UN Global Chemical Leasing Award

In January 2018, the United Nations Industrial Development Organisation (UNIDO) launched the Global Chemical Leasing Award 2018, which will take place on 6 November in Vienna, Austria.  The award will be part of the Green Chemistry Conference 2018 within the Trio Presidency of the Council of the European Union (EU) programme, “Smart and Sustainable Europe”, to be held during Austria’s EU Presidency.

Companies and individuals are invited to submit applications to the Global Chemical Leasing Award 2018 award under three categories:

• Case studies (implementation in companies) that is open to users and suppliers of chemicals. To be eligible for application, the company must have already started to implement Chemical Leasing concepts.
• Special innovation for case studies with technical solutions that have demonstrated the potential to define a new state of the art for a certain use of chemicals (i.e. Circular economy, non-tox-solution, etc.), and also including Start-ups, implemented business plans, etc.
• Research and development activities including new products, new processes, patents, business concepts papers, lectures, curricula, etc. that drive adoption of Chemical Leasing forward. Possible topics are widespread and could address Green and Sustainable Chemistry, Sustainable Industrial Parks, Sustainable Cities, but also business management and legal issues, etc.

The 2018 award is jointly sponsored and supported by UNIDO, the Austrian Federal Ministry of Sustainability and Tourism (BMNT), the German Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation, Building and Nuclear Safety (BMUB), the Swiss State Secretariat for Economic Affairs (SECO), the Swiss Federal Office for the Environment (FOEN), and the German Environment Agency (UBA).

The deadline for the applications is on 15 August 2018. You can find all the information in the awards webpage or download a leaflet on the award here.

What is Chemical Leasing?
Chemical Leasing is a service-oriented business model that shifts the focus from increasing sales volume of chemicals towards a value-added approach. The producer mainly sells the functions performed by the chemical and functional units are the main basis for payment.

Within Chemical Leasing business models, the responsibility of the producer and service provider is extended and may include management of the entire life cycle.

Chemical Leasing strives for a win-win situation. It aims at increasing the efficient use of chemicals while reducing the risks of chemicals and protecting human health. It improves the economic and environmental performance of participating companies and enhances their access to new markets.

Key elements of successful Chemical Leasing business models are appropriate benefit sharing, high quality standards and mutual trust between participating companies. See the UNIDO video below.



For more information about Chemical Leasing, please visit the UNIDO Chemical Leasing website and become part of the Chemical Leasing Community on Facebook  and on LinkedIn where you can read their latest article: ‘Chemical Leasing – The Solution to Managing Chemicals Sustainably: 12 Things You Need to Know'.

BioLinX - Providing Links to Commercialize your Innovative Ideas

‘Providing links to speed-up innovation in the bioeconomy’ is not only the full title of the BioLinX project, but also its primary goal. Migration towards a more biobased economy offers important opportunities for Europe, both in terms of ecology and in terms of economy.  BioLinx project coordinator, Dennis van der Pas of the regional development authority REWIN in the Netherlands, explains.

“The European Commission has successfully supported bioeconomy related projects during FP7 and will continue to do so under Horizon 2020. However, a range of hurdles, as identified within FP7 projects like the SusChem supported Bio-TIC and R4R projects, slow down the pace of innovation and market exploitation of research results in the bioeconomy. These hurdles are strongly intertwined and mitigating them requires joint efforts by multiple actors. Actors from within and outside of the value chain (such as regions, governments, advocacy parties, and financial parties) should be involved to bring innovation to the market.”

Van der Pas continues: “BioLinX contributes towards bringing research and innovation to the market in the bioeconomy by providing a variety of services aimed at overcoming the hurdles. The initiating BioLinX partners all have leading roles in their regional bioeconomies and have a strong foothold in the lignocellulose, agro- and agro-waste feedstock sectors. Incidentally: bioeconomy as per its proper definition does not limit itself to just industrial biotechnology, but also comprises sustainable chemistry and green chemical technologies; sectors of the SusChem community.”

