Sustainable Chemistry Vital for Raw Material Strategy Success

On 26 September 2013, the High Level Steering Group of the European Innovation Partnership (EIP) on Raw Materials issued its Strategic Implementation Plan (SIP) describing how the European Union can act to ensure a sustainable supply of critical raw materials to Europe and make the EU a world leader in raw materials exploration, extraction, processing, recycling and substitution by 2020. 

From the very beginning, SusChem and Cefic have been closely engaged in the preparation of the EIP and the SIP, and the chemical sector has a clear role to play in ensuring the success of Europe’s Raw Materials strategy.

The SIP outlines detailed actions which the parties involved (EU member states, companies, researchers and NGOs) can use to enable technological and non-technological innovation in the raw materials value chain, both in Europe and in the international arena.

These actions include a wide range of initiatives such as new cost-effective exploration concepts and technologies, better recovery and recycling of demolition waste and finding substitutes for critical raw materials such as the indium used, for example, in touch screen technologies.

European Commission Vice-President Antonio Tajani (left), responsible for Industry and Entrepreneurship, is leader of the High Level Steering Group and commented:

"Innovation in raw materials – be it in mining, processing, recycling, or substitution – holds the key to future growth and jobs. With today's proposal we underline that Europe is capable of addressing these important challenges, drawing on our innovative EU research capabilities, as bolstered by Horizon 2020. This will help our industry both create jobs and protect the environment."


Chemical sector
The Chemical industry welcomes the reference in the SIP to some critical raw material of particular interest for the sector, such as phosphate ore and olefins, which could have significant impact on the economics of competitiveness along the whole value chain.

The chemical sector is one of the identified mega-sectors in the European industrial landscape with a large impact in the value chain. The sector’s competitiveness relies on the availability of competitive raw materials for the production of chemical products that are used later in the production of cars, buildings, packaging materials, electric and electronic equipment, photovoltaic cells, and many others.

“There are a very large number of opportunities for cooperation with other sectors included in the EIP,” says Antonia Morales- Perez (right), Innovation Manager at Cefic and SusChem’s coordinator for raw materials work. “Raw material sectors such as minerals and metals, wood and natural rubber, are where the chemical sector can contribute with new technologies and products to improve the performance of activities such as extraction, processing/refining and recycling while reducing the environmental impact."

The future solutions to the current challenges in this area will clearly come out of collaboration between different sectors using their resources and synergies in the most efficient way.

Substitute
The second technology pillar of the EIP, Substitution of critical and scarce raw materials, opens opportunities for new materials development where, again, the chemical sector can be a key player.

“New materials for applications where the currently used critical raw materials can be substituted will have a double benefit,” explains Antonia. “First substitution will reduce the dependency on critical raw materials for these applications and, in consequence, release availability of the critical raw materials for other applications where substitution is not technically or economically possible.”

The FP7 project CRM-InnoNet (in which Cefic is a partner) will identify and prioritise which are the critical raw materials and the applications that can be more feasibly substituted. The focus for the project is mainly in the Energy, Transport and ICT sectors, but other applications such as catalysis are also being analysed.

“The scope of this project links directly to the second pillar of the EIP,” says Antonia.

The chemical sector also welcomes the SIP objectives to revise selected legislation and policy dialogues, these will help to remove barriers to innovation and support the competitiveness of the European industry.

Cefic has also been invited to participate in the Ad-hoc Group that will be revising the EU’s list of critical raw materials. The new version of the list should be published during the first quarter of 2014.

Get involved
A public Call for Commitments to be issued at the end of October 2013 will allow all potential stakeholders to express their intention to contribute to the implementation of the SIP. A Communication will follow in 2014, to explain how the European Commission, Member States, industry and academia intend to implement the SIP.

SusChem stakeholders that are interested in participating are invited to contact Antonia for more information and to coordinate input to SIP implementation.

