New SusChem Website on-line

Improving communication with its stakeholder members is a top priority for SusChem in 2012. As a first step a new SusChem website has been under development over the past few months and launches today. Check it out now!

The new site is not merely a redesign but also puts enhanced functionality and new systems in place to ensure easier updating of content and better integration with social media. As well as better communication tools the site offers a new relationship management environment to enable SusChem members to access information and get more easily involved with SusChem activities.


Register today
To get the most out of the SusChem website we are asking all stakeholders to register with the site. If you have already registered with SusChem in the past - for example to attend the SusChem Stakeholder event or access the Brokerage Database - you should be able to use your existing email address and password. If you haven't registered before then the process takes only a minute or so. You can register here.

"Registration is open to anyone who has an interest in sustainable chemistry research and innovation, the societal challenges that SusChem is helping to address and everyone working for a smart, sustainable, competitive future for Europe," says Ger Spork, SusChem coordinator at Cefic. "We look forward to welcoming you to our new website!"

Once registered for the site, you can access the information and SusChem services relevant to you. The registration process will also enable SusChem to renew and 'clean' its stakeholder membership lists. In turn this will help with services such as the launch of a new regular SusChem Newsletter during 2012.

Feedback please
SusChem is very much a collaborative and cooperative platform that wants to encourage the widest possible participation from its stakeholders in the sustainable chemistry community in Europe and beyond.

If you have any comments on the new site, need to find out more about the platform, or require information on joining workgroups etc, please contact the SusChem secretariat.

Why not bookmark the SusChem website at: http://www.suschem.org now.

Strategy for a EU Bio-based Economy

Today (13 February 2012) the European Commission published its new strategy on the Bioeconomy entitled ‘Innovating for Sustainable Growth: a Bioeconomy for Europe'. As a key component implementing two of the EU2020 flagships, the Innovation Union and Resource Efficient Europe, the new plan will contribute to the objectives of the Europe 2020 strategy for smart, sustainable and inclusive growth.

Europe needs renewable biological resources for secure and healthy food and feed, as well as for materials, energy, and other products. The strategy and action plan will help drive the transition from a fossil-based economy to a sustainable bioeconomy in Europe, with research and innovation at its core. The bio-based economy is an area in which the European Union cannot risk being left behind in this area.

And SusChem is already playing its part in building a coherent, cross-sectoral and inter-disciplinary approach to a more innovative and low carbon society including the sustainable use of renewable biological resources for industrial purposes.

SusChem action
The EU process and chemical industry has been working hard to reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions over the past decades. But the industry recognizes the need to develop and implement improved resource efficient and environmentally friendly processes to replace carbon, energy and water intensive production. This includes the use of bio-based feedstock.

The proposed Sustainable Process Industry through Resource and Energy Efficiency (SPIRE) Public-Private-Partnership (PPP) has exactly these targets; aiming to reduce fossil energy use in the process industries in Europe by 30% by 2030 and reduce non-renewable, primary raw material consumption by 20%. Together these objectives will significantly reduce the carbon footprint of process industry.

A prime objective of the EU Action Pan is to promote competitiveness and foster world-class entrepreneurship in EU bioeconomy sectors, including enhanced innovation roles for SMEs. The SusChem INNOVA project BIOCHEM is already working to help SMEs across Europe assess their capabilities and potential in bio-based markets and presents a unique opportunity for SMEs to enter and engage with opportunities in the emerging bio-based economy.

The EU Action Plan calls for the creation of stakeholder platforms at Member State level to facilitate action within countries and also coordination on between states. SusChem has pioneered a network of 11 national Technology platforms that contribute effectively to sustainable chemistry and bio-tech activities in just this way at both Member State and European level.

These and many other actions that SusChem is involved in to support the developing European Bioeconomy will be discussed at the 10^th SusChem Stakeholder event – Partnering for Sustainable Innovation through Chemistry - to be held on 17 to 18 April 2012 in Brussels.