“BioLinX has already engaged with and supported over sixty EU co-funded biobased projects from all stages of the value chain. Furthermore, BioLinX has created links with 10 key regional Bioeconomy clusters in Europe. The relevant partners of the selected projects and regions are invited to participate in the BioLinX Innovation Linking and Support Programme. This programme consist of activities focusing on Brokerage, Innovation Incubation, Business Development, Finance and Funding and identifies and shares good practices.“

BioLinX services in a nutshell

BioLinx is for projects and/or companies who:

• Are looking for private financing - BioLinX offers assistance to find (private) financing. We can parties to get investment-ready and can provide advice, training and access to private financing.
• Are looking for public funding - Next to private finance, BioLinX assists in finding (public) funding resources as well. We help parties in (amongst others) finding grants, formation of project consortia and stakeholder analysis.
• Are looking for value chain partners - BioLinX offers a well-established network capable of finding new value chain partners or new parties. The home base of the BioLinX project is formed by three well advanced regions/countries (Sweden, South-Netherlands / Biobased Delta, Northern Italy). BioLinX will expand its network to other regions as well (e.g. Germany, Scotland, Ireland, South Italy, Finland,). 
• Are looking for introductions to networks or (test) facilities etc - Because of its extensive network and the capabilities of the various BioLinX partners we can provide projects/companies with easy access to multiple lab and pilot facilities and regional stakeholders in different regions.
• Are looking for bioconomy patents, literature and more - The BioLinX Intelligence Platform offers easy access to literature, patents and project information. The intelligence database facilitates filtering and access to relevant scientific articles (18 million articles), patents (European patent database), European projects and funding opportunities.
• Have no time and budget to travel but have a need for visibility - BioLinX offers a Partnering platform alongside its Intelligence platform. BioLinX recognizes that time and budget constraints are sometimes limiting factors to have ‘face-to-face’ meetings or discussions. Therefore BioLinX organizes online partnering events where parties can find, contact and meet potential cooperation partners in a secured online meeting room. 

These BioLinX initiatives are complemented with activities regarding advocacy, communication and dissemination.

Van der Pas concludes: Anyone who is interested in what BioLinX  has to offer is invited to join the BioLinX community. You can register at the BioLinX website. Or alternatively get in touch with me directly - also via our website.”

Green and Sustainable Chemistry in Berlin

Following a very successful first edition in April 2016, the second Green and Sustainable Chemistry Conference will again bring together international researchers from academia and industry, from authorities and other institutions, to communicate and share the latest developments across the broad and diverse fields of Green and Sustainable Chemistry. The conference takes place on 14 - 17 May at the Hotel Intercontinental in Berlin. 

SusChem board member and Director of the Institute for Sustainable and Environmental Chemistry at Leuphana University Lüneburg, Prof. Klaus Kümmerer (pictured below), is the Chairman of the Conference organising committee. In a welcome message to conference delegates he says:

"Research has shown that reduction in waste, energy and resources not only contributes to a more sustainable growth of industry in developing countries and also improves sustainability of the chemical industry. In addition to improvements in synthesis and issues directly linked to the chemicals themselves it also has been learnt that sustainability issues throughout the life cycle of chemicals and other chemicals products should be taken into consideration. This holds not only for developed but also for developing countries."

Submissions for oral and poster presentations at the conference were particularly welcome on aspects of green and sustainable chemistry that directly relate to the United Nations' Sustainable Development Goals.

Topics that will be covered at the conference include:

• Mineral resources and recycling
• Resources for organic molecules
• Synthesis and catalysis
• Energy conversion
• Green and sustainable pharmacy
• Legislation and sustainable chemistry
• The UN Sustainable Development Goals and sustainable chemistry
• Developing countries and sustainable chemistry
• Industry and sustainable chemistry
• Education

You can access more details on the programme for the conference here and registration details are here. Early registration fees are available until 17 March. The twitter hashtag for the conference is #greenchem2017.