Concrete
Concrete targets of the SIP include the launch of up to ten pilot projects to promote technologies for the production of primary and secondary raw materials, to find substitutes for at least three applications of critical and scarce raw materials as well as to create better framework conditions for raw materials in Europe. The SIP also lists actions to improve Europe's waste management framework conditions and excellence, and to reinforce EU knowledge, skills and raw materials flows; by developing an EU Raw Materials Knowledge Base and potentially setting up a European Institute of Innovation and Technology (EIT) Knowledge and Innovation Community (KIC).

It is important that we move from today’s linear economy, where we mine, manufacture, use and throw away, towards a more "circular economy", where one industry's waste becomes another's raw material. The EIP will play an important role in achieving this transition.

SPIRE Brokerage and SusChem Survey

There are only a few places left for the SusChem Pre-Brokerage event taking place on 23 October in Brussels - so register fast to secure your place with SusChem at the Horizon 2020 table! If you are already registered you are invited to take part in a brief survey of research and innovation interests that will inform the meeting. Just prior to the SusChem event SPIRE will also be holding a brokerage event for members of the A.SPIRE consortium.

With registrations close to capacity, the 2013 SusChem Pre-Brokerage Horizon 2020 event already looks like being a great success. And the draft agenda has just been published.

The meeting kicks off from 9:00 at the Crowne Plaza Le Palace, Rue Gineste 3 in Brussels. Jacques Komornicki, SusChem Programme Manager at Cefic, will be the Master of Ceremonies for the day. Delegates will first get to hear the latest SusChem-relevant news on the first Horizon 2020 programme calls from Soren Bowadt of the EuropeanCommission's DG Research and Innovation.

Survey
This will be followed by an overview of the results of SusChem's survey of delegate intentions and areas of interest in Horizon 2020 from Jacques Komornicki.

This survey has just been launched by SusChem and is open to all registered participants for the Brokerage event.The survey, also known as the Expression of Interest Form, will be used to arrange the on-site 'speed dating' between stakeholders with similar interests. The survey should only take delegates around three minutes or less to complete and will help make the most of your Brokerage day. And the sooner participants complete it the better!

You can find the survey form here.

An explanation of the brokerage process and the various activities open to delegates throughout the day will then be given by experts from PNO. From thereon its over to the delegates who will be able to present their project ideas and start the process of finding the right collaborators to form a winning project team for Horizon 2020.

Following a hectic day of brokerage and discovering new ideas and project partners, delegates will end the day with more relaxed networking at the closing early evening cocktail session.

A.SPIRE Cocktail and Brokerage

A.SPIRE - the multi-sector industrial consortium behind the proposed SPIRE (Sustainable Process Industry through Resource and Energy Efficiency) Public-Private-Partnership (PPP) - will also be holding its first preparative event for the first calls of Horizon 2020 the day before the SusChem event. The A.SPIRE first Brokerage Event ‘Preparation for Horizon 2020’ will take place on 22 October also at the Crowne Plaza - Le Palace hotel.

The A.SPIRE Brokerage event will be an unique opportunity for the SPIRE community to learn the latest information about the 2014-2015 Horizon 2020 work programmes and calls to be announced in December or early 2014, to express their research interests and start creating partnerships by discussing potential project ideas.

An overview of the way ahead for SPIRE will be given by SusChem and A.SPIRE Chairman Dr. Klaus Sommer. There will also be presentations and discussions on project concepts related to the SPIRE roadmap in key components: Waste, Feed, Process and Applications.

The Brokerage Event will be opened by a cocktail and a networking event on the evening of 21 October at the Crowne Plaza – Le Palace hotel.

Participation in the A.SPIRE Brokerage Event is limited to the members of the A.SPIRE consortium. New members are welcome to join A.SPIRE at any time. You can find more information on how to get involved with here.

More information
For more information on the SusChem Pre-Brokerage event and our activities around strategic research and innovation in sustainable chemistry for Europe, please contact the SusChem secretariat.

For more information on SPIRE and A.SPIRE activities contact the SPIRE secretariat.

ChemWater: the Final Conference

Water is vital for the sustainability and competitiveness of European industry and the economy at large. The chemical sciences and the chemical industry play a key role in driving future developments in sustainable water management. And the FP7 project ChemWater has spent the past 30 months mapping out what the chemical process industry needs to do to enable sustainable water management across a variety of economic sectors. The project's final conference takes place in Madrid on 1 -2 October.