Commission initiative
The development of the Sustainable Bio-based Economy Strategy was led by Commissioner Geoghegan-Quinn (RTD) with the support of Vice-President Tajani (ENTR), and Commissioners Cioloş (AGRI), Damanaki (MARE) and Potočnik (ENV). It will be presented to Member States at the Competitiveness Council on 21 February 2012.

The need to increase public funding for bioeconomy research and innovation is recognised under Horizon 2020: €4.7 billion has been proposed for the Challenge “Food security, sustainable agriculture, marine and maritime research, and the bioeconomy”.

More information on this initiative, including the Communication, can be found here.

Spanish Forum on Water EIP

At the end of January the Spanish Centre for Industrial Technology Development (CDTI) hosted a forum to gather contributions to the proposed European Innovation Partnership (EIP) on Water from more than 30 European Technology Platforms (ETPs) and other stakeholders involved in water management with a particular focus on innovative solutions.

“Spanish stakeholders are very interested in the water challenge and the Water EIP,” said Antonia Morales Perez, Innovation Manager at Cefic, representing SusChem at the meeting. “Spain, due to its geographical situation, is one of the most exposed European countries in terms of drought and this has a significant impact on the agricultural and industrial sectors.”

EIP status
Robert Schroder, from the European Commission DG Environment updated the meeting on the 'European Innovation Partnership on Water'. The Communication to the European Parliament and the Council is now expected on April 12 and should be endorsed by June.

The Strategic Implementation Plan (SIP) developed under the EIP should start at the end of the year, and the priorities defined in the SIP will be the basis for the calls and 'Innovation Activities' selection in 2013. A variety of different funding mechanisms will be used for the EIP calls including FP7, Life, Structural and Cohesion funds, European Investment Bank, and others.

The Water EIP will:

• Join up knowledge and actions at European level to improve competitiveness through cooperation via a multidisciplinary, multi-sectoral approach


• Be focused on Innovation: not necessarily breakthroughs, but bringing ideas or technologies into the market and creating business opportunities


• Help to remove barriers (technological and non-technological) to water innovation


• Facilitate demonstration or pilots to test the value of the innovative solutions and dissemination

Innovative initiatives
The current status of the Joint Programming Initiative (JPI) ‘Water Challenges for a Changing World’ was presented. The JPI, coordinated by Spain, is a Public - Public initiative focused on the preparation of a Strategic Research Agenda. It is led jointly by The Netherlands and Spain and now includes some 14 States as partners and 8 as observers

The European Water Platform (WssTP) outlined a list of pilot projects, located in several European Countries, with the aim of tackling a variety of topics to achieve more sustainable water management systems.

Antonia Morales discussed SusChem’s ‘Symbiotic approach model’. This is based on the integration of the Urban-Agricultural/bio-based economy and industrial areas, to implement innovative solutions that will allow: Reduced use of fresh water, Recycling of water, Reuse of water, Recovery of valuable material from waste water and optimisation of the Water-Energy nexus.

Other presentations included:

• Renewable energies applied to water treatment and desalination


• Cost reduction (water treatments and supply)


• Advanced water treatment technologies (nanotechnology, biotechnology)


• ICT solutions for water management


• Participation of SMEs in the development and implementation of innovative solutions

The forum also highlighted the importance of education and public awareness for the water challenge. All the presentations at the CDTI Forum on 27 January can be accessed from the CDTI website (15 MB zip/ rar file).

For more information on activities in SusChem’s Water priority, please contact Antonia Morales Perez at Cefic.

Alfred Oberholz 1952 - 2012

It is with great sadness that SusChem News has learnt of the sudden death of Dr. Alfred Oberholz.


Dr. Oberholz was a chairman of the SusChem board from 2005 to 2008 and was influential in the success of the platform. He was personally committed to the success of SusChem and a great champion for sustainable chemistry and industrial biotechnology.

He remained a strong supporter of 'SusChem thinking' when he stepped down from the chairmanship and retired from Evonik.

He will be greatly missed by the chemical community in Europe. Our thoughts are with Dr. Oberholz's wife and family at this time.