Sustainable Chemistry Challenge

Another unique feature of this conference will be the Elsevier Foundation Green and Sustainable Chemistry Challenge. Projects can be in any field of Green or Sustainable Chemistry, but must be applicable for use in developing countries. The top five candidates will be invited to the conference to make presentations and winners will be selected with an awards ceremony at the end of the conference. The winning project receive EUR 50 000; with a second prize of EUR 25 000 also available.

Mainstreaming Sustainable Chemistry

The Green and Sustainable Chemistry Conference is also being organised in cooperation with the inaugural conference of ISC3 and ISCnet: “Mainstreaming Sustainable Chemistry” on 17-18 May in Berlin. The conference programme will cover:

• International political and economic issues of importance for the development of sustainable chemistry
• Results of studies from a project to frame the area of future research by the ISC3
• Drawing up the organisational structure for ISCnet (see below)
• The introduction of the ISC3 executives

This conference also provides an opportunity to meet members of the ISCnet global network, which is open to everyone engaged in sustainable chemistry. The International Sustainable Chemistry Collaborative Centre (ISC3) wants to support the global breakthrough of Sustainable Chemistry. The project for the establishment of ISC3 was launched in March 2015 by the German Federal Environment Agency.

SusChem: Opinion on Green and Sustainable Chemistry

The first issue of Elsevier's Current Opinion in Green and Sustainable Chemistry contains an article from SusChem on the 'European chemical industry's contribution to sustainable development' by Pierre Barthelemy and Esther Agyeman-Budu. The paper was presented at the inaugural Green and Sustainable Chemistry Conference that took place in Berlin on 3 to 6 April. SusChem board member Prof Klaus Kümmerer, Director of the Institute for Sustainable and Environmental Chemistry at Leuphana University Lüneburg was the chair of the conference organising committee.

The paper examines the role of chemical research and innovation as a key enabling factor in achieving a sustainable and equitable global society and shows how the European chemical sector is a key player in the global chemical and pharmaceutical market and has been working to improve its own sustainability for many decades.

The paper features how initiatives such as SusChem are developing new solutions that will further reduce the environmental impact of the sector, while boosting its energy and resource efficiency, and introducing new materials and processes based on renewable resources for use by society. Moreover these innovative solutions catalyse sustainability in other sectors and value chains and will help realise concepts such as a truly circular economy. Finally the paper shows how effective implementation of such solutions requires close cooperation between government, industry and research bodies.

SusChem blog readers can access the full article for free here until 9 October 2016. The link will take you to the article on ScienceDirect. No sign up or registration should be needed - just click and read!

Current opinion
Elsevier’s Current Opinion series of journals were developed out of the recognition that it is increasingly difficult for specialists to keep up to date with the expanding volume of information published in their subject.

Current Opinion in Green and Sustainable Chemistry covers:

• The views of experts on current advances in Green and Sustainable Chemistry in a clear and readable form.
• Evaluations of the most interesting papers, annotated by experts, from the great wealth of original publications.
• All chemical aspects along the life cycle of chemicals as well chemical products and materials, for example resources, synthesis, use and after life issues.

Full article title: European chemical industry's contribution to sustainable development. Article reference: COGSC10 Journal title: Current Opinion in Green and Sustainable Chemistry Corresponding author: Dr. Pierre Barthelemy. Full bibliographic details: Current Opinion in Green and Sustainable Chemistry  (2016), pp. 28-32 DOI information: 10.1016/j.cogsc.2016.08.002

Green and Sustainable Chemistry Conference in Berlin

The inaugural Green and Sustainable Chemistry Conference will take place in Berlin on 3 to 6 April. SusChem board member Prof Klaus Kümmerer, Director of the Institute for Sustainable and Environmental Chemistry at Leuphana University Lüneburg (pictured below) is the chair of the conference organising committee and will be giving an opening address and one of the keynote lectures on green and sustainable products. Fellow SusChem board member Dr Pierre Barthelemy, Executive Director of R&I at Cefic, will also contribute to the session on Context.

