SusChem at Ecochem

The Ecochem Exhibition and Conference on Smart and Sustainable Chemistry and Engineering taking place on 19 – 21 November in Basel, Switzerland will feature an all-day SusChem session. In addition the various conference streams will include presentations from many SusChem personalities.

The SusChem technical session will take place on the first day of Ecochem (Tuesday 19 November) after a plenary opening session by Hubert Mandery, Director-General of Cefic.

SusChem coordinator Jacques Komornicki will open the special day-long session that will include contributions on the two SusChem inspired public private partnership initiatives SPIRE (from Pádraig Naughton of Cefic) and BRIDGE (from Ulrich Kettling of Clariant).

Many other streams across the three-day event will be of interest to SusChem stakeholders including sessions on ‘bio-based chemicals’, ‘clean synthesis and process intensification’, ‘industrial biotechnology’, ‘opportunities and challenges in sustainable chemistry’ and ‘financing sustainable chemistry’ amongst many others.

Eight streams
In total eight session streams are available during each day of Ecochem of which five (including the SusChem session) are free to register for. The other three streams comprise a comprehensive Strategy Summit on Sustainable Chemistry and Engineering that requires separate registration.

For more details on Ecochem visit the event website or download the Event brochure. Details on registration for the event can be found here.

CRM_InnoNet August Newsletter Published

The recently launched SusChem-supported CriticalRaw Materials Innovation Network (CRM_InnoNet) FP7 project, has just published its latest newsletter. The project aims to support Europe’s strategic objective to ensure the availability and supply of critical raw materials needed to secure the competitiveness of European industries. The project partners hope to achieve this by driving innovation and influencing policy in the field of substitution of critical raw materials. 

This third issue of the newsletter details CRM_InnoNet’s upcoming workshop on 16^th of September 2013 in Warsaw, Poland. The workshop has three main objectives. The first is to present a value chain analysis for three key sectors (Energy, ICT and Electronics and Transport) in order to identify CRM-related bottlenecks. Second, to validate the analysis and identify next steps and lastly, to map potential technologies which may act as substitutes.

This issue also features CRM_InnoNet’s partner TUDelft and covers their research achievements and an article on how the substitution community should be preparing for Horizon2020. To read these articles and more read the newsletter.

To learn more about the project, 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.

MatVal Website is Online

Today the website of the FP7 Project “Alliance for Materials – A value chain approach to materials research and innovation” - MatVal for short - has gone online. The website is the roof of the Alliance for Materials “common house” where to bring together all the players of the Material community in Europe. It is the portal that can contribute to answer questions on materials in Europe as well as about the scope and goals of the MatVal projects.

The new website features relevant content on new EU policies on materials, on the ideas of innovation and value-chain are how deeply interconnected they are. The interactive design of the website will enable you to easily learn more: What are the priorities in the sector in the new EU Research and Innovation framework, Horizon 2020? What programs have been developed to tackle the challenges of new and innovative materials? All these and other queries are answered on the website.

On top of all these idea, the website explores the application of some of these key concepts in different fields: you can read about examples of good practices in the materials communities dedicated to energy and construction. More dossiers will come along.  

The MatVal website is also a portal for new initiatives! Have a look at the News on upcoming events and initiatives. And if you really want to delve in some issues or events, you can check the Focus On: where you can find extensive description of the most important initiatives, events and activities.

What is MatVal?

Materials research & development is a technology area that affects almost every industrial sector. The achievement of effective coordination between different sectors, while maintaining their relative autonomy, interests and strategies is an essential condition to achieve the best and most effective use of community resources.

Guided by this principle in 2010 a group of European Technology Platforms with strong materials agendas (EuMaT, Textiles and Clothing, SusChem, Manufuture, Steel Technology and Sustainable Mineral Resources) came together to create Alliance for Materials (A4M).

A4M intends to enter into its full implementation phase by creating the conditions for a significant enlargement of the network. Its goal is to include the other sector-oriented European Technology Platforms who are active along different value chains, while in parallel bringing together other relevant players in the European Materials Community to achieve a real integration of voices and visions.

To reach its goal, A4m has started the MatVal project. MatVal is part of the European Commission FP7projects. It targets materials innovation implementation through value chain collaboration and sharing ideas/visions from the European materials community.

The project brings together all key European Technology Platforms, including SusChem, involved in materials research and innovation as well as other key materials organisations representing research societies and networks of excellence. The project is also supported by more than 20 external partners with prominent reputations in materials.

SusChem: An ETP2020 for Innovation and Growth in Europe

SusChem, the European Technology Platform for Sustainable Chemistry, has released a new video describing its new role as an 'ETP2020'. The announcement of SusChem's achievement of ETP2020 status was made on 12 July 2013 and coincided with the publication of a European Commission document on a 'Strategy for European Technology Platforms: ETP 2020'.

ETP2020 organisations will be a valuable tool for Horizon 2020 and the ETP 2020 strategy seeks to maximise the impact of European Technology Platforms (ETPs), such as SusChem, on Europe’s competitiveness and sustainability.

The new SusChem video (below) features contributions from SusChem Chairman Dr Klaus Sommer, Waldemar Kutt from the cabinet of European Commissioner for Research and Innovation Maire Geoghegan-Quinn, and Fernando Moreno, CEO of Solutex and SusChem board member.

The video 'SusChem: An ETP2020 to Promote Innovation and Growth in Europe' describes the important role of Technology Platforms in EU research and innovation strategy and the specific objectives that SusChem has in areas such as resource efficiency, water, critical raw materials, smart cities, key enabling technologies, and education and skills.

The video concludes with discussion of the scale of the opportunity for SusChem to contribute to EU growth and jobs and the added value that SusChem brings to EU and transnational innovation initiatives. Enjoy!



More information
For more information on SusChem activities and how you can participate visit the SusChem website or contact the SusChem secretariat.

CAPITA First Call for Proposals Has Been Launched

CAPITA, a new FP7 ERA-Net project that aims to improve transnational cooperation in applied research in innovative manufacturing, has launched its first call for proposals.

The aim of this call is to fund innovative transnational R&D projects related to Applied Catalysis and Catalytic Reaction Engineering within its thematic priority.The call, titled “Innovative catalysis for the monetization of low value carbon", will be open to any contribution that can bring added value in the fields of:

• Improved use of light alkanes
• Efficiency of CO2 in processes
• Efficient catalytic conversion of biomass into biofuels, platform molecules and fine chemicals
• Sustainable chemical processes.

The call is open to any project which achieves results by relying on the following methodologies:

• Thermal catalytic reactions
• Electro-catalytic reactions
• Photochemical reactions
• Photo-electrochemical reactions

The project deadline to submit an application is the 2nd September 2013.

What is CAPITA?

The FP7 ERA-Net project CAPITA consists currently of programme owners and managers from (regional) ministries, funding agencies and research councils from six European countries. They aim to form an ERA-Net that will help  improve the cooperation and coordination of research activities carried out at national or regional level through:

• the networking of research activities conducted at national or regional level, and
• the mutual opening of national and regional research programmes.

CAPITA’s aim is to establish enduring transnational cooperation in applied research leading to innovative and exploitable manufacturing technology for chemicals, materials, and energy.

By working closely with SusChem and other European Technology Platforms, the new ERA-Net will play a major role in delivering strategic research plans. Collaboration between academia, industry, research organisations and government will be built into its every aspect.