SusChem fully engaged with Water EIP Consultation

SusChem is heavily engaged in the on-going consultation on the proposed European Innovation Partnership (EIP) on Water. A number of dedicated stakeholder consultations have been organised with the aim of ensuring a bottom-up approach to gain solid feedback and understanding of the needs and interests of all parties. SusChem has been prominent in contributing to this process.

"SusChem and the chemistry community are determined to show leadership in this area and make a significant contribution to solving water issues by working with partners to pursue large-scale projects which can demonstrate real value for society," commented Antonia Morales Perez, Innovation Manager at Cefic, who is coordinating SusChem’s input to the consultation process.

Consultation timetable
An initial Member State consultation meeting happened on 6 July 2011 and this was followed by a first Stakeholder consultation on 20 October 2011. For this meeting a draft consultation document was prepared by the European Commission for comment.

A co-operative Workshop with European Technology Platforms, including SusChem, took place on 15 December 2011 and a second Stakeholder consultation is scheduled for 1 February.

SusChem input
In the preparation of the proposed EIP on Water and to aid discussion at the 20 October meeting SusChem contributed written comments on the draft proposal.

At the 15 December ETP meeting SusChem made a formal presentation on the opportunities, challenges and issues for the proposed EIP from a chemical industry/ chemistry viewpoint.

The consultation procedure will deliver a communication for the EIP in the first half of 2012. If the EIP Water communication is endorsed by the Council and the European Parliament, the EIP on Water aims to be operational in early 2013.

For more information on the proposed Water EIP visit the dedicated webpages on the European Commission DG Environment website, or contact Antonia Morales Perez at Cefic.

Water EIP gets Website

The candidate European Innovation Partnership (EIP) on Water has just launched its own dedicated webpages on the European Commission's DG Environment website. The site describes the innovation initiative and allows interested parties to view and contribute to the on-going consultation process.

The candidate EIP on Water was initiated by DG Environment, in close cooperation with DG Research and Innovation, other Commission DG's and stakeholders such as SusChem, to develop a proposal to take forward under the Europe 2020 Flagship Initiative for an Innovation Union.

An EIP is designed to unite all relevant European actors and resources around common targets to speed up breakthrough innovations to solve specific societal challenges where there is also a large market potential for EU business.

The strategic objective of the proposed EIP on Water is to position Europe as a world leader in water technology and services by boosting innovation, promoting the creation of new market opportunities and by contributing to achieving the sustainable and efficient use of water, while at the same time using innovation to develop adequate and state of the art European water policy.

Three point strategy
The strategic objective has three main thrusts:

• To develop innovative solutions for the many water quality and quantity challenges Europe (and the world) is facing. These water related challenges serve as the driver for interaction between policy and innovation.
• To boost innovation, creating a global leadership position for European water technology and services, in line with the objectives of the Europe 2020 strategy.
• To mobilise all relevant actors at EU, national and regional levels, remove any regulatory and market barriers, promote the integration of various policy and finance instruments and increase the demand for innovation, across all sectors and users of water.

The heart of the EIP will be a number of Innovation Sites. In the current proposal, that is subject to consultation, the Innovation Sites will be organised around three work packages. These are:

• Urban water management
• Rural water management
• Industrial water management

In addition a number of horizontal themes will be addressed and, initially, up to 30 Innovation Sites are foreseen. Each innovation site will be a large-scale, solution-focussed project.

For more information on the Water EIP visit the DG Environment website or contact Cefic Innovation Manager Antonia Morales Perez who is coordinating SusChem input.

SusChem: 2011 Achievements, 2012 Actions

2011 was an extremely active year for SusChem. The technology platform was at the centre of the chemical community’s work to lead innovation and boost competitiveness in Europe. The efforts of SusChem stakeholders during the International Year of Chemistry have set a sound basis for continuing success during 2012. SusChem News talked to recently appointed chairman of the SusChem board Dr. Klaus Sommer (right) about his highlights of 2011 and what SusChem needs to do in 2012.

SusChem News: Dr. Sommer, how do you see SusChem’s progress during 2011?