The conference will open with a high-level session as part of a comprehensive and wide-ranging programme that features keynote and invited speakers supplemented by more than 75 other presentations and an extensive poster session. Paul Anastas, Director of the Center for Green Chemistry and Green Engineering at Yale University and often referred to as the ‘Father of Green Chemistry’ will give the opening keynote lecture.

As the world’s population edges towards nine billion, the strain on the planet’s resources is steadily increasing. In both the developed and developing world there is a growing demand for food, manufactured goods and improved access to clean water and fuel. Over the past 30 years it has become obvious that the products of human manufacture, even those produced to benefit society, can have negative effects on human health and the environment.

The field of Green and Sustainable Chemistry developed to help monitor, understand and limit the impact that chemicals have on our environment. Sustainable chemistry is all about developing new methods to reduce waste, boost energy efficiency and improve use of resources. In this way chemistry can both contribute to more sustainable industrial growth and to a greener economy and environment.

The Green and Sustainable Chemistry conference has a broad scope, addressing many diverse fields of Green and Sustainable Chemistry. The goal of the meeting is to bring together international researchers, from academia and industry, to communicate and share the latest developments across the broad and diverse fields that comprise Green and Sustainable Chemistry.

The conference session topics include:

• Mineral resources and recycling
• Non-fossil sources for old and new organic molecules
• Synthesis and solvents
• Catalysis and engineering
• Green and sustainable products
• Renewable energies
• Overarching approaches and new business models 
• Greenness and sustainability
• Ethics, legislation and economics 
• The Context

The conference will start on Sunday 3 April at 17:00 with a Welcome Reception and the full conference will commence on Monday at 9:00. You can download the full conference programme here and you can register for the conference here.

Chemistry challenge

Another unique feature of the conference will be the Green and Sustainable Chemistry Challenge. Entries for this competition consisted of projects that could be from any field of Green or Sustainable Chemistry but had to be applicable for use in developing countries.

At the conference the top five candidates will be invited to make presentations to a panel of judges. The winners will be selected from these five finalists and an award ceremony will held at the end of the conference. The winning project will receive €50 000; with a second prize of €25 000.

Think Green to Win Green!

The ACS Green Chemistry Institute® (ACS GCI) is hosting a business plan competition exclusively devoted to innovations in sustainable green chemistry and engineering. Applicants have the chance to receive expert feedback, training and mentorship, and the opportunity to market their business idea to their target audiences.

Early stage companies dedicated to green chemistry and engineering solutions are encouraged to apply for this unique opportunity to win $ 10 000 and share their innovative solutions with a huge audience of potential clients and customers.

To apply companies need to submit an executive summary PowerPoint presentation with no more than 15 slides and also a 2-3 minute video pitching the idea. The summary and video must be submitted by mail to Ashley Baker at ACS by 8 April 2016.

A panel of experts selected by the ACS GCI will judge the applications to select three semi-finalists. The selected semi-finalists will attend the final round of the competition that takes place at the 20^th Annual Green Chemistry and Engineering Conference in Portland, Oregon on 15 June 2016. Business ideas will be considered for all areas of green chemistry and engineering except biofuels.

Green principles
The competition judges will be looking for possible solutions that apply the principles of green chemistry and engineering to address the world’s biggest challenges. Previous winners have included a wide range of technologies from paints and coatings to safer chemical alternatives and innovative battery technology.

All semi-finalists will be notified on or before 25 April 2016 and business plan pitches must be made in person on 15 June 2016 at the conference. The overall winner will be announced on 15 June following the final presentations.