The final ChemWater project conference will take place in combination with the ChemH2O event - the must-attend event of the year for anyone looking for a refreshing focus on driving innovation in water technologies and a global perspective on sustainable water management. The conference will specifically focus on accelerating and reconciling advances in leading edge knowledge with real applications addressing the current and future challenges.

The ChemWater final conference takes place in the Hotel Tryp Atocha, Madrid, Spain on 1 – 2 October as part of the ANQUE – DECHEMA co-produced conference on ‘Sustainable Water Management: Chemical Industry Setting the Pace.’

The two day event will feature a range of expert speakers from academia and industry covering a wide spectrum of perspectives on innovation in the sector. The conference provides an opportunity for participants to exchange new ideas and information on sustainable water management. Presentations will include new solutions, case studies and specific examples of success stories with a good mix of current state of the art and real cases.

The ChemWater conference includes sessions on:

• Water as resource: market, challenges, opportunities and technological future needs
• Chemistry and Chemical Technology for the municipal water cycle
• Chemistry and Chemical Technology for the industrial water cycle
• New Water Resources: reclamation, Recycling, Reuse and Desalination
• Integral Water Cycle: Emerging Challenges and Future Prospective

There will also be a round table discussion addressing the question: ‘How far we can go with sustainability?’

Indispensable resource
“Addressing water as an indispensable resource for the chemical process industry ensures the competitiveness of the European chemical process industry as a sustainable supply industry,” says Thomas Track of Dechema and project coordinator of ChemWater.

“The chemical process industry, due to its unique role as both a water consumer and a solution provider, acts as pilot sector. ChemWater has developed a long term vision and thematic strategy regarding the technologies and management developments needed to realize an eco-efficient water management in the chemical process industry.”

Details of the vision and strategy developed by ChemWater will be discussed at the conference and a final project brochure will be published soon.

ChemWater
The ChemWater FP7 project involved SusChem, the Water Technology Platform (WssTP) and nine other partners and has focused on new tools and methodologies, the identification of technology gaps and the consideration of the needs of other sectors that are required to reach a water sustainable process industry by 2050.

The objective of the ChemWater project was to build a vision and a roadmap on sustainable water use in the chemical industry that could be applied to other sectors. The developed roadmaps will support identification of technology and knowledge gaps and roadblocks, and will give direction to future challenges and opportunities. The roadmaps will provide a framework for coordination of development of activities across sectors.

ChemWater was launched in the summer of 2011 and is a coordination and support action project under FP7 involving a total of 11 partners. Its essential aim is to link process industry and water industry know-how to develop sustainable water resources.

The 11 international partners were drawn from the scientific, industrial and water utility communities and have developed a long-term strategy for sustainable industrial use of water in close coordination with existing initiatives and projects. A special focus was on the exploitation of the technological potentials in the fields of nanotechnology, materials and process innovation.

Relevant European Technology Platforms active in these sectors were involved to allow the identification of cross-industry synergies, build a roadmap for technologies and process development requirements and construct an action plan. At the same time, concepts for the rapid commercialization of innovations have been formulated.

ChemWater has provided significant support for the European Innovation Partnership (EIP) on Water and also has synergies with the proposed Sustainable Process Industry through Resource and Energy Efficiency (SPIRE) PPP.

Obviously the issue of sustainable water resources is a global issue. And the results of the ChemWater project will be disseminated to a wide range of EU and international networks and cooperation actions across the World.

More information
For more information take a look at the ChemWater website or for more details of the ‘Sustainable Water Management: Chemical Industry Setting the Pace’ conference you can contact the conference secretariat by email.

Chemistry-Enabled Technologies Key to Future Mobility!

The European Union is currently celebrating its 13th European Mobility Week (EMW 2013) from 16 to 22 September. Many cities and towns across the continent have joined the initiative and implemented solutions and good practices that can be shared with other towns.

