Smart Cities need Smart Chemistry

The European Commission’s High Level Group for Smart Cities and Communities (HLG) has convened for the first time on 14 May in Brussels. The chemical industry was represented on this important policy group by Giorgio Squinzi, CEO of Maipei and recent past president of Cefic. Chemistry-based products and services are key enablers for improving energy efficiency in the urban environment and addressing other Smart Cities issues. SusChem is working hard to maximize chemical innovation in this area and has just published a new report outlining where chemistry can make an immediate impact.

About three-quarters of the EU’s citizens live in or around cities and the trend is for increasing urbanization. Cities are therefore crucial for the social, economic and entrepreneurial development of the EU. From an energy perspective urban areas consume 70% of energy output and account for 75% of the EU's total greenhouse gas emissions.

Policy issues in urban areas represent a microcosm of the general issues facing society, but intensified and accelerated. These issues include reducing energy consumption, encouraging greater use of renewable energy sources, adaptations of transport and other infrastructure such as ICT to meet changing needs whilst improving mobility of the population, amongst other objectives on health and education. And this must be achieved at competitive cost and in an environmentally sustainable manner.

To achieve true ‘smart living’ in the future will require major joint public and private efforts to tackle the significant technical and societal issues. To help address these issues a Smart Cities and Communities European Innovation Partnership (EIP) has been proposed by the European Commission. The initiative is supported by a Smart Cities Stakeholder platform. Cefic will be participating in the Smart Cities Stakeholder Platform Annual Conference that takes place in Budapest on 5 and 6 June.

Truly smart and innovative cities will need to make the best use of Europe's great capacity for research and innovation to improve the urban environment. The HLG consists of a selected group of senior CEOs, mayors and finance experts (see photo below). Their role is to formulate a technological transformation agenda that can be implemented via the new EIP during Horizon 2020. And chemistry has a key role to play.

What are ‘Smart Cities’?
Smart cities go beyond the EU’s “20-20-20” objectives (20% reduction in CO2 emissions, a 20% share of energy from low carbon sources and a 20% reduction in the use of primary energy through energy efficiency measures) for the deployment of cost-effective low carbon technologies with a particular focus on energy, ICT and transport sectors.

Many cities across Europe are already committed to building tomorrow’s cities today - in particular those involved with the Covenant of Mayors organisation to which Cefic and SusChem are affiliated . This group of city authorities is developing a sustainable development framework that will allow them to voluntarily go beyond the 2020 targets.

Chemical innovation
The role of chemical innovation in realizing Smart Cities challenges may not be well recognized but it is a key innovation area. This is highlighted in a new SusChem report: ‘Innovative Chemistry for Energy Efficiency of Buildings in Smart Cities’.

SusChem’s wide stakeholder representation from the chemical sector and associated value chains make it well placed to identify currently available chemistry-enabled products that can make an immediate impact on energy efficiency – in particular in terms of refurbishing the current building stock – at an affordable cost.

The report analyses the nature of Europe’s building stock – comprising some 1.6 million structures in the EU-27 – and concludes that substantial gains in energy efficiency can be gained through refurbishment solutions.

The report highlights five solutions that together represent a Key Innovation area for Smart Cities and Communities:

• Reflective Indoor Coatings to reduce energy for lighting 
• High Reflectance and durable outdoor coatings to reduce air conditioning costs 
• Phase Change Materials (PCM) for temperature control
• New Insulation foams for significant heating savings
• Other insulation modules such as Vacuum Insulation

All these solutions are assessed for technical feasibility and impact. What is required to deploy the solutions, the infrastructure required and possible interfaces with other Smart Cities technologies are considered. Financial requirements and possible funding sources are also discussed.

SusChem has a substantial track record with ‘smart living’ projects that connect research and industrial groups along relevant value chains. These include its Smart Energy Home initiative, the Energy Efficient Buildings PPP and the Building UP FP7 project. Chemical research and innovation are essential to achieving smart living and smart cities will benefit from the early and in-depth involvement of the chemicals sector.

For more information on SusChem activities in support of the Smart Cities and Communities initiative, or to discuss potential collaborations in this area, please contact SusChem Coordinator Jacques Komornicki at Cefic. The new SusChem report can be downloaded here.