FP7 KYROBIO Biocatalyst Project Results Webinar

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

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

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



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

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

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

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

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

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

Helsinki Chemicals Forum 2015 and SusChem

Every year since 2009 in late spring, a meeting takes place in Helsinki that is of major relevance to chemicals manufacturers and their customers. And not just those whose businesses operate mainly in Europe.  The annual Helsinki Chemicals Forum (HCF) is hosted by the European Chemicals Agency, a body which was set up by the European Commission to manage the ongoing implementation of the EU's Regulation, Evaluation and Authorisation of Chemicals legislation (REACH). SusChem board member Prof Rodney Townsend is a regular presenter at the meeting and here he reports on the 2015 meeting for SusChem News.

This year the Helsinki Chemicals Forum met at the end of May. All of the five main discussion topics had very much in mind the stated  aspiration of the planned 2020 World Summit on Sustainable Development, which is to achieve by 2020 a minimisation of 'the adverse effects of man-made chemicals on human health and the environment'.  An emphasis that ran through the whole meeting was the proposed Transatlantic Trade Investment Partnership (TTIP) between the EU and USA and what the implications of this might be in terms of harmonisation of regulations for chemicals between the two trading areas.

TTIP and REACH
Dr Klaus Berend from the European Commission’s DG Growth is currently advising the TTIP negotiators regarding REACH-related issues. He gave a summary of the current state of negotiations to the HCF participants and emphasised that under TTIP, neither the EU nor the USA will lower current safety standards.  Indeed, both parties will maintain their right to continue to raise them, but for the TTIP to work, harmonisation of current legislative policies is essential.  A further key issue is that neither party will impose their system on the other.  These negotiation principles have important implications for chemicals manufacturers as they seek to develop more sustainable products, whether their markets are primarily in the EU or USA or span both current trading areas.

SusChem is by its very nature highly committed to sustainable development.  Similarly, implementation of and changes in REACH regulations, or their equivalents in the USA, are critically important to any company committed to sustainable innovation.

SusChem was represented at the HCF meeting by myself (second left above) and Erwin Annys, Director of REACH Chemicals Policy at Cefic (centre above), also attended.  Erwin and I were both directly involved in the fifth Panel Discussion topic, entitled ‘Green Chemistry and Engineering – a Fundamental Breakthrough?’  The Panel discussed the basic tenets of the Twelve Principles of Green Chemistry which were first enunciated nearly a quarter of a century ago by Paul Anastas, who currently works for the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

Is Green chemistry sustainable?
The Panel and audience (which added its thoughts via tweets and texts) concluded that it was time to review the Twelve Principles because their focus is almost wholly on the activities of chemists and not on the manufacturing process as a whole.

Specifically the following points were made during the discussion:

• 'Green chemistry' is not the same as 'green chemicals'.  This may seem an obvious point, but the Panel felt that it was not one which legislators always appreciated.  It was noted that current legislation in the USA emphasises just chemicals in final products rather than looking holistically at the sustainable manufacturing system.  See for example: http://www.epa.gov/oppt/existingchemicals/pubs/principles.html and https://www.dtsc.ca.gov/LawsRegsPolicies/Regs/SCPA.cfm. 
• Although the environmental imperative is the most critical factor in considering sustainable product design, no future process will be truly sustainable if it is not also societally beneficial and economically viable.  This is a key part of SusChem’s 2020 Strategy and also underpins the Europe 2020 growth strategy.  It is for this reason that SusChem prefers not to present ‘green chemistry’ as the answer per se.
• This holistic thinking must extend along whole value chains; what might seem ideal at one point in the chain may have major implications further along the value chain. This is also central to SusChem’s strategic approach.
• In the light of the recent EU Circular Economy initiative there is a strong need for a rethink issues related to waste disposal and re-use. In particular, Principle 1, which just states: 'It is better to prevent waste than to treat it or clean up waste chemicals', needs a major overhaul.

The general conclusion that was drawn at the HCF was that the time is overdue to update the Twelve Principles of Green Chemistry.  How this should be done and who should do it is not yet entirely clear, but that it should be done is crystal clear.