A typical example is the story of Burgas in Bulgaria. Last February, the city's bus fleet was entirely replaced by 67 new clean vehicles. The city’s efforts are now concentrated in the construction of a new Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) line which should be operational in 2015, creating a North-South bus corridor through the city. The city aims to further promote its investment in sustainable mobility by participating in EMW 2013.

More about this story can be found in a video produced by the Covenant of Mayors an organisation of local and regional authorities dedicated to sustainable development to which SusChem is affiliated.

Clean chemistry
Clean vehicles are based on solutions provided by the chemical industry: they require lightweight materials to contain energy consumption, and specific materials for the smaller batteries and catalysts required to clean up emissions.  Chemistry is the player that can enable more success stories on clean mobility in Europe and ensure clean air becomes a widespread urban reality.

Local authorities can rely on the chemical industry to provide the solutions to ensure that the ambitious EU targets for sustainable mobility are achieved, for example by helping making the vision for mobility of the Smart Cities Platform a reality.

But chemistry does not provide only sustainability and energy efficiency. It is also a force for safer transportation: from defrosting products for aeroplane wings that are essential in harsh weather conditions to resilient material for automotive vehicles, chemistry is at the heart of the processes ensuring safe and sound mobility.


SusChem staff recently followed a debate on Smart Mobility in Cities organized by the European Voice in Brussels. Speakers from the private sector, trade associations, local authorities and the European institutions discussed the most innovative technologies and initiatives for the mobility of tomorrow: from a new approach to parking space to novel hydrogen and electric vehicles.

Chemistry will surely play a part in making their vision and ideas a reality!

If you want more information on what chemistry can offer in terms of innovation in mobility, take a look at the new SusChem flier on mobility!

National Platforms get ready for Horizon 2020

With the SusChem Europe’s forthcoming Brokerage event fast approaching two SusChem National Platforms, in the UK and Spain, are organising events in early October to ensure their industrial and academic stakeholders are ready to get the most out of the new EU Research and Innovation Framework programme when it launches on 1 January 2014.

On 1 October SusChem’s coordinating partner in the UK, Chemistry Innovation, is organising a Horizon 2020 Brokerage event on nanotechnologies, advanced materials, biotechnology and advanced manufacturing and processing (NMBP). Chemistry Innovation is coordinating the event on behalf of the Technology Strategy Board – the UK’s lead Innovation Strategy body - and the UK Government’s Department for Business, Innovation and Skills.

This all day event takes place at the National Composites Centre in Bristol and is free, but places are limited. The main objectives of the event are to:

• Hear first-hand from the European Commission the content and detail of the first NMBP related calls within Horizon 2020
• Formulate partnerships with attendees for proposals that will be submitted to Horizon 2020

In order to encourage the formation of partnerships, attendees will have the opportunity to pre-book 1:1 meetings with attendees in addition to the option of attending parallel workshops in the afternoon.

For more information on this event, please visit the event web page or contact Tracy McCarroll by email.

Spanish preparations

The next day, 2 October, sees SusChem Espana starting its campaign to facilitate the participation of Spanish chemical industry stakeholders in the new Horizon 2020 programme by promoting and stimulating dialogue on innovation and project ideas.

The brokerage event takes place in the ACCIO Building in Barcelona and will be the first step in building highly innovative and competitive projects in cooperation with other stakeholders both within Spain and at European level including via the SusChem Europe brokerage event in Brussels on 23 October.

The active participation of the audience will be encouraged through the presentation of project ideas and through bilateral meetings between potential project partners.

More details (in Spanish) on the Barcelona event can be accessed here and you can download the event programme, which also includes a link to on-line registration.

The event is free if you are presenting a project proposal or if you have attended the preceding seminar on ‘Successful Preparation for Horizon 2020’ that also takes place in Barcelona at the Instituto de Química on 1 October. Otherwise registration costs €90 (VAT inc).

More information on the 1 October seminar on Strategies for Horizon 2020 ‘Cómo prepararse con éxito para el Horizonte 2020?’ can be found here.