SusChem Stakeholder 2013 to be bigger than ever!

With registration closed and less than one week to go to the 2013 SusChem Stakeholder event it looks like once again the annual SusChem meeting will be the biggest and best yet! With over 190 delegates set to attend, it is important that those that have registered make the most of the two-day event on 14 and 15 May at the Hotel Sofitel Europe.

The Stakeholder event itself will kick off at from 12:00 on 14 May with high level speakers from SusChem, the European Commission, the European Council and European Parliament debating the role of SusChem and European Technology Platforms in Horizon 2020, innovation and the new EU Industrial Policy, improving competitiveness and much, much more. The first day concludes with a networking cocktail.

SusChem News editor Tim Reynolds will be facilitating a panel debate on day one on aspects of the innovation 'valley of death'.

The second day includes parallel sessions on the European Innovation Partnerships (Water Efficiency, Raw Materials, Energy materials and Smart Cities) and the two Public-Private-Partnerships (SPIRE and BRIDGE 2020) that SusChem is involved with. Delegates will also be updated on progress in the SusChem ‘Educate to Innovate’ initiative.

For more details about our speakers see the event programme.

If you are registered for the event but have not yet selected your preferences for the parallel sessions on day two, please contact Rebecca Hilltout in the SusChem secretariat as soon as possible.

Live Blog and Twitter coverage
Both days of the event will be covered live on Twitter and on the SusChem newsblog. Both these SusChem social media tools will allow all stakeholders, both at the event and those unable to attend, to follow and comment on the topics covered at the Stakeholder Event.

To access the live coverage keep an eye on the SusChem newsblog during the event and on Twitter follow our tweets at @suschem. If you want to make a specific comment on the 2013 SusChem Stakeholder event, please tweet with the hashtag #suschem2013.

Flexible future
The theme of the main SusChem event is ‘Essential elements for EU Growth and Jobs: Innovative Materials and Processes’ and the meeting will primarily address the benefits of innovation partnerships and joint public-private initiatives to boost EU growth and improve competitiveness and how SusChem and sustainable chemistry will play a role in this.

Just prior to the main SusChem event (14 May) a separate session on the SusChem-inspired F³ Factory modular manufacturing platform and FP7 project will be held. This €30 million collaborative research project worked to strengthen the European chemical industry’s global technological leadership through faster, more flexible production methods. It is one of the leading projects in the Nanotechnologies, Materials and Production research priority of the European Community’s FP7 research programme.

The  F³ Factory project is a excellent example of collaborative research in Europe and a springboard for significant innovation in the process industries. Within the project 26 partners worked together across company and national borders shaping a modular, container-based manufacturing platform. The F³ Factory session will run from 9:30 to 12:00 on 14 May.

See you there!
The SusChem team is looking forward to welcoming you to the 11^th Stakeholder Event on May 14 and 15 in Brussels! For more information on any aspect of the event, please contact the SusChem Secretariat. See you there!

CRM_InnoNet Newsletter published

The recently launched SusChem-supported Critical Raw Materials Innovation Network (CRM_InnoNet) FP7 project, has just published its latest newsletter. The project aims to support Europe’s strategic objective to ensure security of supply for the vast range of critical raw materials required by European industries. Its partners aim to achieve this by aligning research, development and innovation efforts towards substitution of critical raw materials that will secure existing value chains and lead to new applications and markets.

A main feature of the newsletter is a report on the formal launch of the Innovation Network at a workshop on April 15 in Brussels. This event brought together relevant actors from various parts of the value chain to establish an open, fruitful and enduring dialogue. The greatest challenge for Europe was identified right from the beginning of the workshop: The demand for materials is so intense that 20- 30% of the resources we use in Europe are now imported.

Key note speaker Renzo Tomellini, Head of Unit for Materials in DG Research & Innovation, drew attention to the fact that we are living ahead of our possibilities: “We need to redefine the parameters of our industrial economy and be more intelligent in the use and management of raw materials”.