KS: During 2011, SusChem further increased its visibility and its effectiveness by defining positions for the Chemical and Biotechnology Industry with respect to many programmes and projects based on European Commission funding.

In particular, SusChem and its partners have established the basis for four major innovation initiatives in the areas of process efficiency, water, raw materials and smart cities that we feel can make a major contribution to strengthening the competitiveness of Europe.

Innovation has now become a major part of SusChem work, in addition to our traditional role of facilitating and promoting the chemical and biotechnology research agenda in the EU.

SusChem News: What are SusChem’s priorities for 2012?

KS: SusChem is thinking already established within the scope of the next EU Strategic Framework for Research and Innovation: Horizon 2020. In areas such as the Key Enabling Technologies (KETs) and Industrial Technologies SusChem has a great opportunity to ensure the central science – chemistry – is at the heart of the programme calls currently being defined by the European Commission.

SusChem will support policy makers to make Horizon 2020 an effective initiative to support sustainable growth for Europe. In particular we will continue work with our partners on the innovation initiatives on “SPIRE - Sustainable Process Industry through Resource and Energy Efficiency”, “Water Efficient Europe”, “Raw Materials for a Modern Society” and “Smart Cities”. These will set our priorities for the near- and mid-term.

SusChem News: What is the importance of SPIRE PPP proposal?

KS: The SPIRE proposal pulls together input from 15 European Technology Platforms and Associations and is therefore broadly based on the input from across many process industries in Europe. These industries represent about 20% of Europe’s production and provide 6.8 million jobs. It also focusses on the complete value chain from (bio-based) raw materials through processes, end products and recycling. If ultimately successful, this PPP can be a very significant platform for driving innovation in the chemical and other process industries so we continue to gather support from the European Commission, the European Parliament and national institutions.

SusChem News: What other areas will SusChem be active in?

KS: In addition to the focus on our four innovation initiatives we will continue to facilitate the chemical community’s input to FP7 during 2012. Our brokerage events during 2011 proved to be more popular than ever and showed the relevance of the calls to our stakeholders. We anticipate that our events in 2012 will prove to be as popular and useful.

2012 is International Year of Sustainable Energy for All and European Year of Water and SusChem will be contributing to activities in these two areas during the year. Both are highly relevant to our innovation activities.

A major activity will be our 10th Stakeholder event that takes place in April in Brussels. Its theme will be ‘Partnering for Sustainable Innovation through Chemistry’ and will emphasize SusChem’s collaborative innovation initiatives and bring stakeholders up to date on progress with our programmes.

SusChem News: Are there new SusChem communication initiatives?

KS: We will launch a new SusChem website in February with enhanced functionality and systems in place to ensure that it is always up to date. It is important that news about and from SusChem is available to all interested parties and delivered in a timely manner, therefore we will also be publishing regular SusChem e-newsletters. The SusChem News blog and twitter feeds will remain important parts of our news dissemination and we aim to develop further new tools during 2012.

A significant priority for the SusChem board is to enhance our communications with our stakeholders and the rest of the world. SusChem has been working very hard during the International Year of Chemistry 2011 and it is vitally important that all our stakeholders know what is happening – this is especially important at Member State level.

I believe that our efforts to date and through 2012 will be critical not only to the future well-being of the chemical and industrial biotechnology communities in Europe, but also for the quality of life for all citizens. It is important that chemistry makes its case clearly and coherently – emphasizing the benefits that chemistry brings to everyone’s daily lives and how we can provide solutions for current societal problems.

SusChem News: How would you summarize your main message for 2012?

KS: Europe needs to be more innovative to regain competitiveness and rise to the grand challenges facing society. Sustainable chemistry – SusChem thinking - is a critical element in ensuring that we can achieve these objectives. The important transition for 2012 is to make sure that SusChem thinking becomes SusChem doing – to translate our thoughts into large-scale concrete actions that can make a real difference. To do this requires wide-scale cooperation and participation. We all have a part to play to create this success and I look forward to working with SusChem stakeholders to shape and implement our initiatives.