In line with movements in global scientific and technological developments, holistic thinking across all disciplinary barriers must proceed apace, especially in the light of the enormous changes and opportunities implicit in the coupling of intelligent computing with 'big data'. This matter will be the subject of a further blog article in the near future.

SusChem launches Educate to Innovate

A new SusChem programme to build innovation skills capacity was launched at the 10th SusChem Stakeholder meeting in Brussels. The Educate to Innovate programme seeks to exploit innovation outputs from SusChem’s Research and Innovation (R&I) projects in order to enhance the innovation skills of future generations of European scientists and engineers through the effective engagement of industry and higher education institutions (HEIs).

Building on SusChem related research and innovation projects and informed by reports such as the Cefic ‘Skills for Innovation’ survey the programme aims to establish a collaborative framework to enhance innovation skills capacity by:

• capturing innovations emerging from SusChem R&I projects that could be used as case studies for the development of educational resources
• facilitating constructive dialogue and exchange of ideas between stakeholders in industry and HEIs
• designing appropriate educational resources that can be used at undergraduate and Masters level to develop the skills needed to enhance innovation in the chemical and industrial biotechnology sectors.

Speaking at the SusChem Stakeholder meeting Neville Reed from the Royal Society of Chemistry and SusChem board member with special responsibility for education issues said: “Scientific interdisciplinarity is the key for innovation and the future chemical industry. Successful research and innovation activities will need people with a broad scientific skill set and also abilities such as good communication skills and sound understanding of business.”

New approach
The Educate to Innovate programme is a new approach and part of SusChem’s strategy to facilitate a continuing, constructive dialogue and create synergies between the chemical industry and higher education with the goal of systematically introducing key skills for innovation into HE curricula.

The ‘Educate to Innovate’ framework

In addition SusChem will be developing a good practise innovation skills database. This online resource will compile case studies of EU industry-university collaborations on course work, internships and industrial placements. It will help to show the value of context- and problem-based learning and help ensure that courses are relevant and up-to-date. Academia and industry will be invited to share details of successful collaborative innovation skills development projects.

Pilot Project
F3 Factory is a major EU FP7 project that emerged from SusChem’s Strategic Research Agenda and will be used as the pilot project for the Educate to Innovate programme. Launched in June 2009, F3 Factory is a 4-year, €30 million collaborative project involving 25 partners from nine EU member states.

How can you get involved?
If you are working in European industry SusChem is seeking input from industrial organisations that:

• have a track record of constructive engagement with academia
• are committed to addressing future industrial challenges through open innovation
• believe there are opportunities to enrich academic teaching of innovation

For further information on industrial input contact Andrew Smalley at Britest Limited.

If you are working in European Higher Education Institutions SusChem is seeking input from higher educational institutions that:

• have a proven track record of innovative teaching methods
• see opportunities to enrich academic course materials by including case studies from leading European research and innovation programmes
• are interested in developing new ideas for teaching course material at undergraduate and Masters level

For further information on HEI input contact Nicolas Dupuy at Université de Lorraine.

Further information
For more information on the new SusChem Educate to Innovate pilot programme download the ‘Educate to Innovate’ flyer or to find out more about SusChem Education activities and the online skills database contact Sophie Wilmet in the SusChem Secretariat at Cefic.

SusChem Stakeholder Event 2012 Announced

Save the date! SusChem has just announced that its 10th Annual Stakeholder Event will take place in Brussels on 17 - 18 April 2012. The event takes the theme 'Partnering for Sustainable Innovation through Chemistry' and will be held at the Diamant Business Centre and Conference Complex on the east side of the city.


As usual, the SusChem stakeholder meeting will be a high profile event and offer participants the latest insights on key topics such as water efficiency, sustainable processes, raw materials, smart cities and other areas where chemistry is playing a central role to develop sustainable solutions for society.

The SusChem event will offer plenty of networking opportunities and provide valuable information on European partnership programmes driven from the Innovation Union and Horizon 2020 objectives.