Fifth European Innovation Summit to put Innovation at the Heart of Europe

Every year, the Knowledge4Innovation association (K4I) - a group of MEPs who believe that innovation is vital to creating economic growth and jobs in Europe - gather together all the most important players in this area for a three-day event that aims to put innovation at the centre of the political debate. And the sustainable chemical industry as a main driver of innovation across many sectors of the European economy is a keen participant.

This year’s event, the 5th European Innovation Summit, will present how innovation can play a key role in getting Europe out of the current economic crisis. The culmination of the Wake up Europe initiative, the event will focus on the new instruments in the forthcoming financial programme for 2014-2020, particularly on the funds for research and innovation in Horizon 2020. The Innovation Summit will take place from 30 September to 2 October in Brussels.

Chemical innovation
Innovation in the chemical sector can provide sustainable solutions for Europe’s societal challenges. The Smart cities of tomorrow will require new materials for increasing energy efficiency through the insulation of buildings and for new mobility solutions, both in vehicles and in infrastructure. New advanced materials will be required to to build a sustainable future for society. This will include the introduction of new raw materials, like CO2-based or biomass-based feedstock, that will be necessary to keep pace with technological progress and societal needs.

The chemical sector stands side-by-side with K4I in its effort to create more space for innovation and innovation-related policies in Europe.  Present with speakers and participants for many years, this year the chemical sector will be represented by Dr Gernot Klotz (right), Executive Director for Research & Innovation at Cefic and many more. He will be a keynote speaker in a breakfast briefing session on the role of intellectual property protection in benefiting society and competitiveness that takes place on the morning of Tuesday October 1. Dr. Klotz will also participate in the event' closing event on the evening of Wednesday October 2.

Economic debate
The chemical sector will also actively participate in the debates: Loredana Ghinea, Cefic’s Innovation Manager and Executive Director of A.SPIRE, will chair a major debate on the potential impact of Horizon 2020 on the EU’s economy also on Tuesday morning.

In addition Cefic is hosting a lunch debate on Tuesday on the potential of innovation to keep Europe at the forefront of new technologies and as the vehicle for creating new jobs in the continent. Speakers will include SusChem chairman Dr.Klaus Sommer of Bayer and Rudolf Strohmeier, Deputy Director-General, DG Research and Innovation at the European Commission.

The event will help put forward an agenda for a more competitive European Union, where partners collaborate to drive progress and advance technologies and the whole innovation value chain is connected, without being stifled by byzantine regulations and slow bureaucracy.

More information
For more information on the Fifth European Innovation Summit visit the website for details on the full programme, speakers and how to register or you can contact K4I by email. All the events will take place in the European Parliament building in Brussels.

SPIRE is at Manufuture 2013

‘MANUFUTURE 2013 View on Horizon 2020: Sustainable Re-industrialisation of Europe’ is the major conference organised by the European Technology Platform on Future Manufacturing (Manufuture) in Vilnius during the Lithuanian Presidency of the Council of the EU. The conference, which takes place from 6 – 8 October, will be major event in the Lithuanian presidency and the SusChem inspired SPIRE PPP will be presenting there.

In the Lithuanian capital MANUFUTURE stakeholders from industry, academia and the public sector will discuss and exchange views on how to implement Horizon 2020 and related national programmes in a coherent and flexible manner. It is vital that ways to better transform Horizon 2020 investments into wealth, growth and jobs be discussed including supporting better coverage of the entire innovation cycle, promoting better alignment with national and regional policies and funding programmes, and creating framework conditions for growth and jobs to help Europe stay globally competitive.

Resource efficiency
In a plenary session on the morning of October 7 devoted to Horizon 2020 and roadmaps for manufacturing, Dr. Klaus Sommer, the President of the A.Spire Board of Directors, will present the strategic SPIRE Roadmap and describe what SPIRE will do in practice to create a world-leading, resource efficient process industry for Europe.

A special focus of the conference will be given to increasing the efficiency of EU regional and national RTD support tools through their mutual synergy and national / regional smart specialization.

For more information on the conference, please visit the MANUFUTURE 2013 website. More information on SPIRE can be found here.