ENF2011 - a Snapshot on EU nano innovation

EuroNanoForum 2011 (ENF2011) saw some 1200 members of the nanotechnology community from over 50 countries gather in Budapest at the end of May. Presentations over three days (including various satellite events) showed how nanotechnology is already addressing the grand challenges that face Europe and the whole world. Numerous examples of cross-disciplinary, cross-sector, and of course cross-border research and collaboration were shown. In European nanotechnology - cooperation and collaboration is the order of the day.

It is clear that nanotechnology is the key enabling technology that underpins a wide range of other enabling technologies and processes. In fact the term nanotechnology covers a wide and diverse family of technologies and processes that will and are already making an impact on industry and society at large.

This family of technologies continues to grow. For example the opportunities that are emerging from research into applications for graphene are quite remarkable – and could usher in the end of the silicon age and open a new age of carbon-based electronics.

In fact it is easy to be carried away at a conference like ENF2011. Presentations at this conference have shown that nanotechnology can enable the blind to see, the deaf to hear, and bring cheap, sustainable power amongst many other miraculous possibilities in fields from medicine to the environment.

Innovative, safe
However to ensure that this European investment in research yields a European dividend in terms of growth and competitiveness requires successfully transfer to industrial level – selling nano-enabled products to the mass market. This is the real challenge and a vital challenge for our continuing prosperity.

I could worry about the fact that many presentations showed excellent examples of EU research outcomes but – for example – Japanese examples of near – or in the market products. Europe must do better on commercialisation and retention of IPR. This is our most important challenge going forward. Hopefully the instruments being developed for the Common Strategic Framework, and other policy initiatives, will assist this process.

We also need to ensure that nano is safe and seen to be safe. The meetings of the Nanosafety cluster projects at Budapest showed how important this is and that all aspects are being addressed.

The number of nanotech products that are in - or about to enter the market – increase almost daily and this means that conclusions on international regulatory and standardisation issues are becoming increasingly urgent.

And of course effective communication of the benefits and risks of nanotechnology is necessary. Fortunately the numerous Nanotechnology communication initiatives at ENF2011 show that this area is also being fully addressed and making an effective impact. Of particular interst was the OpenLabs concept pioneered in the NanoToTouch project. This brought working nano scientists and their laboratories into a public space in three science museums across Europe and allowed direct interaction with interested citizen 'on the job'.

Pictures from Budapest

The EuroNanoForum 2011 event is in full swing. The weather in Budapest is glorious but with four parallel conference sessions plus other workshops and events delegates have not had any much time to appreciate the weather.


The event is taking place at the Budapest Congress and World Trade Centre.


In parallel with the conference there is an extensive exhibition area.


After a hard day at the conference on Monday delegates were able to relax at the Budapest Palace of Miracles - a major new science centre in the centre of town - in the evening.

SusChem.Be has the answers

SusChem Flanders and Essenscia have launched a website dedicated to promote sustainable chemistry and help companies with their questions on sustainable chemistry.

The 'SUSCHEManswers.be' site has just gone live in Belgium!

Essenscia, the industrial federation for chemistry and life sciences in Belgium, is committed to sustainable chemistry and wants to help Belgian organisations that use or produce chemicals with their transition to sustainable chemistry.

SUSCHEManswers is a joint initiative of Essenscia and SUSCHEM Flanders to enable cooperation between external partners with expertise in different complementary aspects of sustainable chemistry. The aim being to help organisations with their sustainable chemistry questions.

As well as promoting interesting links and events the platform allows users to pose questions related to sustainable chemistry, free of charge and anonymously.

Knowledge organisations that want to cooperate as a partner with this intitiative should contact Dr. Saskia Walraedt at SusChem Flanders.

SusChem at EuroNanoForum 2011

SusChem will be reporting from the EuroNanoForum 2011 taking place in Budapest 30-31 May and also take a look at the NanoFutures session on Wednesday morning (June 1).

Over 1000 participants are expected at this biannual event. The 2011 event promises to be the biggest so far and the European nanotechnology event this year. It will reveal how nanotechnology can contribute to addressing the grand societal challenges of our time. The event covers research breakthroughs, industrial innovations and societal aspects of nanotechnology.

In addition to plenary sessions, four parallel conference sessions will cover the impact of nanotechnology on energy, health, electronics, the evironment and biotechnology amongst very many more sessions in an extensive programme. A large exhibition is also part of ENF2011.

The NanoFutures initiative brings together an number of technology platforms (including SusChem) to assess how nanotechnologies can support sustainable development.

You can follow SusChem reports from ENF2011 via the SusChem twitter stream http://twitter.com/suschem and we will also post blogs from Budapest.

SusChem in the Sunday Times

Chemical innovation and SusChem are highlighted in a special supplement that is being published and distributed with The Sunday Times this weekend (29 May). The chemical innovation article features an interview with SusChem board member Gernot Klotz of Cefic.

The Sunday Times is one of the UK’s leading quality newspapers with a weekly circulation of around 1.2 million copies. The supplement looks at UK and European innovation under the title Ingenious Britain.


The special magazine is introduced by Vince Cable MP, UK Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills and contains interviews with a variety of personalities from the innovation scene including Martin Shuurmans of the European Institute of Innovation and Technology (EIT) and Andrew Wyckoff of the OECD amongst many others.

The future of science-business cooperation and knowledge transfer are subjects that are also covered through contributions from leading European organisations in this area. And there are case studies of companies using innovative approaches to improve healthcare, manufacturing, IT and communications, financial and other services. Further case studies cover universities and research institutes making dramatic improvements in many research areas.

If you cannot get a copy of the Sunday Times – or your local international newspaper seller doesn’t get the supplements – Ingenious Britain should be available online from Sunday, 29 May at its dedicated website: http://www.ingeniousbritain.eu.

Amsterdam videos on SusChem YouTube

During the recent Amsterdam SusChem Stakeholder meeting our media partners for the event, ICIS Chemical Business, made video interviews with many of the participants. Three of these videos have now been uploaded onto the SusChem YouTube channel for wider distribution.

The three videos available on the SusChem YouTube channel are:

• SusChem board members Peter Nagler of Evonik and Gernot Klotz from Cefic discussing the role SusChem can play in EIPs.

• Marcel Wubbolts of DSM talking about the importance of the bio-economy to Europe.

• Klaus Sommer of Bayer describing how work on one of the SusChem inspired EIPs/PPPs on resource efficiency in the process industry is progressing.

The videos are also accessible via the YouTube sidebar on this blog.

Further coverage of the event can be found via the special issue of ICIS Interactive published earlier in the week.

We hope you enjoy our coverage of the Amsterdam event! You can keep up to date on all SusChem activities by:

• Following this news blog
• Visiting the SusChem website
• Following @SusChem on Twitter

The Suschem Amsterdam Stakeholder event was an offical event of the International Year of Chemistry 2011.

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.