest impact of these technologies in terms of delivery on policy goals, competitiveness and efficiency will be achieved through an integrated strategy for innovation in the energy area.

The Integrated Energy Roadmap puts forward an action plan that addresses the energy challenges in a system approach, consolidates and aligns the various individual technology roadmaps, covers the entire research and innovation chain, and identifies pathways for work and synergies between various programmes, stakeholders, instruments and authorities.

However, the roadmap needs to practically address a series of existing challenges for implementation including how and what to prioritise short-term versus medium-term and long-term, what we can learn from each other across sectors, borders, and along value chain, how to create synergies among different instruments, different sectors, different technologies, and how to balance (sometimes competing) targets considering technological, economic, environmental and social aspects.

More information
Further information on the event can be found on the K4I website.

SusChem Spain enabling the Circular Economy

Under the motto ‘Enabling circular economy’, the SusChem España national technology platform is organising the third edition of the Forum Sustainable Chemistry, innovative and competitive companies (3SCICC Forum Sustainable Chemistry), an international meeting aimed to debate and share information on new chemical products and processes that are more efficient, safe and environmentally friendly. This major event takes place in Tarragona, Spain on May 28 and 29. Tarragona is home to the largest chemical cluster in the Mediterranean and Southern Europe.

3SCICC Forum Sustainable Chemistry is sponsored by the Spanish Chemical Industry Federation (FEIQUE) and Expoquimia – the International Chemistry Event of Fira de Barcelona together with industrial sponsors Dow Chemicals and Emerson Process Management.

SusChem chairman Dr Klaus Sommer of Bayer and board member Gernot Klotz of Cefic will be presenting at the meeting. More details of the programme can be accessed here.

Circular
The Circular Economy is an economic model that finds ways to reuse products and components and restore their material and energy inputs. And sustainable chemistry innovation provides the fundamentals for making it possible.

A Circular Economy is an industrial system replaces the ‘end-of-life’ concept with restoration and aims for the elimination of waste through the superior design of materials, products and systems, facilitating component separation and making it feasible for manufacturers to collect, re-manufacture and re-distribute their products, thus generating a circular, cradle-to-cradle system.

Circular Economy has an increasing number of supporters as the essential model needed to face the economic, social and resource challenges of the 21st century. The European Commission has chosen to move to this restorative economic system as part of its strategy for Europe 2020, as it drives substantial and lasting improvements in resource productivity. Sustainable chemistry and engineering innovation provides the fundamental basis that can enable the circular economy (new materials, new production systems, sustainable water management etc.).

Raw materials
Critical Raw Materials reducing, reusing, recycling or substitution; state-of-art and new trends in biobased products and biorefineries; new trends and challenges in process optimization or different ways for by-product valorization, are among the topics to be discussed at the 3SCICC Forum Sustainable Chemistry. Cities and industry symbiosis and the solutions chemistry provides to make this possible will also be addressed.

The day before the conference, May 27, will see the opportunity to visit a variety of industrial facilities and research centres in the Tarragona area to see the exciting sustainable chemistry taking place there.

For more information and registration details visit the 3SCICC Forum Sustainable Chemistry website.

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.

How Europe can benefit from SPIRE?

In this interview, adapted from the Cefic Sustainability Flagship initiative website, Cefic Gernot Klotz, Cefic Executive Director for Research & Innovation (right), explains how SPIRE – the proposed Public-Private-Partnership for a Sustainable Process Industry through Resource and Energy efficiency  -  can provide sustainability solutions for Europe while at the same time creating jobs and improving the global competitiveness of Europe. The debate on how Europeans can manage resources and energy in a sustainable way has been going on for many years. The chemical industry not only has the responsibility, but also the unique ability to respond to these challenges. One of the most ambitious projects addressing them is SPIRE, which has been selected as one of Cefic’s flagship initiatives on sustainability.

What is SPIRE about?
SPIRE is one of the first innovation-driven public-private partnerships in Europe. We want to push concrete action towards innovation in resource, energy efficiency and optimise cooperation between the different process sectors. Eight of those sectors, including steel, water, minerals and chemicals have joined forces to bring Europe closer to the objectives it needs to reach.

What are the objectives of SPIRE?
SPIRE wants to provide a long-term sustainable solution to Europe’s main challenges, which are competitiveness, environmental issues and employment. Our aim is to develop the required technologies and solutions along the value chain to address those challenges.

Our two main ambitions are:

• reducing fossil energy intensity by up to 30% from current levels 
• reducing non-renewable, primary raw material intensity by up to 20% from current levels

Both ambitions will contribute to efficiency improvement in CO2-equivalent footprints of up to 40% by 2030.

When did the project start?
We started one and a half years ago. There is a strong consensus between policy makers and industry about the need to improve the way we manage resources and energy. Industry has the tools to address these challenges, but cannot do it alone. As we want to address expectations coming from the public, the best model is for the public and the private sector to join forces and to push Europe forward.

How do you plan to reach your ambitions by 2030?
Currently we have finished work on a roadmap concerning the ways to achieve this. The roadmap has clear, visible and committable targets on renewable resource, CO2 footprint and energy use.

In July of 2012, we founded a new association called A.SPIRE. The members are companies, associations and especially research and technology organizations which help us carry the “baby” from research into adulthood. We involve top-academia and high-tech SMEs to activate the value chain and make solutions available to less performing sectors. We want to make the EU process industry the leading global competitor.

What are the next steps for SPIRE?
In January 2014 Horizon 2020 (the next EU Framework Programme for Research and Innovation) will start, and we have to be ready to go forward. As the process industry is an industry which is based on long-term investment, we think that by 2020 - that’s how long SPIRE will run - we will have all the scale-up and innovation ready. Let’s assume that it will take 5 to 10 years to bring it to the market. We are quite certain that by 2030 we can achieve all the targets. That’s the rough timeline.

What impact do you anticipate SPIRE making on the European economy?
Our approach should allow Europe to create new jobs, encourage world-class research and help create better products and technologies. All this would stimulate entrepreneurship and create new markets.

What would the impact on sustainability be?
Europe would make a giant leap in sustainability. Our focus on innovation and our ability to connect across sectors will create a shift in the mentality of industry’s main drivers. SPIRE addresses many sustainability areas, such as the low-carbon economy and energy efficiency. The benefits for Europe would be huge.

For more information on SPIRE visit its website and find more information on other Cefic Sustainability Flagship Initiatives here.

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.

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.

Gernot Klotz on the Horizon 2020 website

SusChem board member and Executive Director R&I at Cefic, Gernot Klotz, has contributed his views on the benefits of participation in European collaborative research and innovation projects on the Horizon 2020 website. You can watch his video below (copyright European Commission). Today (4 September) Gernot's video is the featured interview on the Horizon 2020 site.

If you want to participate in the next wave of European research projects on sustainable chemistry, the best place to start is at the SusChem brokerage event on September 18!

Registration is open until 11 September - so reserve your place now!