The 2012 stakeholder event will look to build on the game-changing 2011 event and further engage with value chain partners on concrete priority themes where sustainable chemistry has committed to promote partnerships and inspire innovation to achieve real growth in the EU.

Value chain solutions
No single component in today's complex value chain can deliver the comprehensive and timely solutions that society requires alone: we need to engage the whole value chain and SusChem is looking to deliver this. The 10th SusChem Stakeholder event will be a significant, dynamic, inspiring and productive step towards achieving this. Be there!

The preliminary programme and registration will be available soon via the main SusChem website. In the meantime, if you have any questions on the 2012 SusChem stakeholder event please contact the SusChem secretariat.

And don't forget to follow SusChem news via this blog and also via @suschem on Twitter.

SusChem brokerage event open to all

Preparations are well underway for the 2011 SusChem Brokerage event. The event takes place in Brussels on September 14 and will include opportunities to present project proposals, make general expressions of interest in an area of research and engage in ‘speed dating’ for consortium building.

“The SusChem Stakeholder event is open to all stakeholders in the European sustainable chemistry community, which means anybody with an interest in the sustainable chemistry research and innovation agenda,” says Ger Spork, Innovation Manager and SusChem coordinator at Cefic. “Any party with an interest to participate in the new round of FP7 calls that relate to this agenda is welcome to join us.”

The event will be held at the Hotel Silken Berlaymont (pictured) in Brussel’s European quarter. Delegates can find out more information on the Brokerage event on the SusChem website and you can register for the event here.

The agenda for the event and other useful information, including an overview of the relevant FP7 2012 calls across topics including Nanosciences, Nanotechnologies, Materials and New Production Technologies (NMP), Knowledge Based Bio-Economy (KBBE), Energy, and Environment can be accessed here.

To help in the organisation of the event, and to highlight your project idea or specific offer of expertise, the SusChem Brokerage Partnering Database is now available. This database provides you with the opportunity to upload your project idea and expression of interest for specific calls prior to the event. To register for the SusChem Brokerage Partnering Database, click here.

We look forward to seeing you on 14 September.

Plant-based Chemistry in Paris

The first European Congress on plant-based chemistry will take place in Paris on September 5 – 7. Plant-based chemistry constitutes a major avenue for progress in developing sustainable chemistry in Europe. Plant-based chemistry could enable a significant alternative feedstock resource from within the European agricultural community.

The two-day congress 'Plant-based Chemistry for 2020' will take place in the Maison de la Chimie in Paris and will welcome some 400 delegates representing the main plant-based chemistry players (including academic researchers, industry representatives, policymakers and venture capital providers) in Europe with the focus on achievements, challenges and opportunities for this field.

On the first day participants will discuss the state of play in biorefinery concepts from a number of perspectives in the morning, and assess the market for plant-based bioproducts in 2020 in the afternoon.

Policy and impact
On September 6 the programme will look at European policy statements and their likely impact by 2020 during the morning sessions. This session will include a contribution from SusChem on its position on the Knowledge-based Bioeconomy from SusChem board member Marcel Wubbolts.

The afternoon session will look at incentives and regulation and also feature the 2011 awards ceremony for the Agrobiobase bio economy competition.

In addition technical visits to a number of company facilities are possible on Wednesday September 8.

More details of the programme can be found here and details of the registration proceedure here.

The congress is co-organised by the Association Chimie du Vegetal (ACDV), Axelera, the European Renewable Resources and Materials Association (ERRMA), the Germany-based Agency for Renewable Resources (FNR), the French Industries and Agro-Resources cluster (IAR), the UK’s National Centre for Biorenewable Energy, Fuels and Materials (NNFCC) and the Union des industries Chimiques (UIC) – the French chemical industry body.

Green Week 2011 - Resource Efficiency

The 11th edition of Green Week, the biggest annual conference on European environment policy, kicks off today (24 May) and runs until Friday (27 May) at the Charlemagne building in Brussels. The 2011 theme is “Resource Efficiency – Using less, living better”.

