Agrobiobase: the bioproducts database and more

The Agrobiobase website, developed by the IAR Cluster, is a major promotion tool for biobased products. Its main feature is the Agrobiobase database that covers both biobased chemicals and biomaterials from raw materials to finished products. But the site has a wealth of other valuable information for anyone interested in the biobased market. The site is available in both French and English. The Agrobiobase database itself covers over 250 bioproducts and is accessible for free.

Biobased products and materials registered in Agrobiobase are displayed with the producer’s details and detailed specifications of the products, including their environmental advantages.

The database can be accessed via searches of its Biobased Chemicals Database (covering chemical intermediates, additives, lubricants, solvents, surfactants etc.) or the Biobased Materials Database (including plastics, fibres, composites etc). In both cases users can find information including suppliers, a specific bioproduct, technical information (e.g. plant origin, environmental impact), and relevant articles and studies.

Agrobiobase helps provide better understanding of plant material potential and its practical industrial aspects. The database helps to identify better technical solutions and promotes networking between organisations currently involved in the biobased market and those considering entry.

Companies with products registered in the Agrobiobase have found the database is a unique showcase where they can promote their products and win over new clients.

Bio-tool
As well as being a bioproduct database, Agrobiobase also offers industrial players a valuable source of other information. The website helps business people to facilitate sourcing of biobased products and to obtain key data such as the percentage of biobased material in a product, technical information sheets, and environmental impact etc..

For example the website gives access to two sets of data sheets on bio-products:

• PRIV data sheets, giving an update on plant chemistry and non-food applications including regulatory context and detailed formulation and raw material aspects.
• VegeReach data sheets, presenting plant alternatives to substances of concern, as listed by REACH regulations. The sheets describe the main components for each use and market, backed up by economic data.

The Agrobiobase is also a rich source for the latest strategic news and special features to keep you up to date on the dynamic world of bioproducts.

IAR Cluster
The IAR Cluster brings together over 220 member organisations involved in developing biobased products and technology from plant production. The IAR Cluster is supported by the French government and two regions: Champagne-Ardenne and Picardie. These two regions are areas where agricultural and industrial interests are closely intertwined giving a boost to competitiveness for both sectors. For more information on Agrobiobase email the IAR Agrobiobase team direct.

SusChem Brokerage: IPR ticket to Innovation

As well as the usual networking, presentations on project concepts and expressions of interest a significant highlight of the 2012 SusChem Brokerage event will be a session on ‘IPR Management in EU projects’ by Sabine Albrecht and Jörg Scherer from the European IPR helpdesk.

The IPR Helpdesk believes that knowing how to manage intellectual property (IP) and Intellectual Property Rights (IPR) is the ticket to improved innovation and competitiveness in Europe. The Helpdesk offers free, fronline support on IPR issues to participants in EU-funded research projects and EU SMEs involved in transnational partnership agreements.

At the brokerage event that takes place at the Sheraton Hotel, Place Rogier in Brussels on 18 September, Sabine and Jörg will outline the sorts of IPR issues that EU projects participants need to be aware off and to consider their consortia agreements and they will describe the services that the IPR Helpdesk can offer. And they will be available to answer your questions throughout the day.

Who will be there?
Registrations are growing fast for the brokerage event. Amongst the organisations already registered are numerous universities and RTOs including the Dutch Polymer Institute, Fraunhofer Institute, Tecnalia, TNO, and VITO; and major companies such as BASF, DSM, INEOS, P&G, Rhodia and Solvay.

And don’t forget this year’s brokerage event also sees the participation of a portfolio of partner technology platforms EUMAT, MANUFUTURE, WssTP and ESTEP, and the European Engineering Industries Association (EU-nited).

Clearly the SusChem Brokerage Event is the place to be on 18 September! Register today!

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!

Help shape the Water EIP - ChemWater Three - 5 September

The SusChem FP7 project ChemWater will be holding its third workshop next week (5 September) in Brussels. Please note the meeting venue will now be the Brussels offices of Spanish Science and Technology organisation SOST (Española de Ciencia y Tecnología) at Rue du Trone 62. The workshop will further develop the vision for what a water sustainable process industry should look like by 2050 and identify the necessary tools and methodologies needed to realise that vision.