Claire Claessen, CRM_InnoNet project coordinator, acknowledged that, in order to overcome Europe’s dependency on import of critical raw materials, “a multi-faceted approach is required, including increased resource extraction where appropriate, recycling, reusing, reducing the amount of material used and replacement or substitution”.

Sector specific
During the workshop interactive sector-specific sessions in the areas of Electronics and ICT, Energy, Transport and Cross-cutting initiatives were organized. The participants supported unanimously the need for establishing an Innovation Network in the field of substitution of Critical Raw Materials.

The Innovation Network will have four main objectives:

• to catalyse the European innovation community in the area of substitution and create synergies
• share information
• promote best practices 
• identify innovation pathways

A second Workshop for the Innovation Network is planned for May 2014, where the Innovation Network will have the opportunity to review the progress of the work and provide further input.

To register your interest to the Innovation Network, please visit the project website and for more information about the project, contact Antonia Morales Perez at Cefic. You can also contact the network by email and follow the project on Twitter via @CRM_InnNet.

RSC evening lecture
Critical raw materials will be featured at the SusChem Stakeholder meeting on May 14 and 15 with a dedicated workshop session on the second day.

Also on the evening of May 15 the Belgium section of the Royal Society of Chemistry (RSC) will be hosting Dr Mike Pitts of the UK’s  Technology Strategy Board (TSB) for a public evening lecture on Critical Raw Materials at the British School of Brussels. For more information on this event contact RSC Belgium secretary Tim Reynolds.

BIO-TIC launches Partnering Platform

The BIO-TIC FP7 project has launched its own partnering platform. BIO-TIC is the largest network dedicated to industrial biotechnology and the bioeconomy. The BIO-TIC partnering platform forms an integral part of this important EU-funded project that can help you build and enlarge your personal network of contacts within the European bioeconomy scene.

The BIO-TIC partnering platform gives you the opportunity to join the largest international community of bio-based industry experts.

By joining the platform you will get comprehensive information on several thousand organisations in the European bioeconomy, details on experts and their fields of expertise, current funding programmes and projects, new offers , requests, products and services, relevant events in the bioeconomy sector, bioeconomy job opportunities and much, much more.

You can also make use of the BIO-TIC platform to present your expertise to the international bioeconomy community, promote your products, services, offers and requests to their best advantage, publish a comprehensive and attractive presentation of your organisation and take part in the discussions and consultations within BIO-TIC that are leading to the development of an action plan for industrial biotechnology in Europe.

Networking +
Above all, through joining the BIO-TIC partnering platform, you can build up and maintain your own personal network of experts. With the platform’s user-friendly search engine you can quickly and simply identify potential business and cooperation partners and the platform has a variety of diverse features for establishing contacts, such as personal networks and bookmarks, that you can set to your personal preference.

Other features allow users to display of lists of participants (consisting of other BIO-TIC users) who are going to attend events that you also plan to attend and the “Meet me at” function enables you to selectively invite BIO-TIC users to meetings at events you are attending.

The earlier you start your BIO-TIC activities online, the earlier you will benefit from potential cooperation and business partners and the sooner you can be contacted by other BIO-TIC users.

So register now - both registration and use of the BIO-TIC partnering platform is completely free!

If you have any questions about the platform, please visit the BIO-TIC website or contact Dr. Andreas Scriba.

About BIO-TIC
The Industrial Biotech Research and Innovation Platforms Centre – towards Technological Innovation and solid foundations for a growing industrial biotech sector in Europe’ project (BIO-TIC) was launched in September 2012 and is a three-year project offering “a solutions approach” centred on a solid road mapping exercise that will involve a broad stakeholder base from industry, knowledge organisations, governments and civil society. Three intermediary roadmaps will focus on market assessments and projections, research and innovation as well as non-technological barriers such as feedstock.

A series of stakeholder workshops will take place at national and European level to reach a comprehensive view on solutions BIO-TIC can offer to accelerate market uptake of industrial biotechnology. The project has already identified five biobased product groups that could boost European competitiveness.

The final aim of the project will be to draw up a blueprint document with a comprehensive set of policy recommendations for overcoming the identified innovation hurdles within a selection of European business and societal opportunities.