Resource efficiency is, of course, a topic of major interest to SusChem and the technology platform will be contributing to a Green Week session on "Green Chemistry finding Green Solutions" organised by The European Association for Chemical and Molecular Sciences (EuCheMS). The session takes place on Thursday 26 May from 11:30 to 13:00 in the Salon Rouge

One of the goals of the International Year of Chemistry 2011 (IYC2011) is to underline the critical role chemistry plays in a sustainable future. Resource efficiency in Europe means not only making production as sustainable as possible, it means making consumption as sustainable as possible.

Roadmap
EuCheMS is preparing a Roadmap for the Chemical Sciences, the roadmap identifies major societal challenges and outlines critical gaps in knowledge that are limiting technological progress. The Roadmap then identifies where the chemical sciences have a role to play in meeting these challenges. The event will look at the positive contribution of green chemistry to improving resource efficiency and innovation in Europe.

Prof Michael Roeper of BASF will describe EuCheMS's Roadmap for the Chemical Sciences, with an emphasis on the section dedicated to Resource Efficiency and will highlight how SusChem is contributing to a more sustainable future - in particular through its proposals for European Innovation Partnerships (EIPs).

Other speakers include Dr Wim Thielemans of the University of Nottingham who will present the principles of Green Chemistry and Dr Mike Pitts from the UK's Chemistry Innovation Knowledge Transfer Network (CIKTN) and a member of SusChem UK, who will focus on how product and process innovation can deliver sustainable growth.

Exhibition
In parallel to the four-day conference Green Week hosts an extensive exhibition. SusChem partner organsiations taking stands this year include Cefic, EuropaBio and the Water Technology Platform (WssTP).

Cefic will also highlight resource efficiency from the perspective of the chemical industry during Green Week, describing the challenges and opportunities presented by the global need for a more efficient use of energy and natural resources.

The Green Week conference and exhibition is organised by the European Commission and is open to the public. Full programme details can be found on the conference website and over 5000 participants have registered for the week.

What does SusChem mean to you?

Defining sustainability is an ongoing global discussion in many sectors. In the context of chemistry, biotechnology and innovation what do we really mean by sustainability? And how can SusChem design criteria to evaluate projects and programmes that it inspires or engages with? These are fundamental questions and we would like to know what the wider SusChem community thinks. So, what does sustainable chemistry and/ or SusChem mean to you? You can tweet your view to @suschem on Twitter.

In its 2005 Vision document SusChem referenced the Brundtland Commission definition of sustainable development as one of its founding principles. That definition is:

“Development which meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs”

SusChem has built its thinking on the three pillars of sustainable development : environment, society and economy – or people, planet and profit. Essentially this means that SusChem thinking should promote activities and support projects that are economically viable and environmentally sound and address societal needs.

As SusChem moves from sustainable research to encompass sustainable innovation a clear communicable definition of sustainable chemistry is needed together with a set of guiding principles.

Screening criteria
These qualitative principles need to be given a quantitative basis to develop an iterative screening process for project assessment in SusChem. Such a system must be able to be applied to the diverse portfolio of SusChem projects in different technologies and regions. A small group lead by SusChem board members Martina Bianchini (Dow) and Marcel Wubbolts (DSM) is working to develop such a process using a Life Cycle Conceptual Approach.

Some tools already exit that could be of help. For example, the iSUSTAIN^TM Green Chemistry Index links green chemistry and sustainability based on the 12 principles of green chemistry proposed by Paul Anasta and John Warner in their ground-breaking book ‘Green Chemistry. Theory and Practice’. While the FP7 PROSUITE project is looking to produce a standardised methodology in Europe and is employing case studies that are very relevant to SusChem.

Tweet your ideas
This is work in progress and SusChem News would like to gather a range of views on what sustainable chemistry means to the SusChem community. So why not add your vision to the debate? As mentioned above you can tweet @suschem or email SusChem News with your take on sustainable chemistry. We look forward to hearing from you.