The workshop will focus on those processes, materials and technologies needed to reach the vision that were defined in the previous two ChemWater workshops. Active discussions on allocation of skills, competencies, coordination and funding needed to reach the vision will be discussed focusing on the following topics:

• Chemical process engineering, reaction and process design
• Emerging water treatment technologies
• Identification and development of (nano) materials

The output of the ChemWater project will be directly linked to the forthcoming European Innovation Partnership (EIP) on Water, and will provide information to set the priorities for research and innovation in the Strategic Implementation Plan of the EIP and therefore the reference for future calls. The aim of the EIP on Water is to position Europe as the world leader in sustainable water management by boosting innovation.

Participation in the workshop is your chance to bring forward your ideas for research and innovation programmes in this important strategic area and give direction to a roadmap on sustainable water use.

More information

The programme for the meeting is available on the ChemWater website.

Please feel free to forward details of the workshop to colleagues who may be interested in the event. If you need more information on the workshop, please contact either Nienke Koeman or Albert Jansen at organisers TNO.

To register for the workshop please send an email to Inge Huiskes with your name and affiliation (as you would like it printed on a name badge) as soon as possible. Participation in the workshop is free of charge.

Register now for SusChem Brokerage Event

Don't forget to register for the next SusChem Brokerage event taking place on 18 September 2012 in Brussels. The 2011 event saw a record attendance (see below) and the 2012 event promises to be even more popular with the participation of a number of other technology platforms and organisations. Places are already going fast!

The 2012 SusChem Brokerage event will cover the final calls under the European Commission FP7 programe and underlines SusChem's continuing support for European Commission projects on sustainable chemistry.

The event will take place at the Sheraton Hotel on Place Rogier in Brussels on 18 September 2012 and you can register here. Registration is open until September 11. The provisional programme for the event can be found here.

This year's event will also engage with a number of SusChem value chain partners including the technology platforms EUMAT, MANUFUTURE, WssTP and ESTEP, and the European Engineering Industries Association (EU-nited). In addition Stefanie Mielke from the European IPR helpdesk will present on IPR management in EU projects.

The SusChem Brokerage event is the ideal venue to present your research ideas on SusChem relevant FP7 calls, network with potential partners or launch an expression of interest (EOI). 'Speed dating' sessions will be part of the event programme.

If you want to present your own EOI or project idea at the Brokerage event then please fill in the EOI template or project idea template and send them to Frederik Vandecasteele at PNO before September 11.

Start with Database
To get ready for the brokerage event and the 2013 calls visit and join the SusChem Brokerage database. There you can find out about calls, upload your profile and project details.

The SusChem Brokerage Database provides SusChem stakeholders with the opportunity to present research project ideas relating to SusChem relevant calls in the European Commission’s Research and Innovation Framework Programmes and other similar initiatives. The Brokerage Network facilitates the creation of collaborative partnerships between stakeholders to respond to relevant calls.

SusChem members can join the Brokerage Network by requesting access to the Brokerage Database through the my accesses menu. If you would like to join the Brokerage Network and you are not a SusChem member yet, you must first register here. The process is simple and free.

If you would like to have more information on the Brokerage Database and Network, please do not hesitate to contact SusChem. Or consult our Brokerage Database micro manual!

See you there!

Get involved with the SPIRE Roadmap Consultation!

The European Process Industry, through its newly-created Association SPIRE (A.SPIRE), has launched a public consultation on the strategic multi-annual research and innovation roadmap developed for the proposed SPIRE Public-Private Partnership (PPP). SusChem is a major supporter and contributor to the SPIRE initiative.

This public consultation is a unique opportunity for all interested parties to have their say on this initial 92 page, cross-sectorial research and innovation roadmap. The document provides the pathway for Europe to decouple resource consumption from human well-being and achieve increased competitiveness in the European process industry. The consultation process will run until 1 October 2012.

The consultation survey must be undertaken online but a pdf preview of the questions can be downloaded here.

The consultation on the proposed SPIRE PPP is also accessible via the European Commission’s Industrial Technologies webpage on Public Private Partnerships in Research together with other open consultations on current PPPs Factories of the Future and Energy-efficient Buildings.

What is SPIRE about?
The realisation of SPIRE is essential in order to rejuvenate the European process industry and to ensure that economic growth is decoupled from resource impact – a key factor to enable sustainable economic growth.

The sectors, including the chemical industry, united in the SPIRE initiative represent a major part of the manufacturing base in the European Union involving more than 450,000 individual enterprises with over 6.8 million employees and generating more than €1.6 trillion annual turnover.