You can find out more about the project at the BIO-TIC website and there is an active BIO-TIC Linked-In group that is open to anyone interested in the transformative potential of industrial biotechnology.

The project is coordinated by EuropaBio. More information can be found on the BIO-TIC website or by contacting Antoine Peeters, BIO-TIC Project Manager at EuropaBio.

E4Water Newsletter out!

To celebrate its initial year of work SusChem supported FP7 project E4Water has just published its first newsletter. The publication describes progress in the project’s quest to improve water management in the European chemical industry by making it economically and ecologically more efficient.

The newsletter reports on the work done during the first twelve months of the project and gives an overview of E4Water’s main objectives.

E4Water is a very applied project that gets strong input from both industry and research organisations to provide solutions for a more “eco-efficient” approach to industrial water management. This and subsequent editions of the E4Water newsletter will feature the E4Water cases studies that are at the heart of the project and highlight best practise.

Case studies
In this first newsletter two case studies are presented: the Dow case in Terneuzen, Netherlands, and the Solvic case in Antwerp, Belgium. These cases give a good insight on how strongly the partners in E4Water work together.

The Dow Case involves a large-scale symbiotic reuse concept: mild desalination of water streams for optimum reuse in industry or agriculture at affordable costs at the Dow Benelux Terneuzen site.

The Solvic Case – described as an ‘industrial experimental garden’ – aims to enhance water reuse by global management and synergy identification on a multi-company site. Here Solvic is looking to enable synergy effects with neighbourhood industries in the Port of Antwerp Chemical Cluster.

The Dow and Solvic NV case studies are two of six case studies that are at the heart of the E4Water project and are the result of an extensive stakeholder dialogue during the preparation of the project to ensure high relevance to the E4Water approach for the chemical industry. The four other case studies involve sites in Spain, France and Denmark plus another Belgian example.

What is E4Water?
The E4Water project is a European Commission-funded FP7 project jointly developed by SusChem and the European Water Platform (WssTP). E4Water was launched in May 2012 and will continue for four years. The project is coordinated by Dechema.

The E4Water project aims to develop, test and validate new integrated approaches, methodologies and process technologies for a more efficient and sustainable management of water in the chemical industry (see schematic below). The results of the project will also be applicable to other industrial sectors.

E4Water unites in its consortium large chemical industries, leading European water sector companies and innovative RTD centres and universities active in the area of water management. E4Water aims to reduce water use by 20-40%, decrease waste water production by 30-70%, and cut energy use by 15-40% in the sector.

You can find out more about the E4Water project on their website. where you can also download the newsletter.

ICIS Innovation Awards 2013

ICIS Chemical Business has recently launched their Innovation Awards for 2013. And SusChem coordinator Dr. Jacques Komornicki will be part of the judging panel this year. The ICIS Innovation Awards were launched in 2004 by European Chemical News and are celebrating their tenth anniversary this year. The awards have grown in popularity with each succeeding year and SusChem has been proud to have contributed to their judging panels on many occasions.

Innovation is a key driver for growth and profitability in the chemical sector. And the ICIS Innovation Awards are designed to recognise the best in chemical innovation.

The awards are open to any chemical company or collaborative effort between industry and academia anywhere in the World. The judging panel will be looking for innovative projects that solve problems or provide solutions for the company or its customers or that demonstrate an innovative approach to business, the environment and sustainability.

"I am really pleased to be part of this year's ICIS Innovation awards judging panel," said Jacques. "And am looking forward to seeing some truly innovative and sustainable entries."

Jacques (pictured left) has extensive experience of both managing international, interdisciplinary research and development projects and translating business goals into R&D objectives and planning. These are skills that will come useful in the judging process.

Jacques joined Cefic as Innovation manager and SusChem coordinator in September 2012 following an industrial career, his last position being Global R&D Director 'Oxygenated Products' at the Arkema Centre de Recherche Rhône-Alpes (CRRA) in Lyon, France.

He has a masters degree in Chemical Engineering from ESPCI Paris Tech and he gained his PhD in Chemistry at the Paris VI University in 1981 with his thesis on the “Application of Micro-Emulsions to Liquid-Liquid Metals Extraction”.