The cross-sectorial research and innovation roadmap produced by SPIRE provides the pathway for the European Process Industry to decouple resource consumption from human wellbeing and achieve increased competitiveness in the Europe. The roadmap is the result of an extensive process of collecting input from the eight process industry sectors actively participating in SPIRE, in consultation with other sectors such as glass, paper and pulp, and the European Commission through a provisional Ad hoc Industrial Advisory Group (AIAG).

The roadmap represents the collaborative efforts of public research and technology organisations and academia as well as industry stakeholders throughout Europe, along and across the value chain.

The SPIRE research and innovation roadmap was developed with two key resource and energy efficiency targets in mind and a time horizon of 2030:

• A reduction in fossil energy intensity of up to 30% from current levels by 2030 through a combination of, for example, cogeneration-heat-power, process intensification, introduction of novel energy-saving processes, energy recovery, and progressive introduction of alternative (renewable) energy sources within the process cycle, and
• Upto 20% reduction in non-renewable, primary raw material intensity compared to current levels, by increasing chemical and physical transformation yields and/ or using secondary (through optimised recycling processes) and renewable raw materials.

For both targets a full life cycle cost analysis is required to consider all effects along the value chain and to prove the sustainability advantage. In addition both targets will make a significant contribution to the political and societal objectives of drastic efficiency improvement in CO2-equivalent footprints of up to 40% by 2030.

Key components, key actions
SPIRE will implement its research and innovation roadmap through six Key Components that are at the core for a resource and energy efficient process industry:

1. Feed: Increased energy and resource efficiency through better preparation and product mix of raw materials, higher levels of alternative and renewable feedstock (including waste and waste water), as well as better managing increased quality variations in material resources.
2. Process: Solutions for more efficient processing and energy systems for the process industry, including industrial symbiosis.
3. Applications: New processes to produce materials for market applications that boost energy and resource efficiency up and down the value chain.
4. Waste2Resource: Valorisation and re-use of waste streams within and across sectors, including recycling of post-consumer waste streams and new business models for eco-innovation.
5. Horizontal: underpinning the accelerated deployment of the R&D&I opportunities identified within SPIRE through sustainability evaluation tools and skills and education programmes as well as enhance the sharing of knowledge and best practices.
6. Outreach: Reach out to the process industry, policy makers and citizens to support the realisation of impact through awareness, stimulating societal responsible behaviour.

Key Actions have been developed for each Key Component, enabling an ambitious, realistic and measurable agenda driven approach towards fulfilling the SPIRE objectives and consequently achieving impact overcoming technological and non-technological barriers.

The SPIRE roadmap will be updated through an open and consultative process during the lifetime of the PPP to reflect progress as well as possible changes in priorities. You can take part in the initial public consultation by clicking the survey button below.

Investment Forum for Biotech Enterprise at BioSpain 2012

The SusChem supported European project BIOCHEM will be at BioSpain 2012 in Bilbao on 19 to 21 September to hold an industrial biotechnology investment forum. This is the first time BIOSPAIN has organised such a forum, which has the objective of presenting start-up projects or SMEs in an initial development phase, or having high potential, to an audience of international investors and financiers who are specialised in the bio-based market segment.

Participation in the investment forum at BioSpain 2012 is free and will allow entrepreneurs to present their projects to an international panel of expert investors and industrial representatives who will be able to asses and evaluate their ideas, increasing the chances of finding the right investor and partners. You only need to complete a short profile of your company to participate. The registration and profile form can be found here.

BIOCHEM uses the term “Accelerator Fora” for these events that are targeted at biotechnological SMEs, researchers and entrepreneurs. As part of Accelerator Fora activities a Business Plan Competition, technological transfer sessions and bilateral meetings with International representatives will also take place. for more information, please visit the BIOCHEM page on the BioSpain 2012 website.

Support to Entrepreneurs
BIOCHEM is a European Project that offers a unique promotion and financing opportunity to entrepreneurs and researchers who plan to start a business in the biological product sector. This is enabled via ‘Accelerator Fora’ events that bring together potential partners from industry, academia, venture capital and laboratory facilities throughout Europe.

BIOCHEM was launched in February 2010. It is a European initiative with the participation of 16 partners, two of which are Spanish: Feique and Madrid Network‐Biocluster. The project is co‐financed by the European Commission’s INNOVA programme to support companies who wish to access the growing biotechnological based chemicals product market. For more information visit the BIOCHEM website or to register with the BIOCHEM collaboration platform visit the dedicated site.