Other members of the 2013 judging panel include Dr Klaas Kruithof director of research, development and innovation at AkzoNobel’s Performance Coating business, Gianni Girotti who heads up R&D at ENI Versalis’s new green chemistry division and Dr. Neil Checker a partner at the Roland Berger consultancy – the overall sponsor of this year’s ICIS Innovation Awards.

How to enter?
Past ICIS awards winners have included the largest multinational and the smallest ‘micro’ SME – but the common denominator for success has always been the quality of the innovation.

This year there are five prize categories to choose from:

• Best Product Innovation
• Best Innovation by a Small or Medium-sized Enterprise (SME)
• Best Business Innovation
• Best Innovation for Sustainability
• Innovation with Best Environmental Benefit

An overall winner will be picked from the winners of the five individual categories. In 2012 the overall winner was Dow Chemical for its INFUSE olefin block copolymers entry and 2011 saw Teijin Group win with its mass production technology for carbon-fibre reinforced composites. Will 2013 be your year for success?

To get involved this year just visit to the ICIS Awards website, select the award category you want to enter, complete the simple online application form, upload any supporting materials and click ‘submit’.

A confirmation of receipt of your entry will be sent to you by email and the closing date for entries is 3 July. A short list of entries will be published on 12 August and the winners revealed on 21 October. Good luck!

For more information about the ICIS Chemical Business Innovation Awards or for specific queries contact John Baker at ICIS.

EFIB evolves for 2013

Now in its sixth year the European Forum for Industrial Biotech (EFIB) has transformed into the premier marketplace for the European biobased economy. Responding to the tremendous success of EFIB 2012 organisers EuropaBio and Smithers Rapra are aiming to deliver the biggest and most ambitious congress in the sector in 2013. And the full event programme published today (30 April) shows that their ambitions are on course for fulfillment.

EFIB 2013 will be held in the prestigious SQUARE conference venue in Brussels on 30 September to 2 October. This year’s event marks the transformation of EFIB from a large conference to a full scale congress. The event will attract over 1,000 professionals working within the dynamic and sustainable biobased industry to meet, debate and shape the future of the sector. EFIB 2013 will build on its growing reputation as the place where business and policy makers meet with an exciting new format.

In this its sixth year, EFIB is expanding its programme to consist of two high-level plenary sessions including senior ministers and commissioners; CEO’s from global biotechnology leaders participating in Question Time; two focused workshops and roundtable discussions. Attendees can customise their experience with themed conference tracks on Innovation, Feedstocks and Finance.

Pre-confernce workshops on 30 September will cover the 'Wood-based bioeconomy' and 'Marine Biotechnology'. A particular highlight on the second day is a session dedicated to the SusChem supported BRIDGE 2020 Public -Private-Partnership proposal.

In addition an exhibition hall with over 50 stands, and featuring a Technology Showcase running over two days, will be visited by delegates from around the globe.

Collaboration and partnership
“Collaboration and partnerships are essential catalysts for enabling biobased industries to deliver on their potential for providing sustainable solutions. EFIB has become the definitive meeting place for establishing and strengthening these links throughout the value chain,” explained Joanna Dupont-Inglis, Industrial Biotechnology Director at Europabio. “The return of EFIB to Brussels represents an excellent opportunity to increase engagement between industry, policy makers and stakeholders. Capturing the momentum generated by this innovative and transformative industry.”

Ciaran Little, Head of Events at Smithers Rapra commented “EFIB 2012 in Dusseldorf set records for both attendance and value to the industry, but the bar is raising with exciting plans to transform EFIB into a major congress.  We are confident we can add value for attendees and sponsors, heightening awareness and exposure for the developments in this dynamic sector.’

One delegate to EFIB 2012 in Dusseldorf described the event as “An excellent opportunity to be informed about the latest technical and business trends.” And EFIB promises to be even bigger and better.

EFIB 2013 will be held at the Square Conference Centre in Brussels

More information
EFIB debuted in Brussels in 2008 and featured an elite group of 100 industry leaders and has grown in every successive year. To be part of EFIB 2013 visit the website and find out more. The full programme for EFIB 2013 is here and registration details can be found here.