SusChem Greece, the Greek National Technological Platform (NTP) for Sustainable Chemistry, will hold its kick-off event in Athens on 16 December 2016. The event, which will be held at NJV Athens Plaza Hotel will introduce this brand new initiative that aspires to steer Greek sustainable chemistry stakeholders towards a collective journey to innovation for the benefit of industry and society.
SusChem Greece looks to tap into the valuable and pragmatic insights, experience and knowledge of the Greek sustainable chemical community and explore the strategic expectations for a prosperous Greek industry endowed with prowess and social responsibility through sustainable chemistry.
Prior to the kick-off event a board meeting of SusChem Greece will be held. The launch event itself will start at 15:00 with presentations from SusChem Greece representatives Dr. Stelios Bikos and Prof. Antonis Kokossis both from the National Technical University of Athens (NTUA), Anne-Chloe Devic, CEFIC Innovation Manager for Materials and SusChem NTPs, and Cristina Gonzalez Alonso of SusChem Spain.
This will be followed by a round table discussion on Sustainable Chemistry in Greece with representatives from SusChem Industrial Associations and a session on Funded Innovation in Sustainable Chemistry with speakers including Leda Ampatzi, an EU Co-Funding Specialist and representatives of the European Investment Bank and Pireaus Bank.
If you wish to attend the event please notify the SusChem Greece secretariat, Dr Stelios Bikos, by 14 December at the latest. More information on the event and the SusChem Greece can be found here: www.suschem-gr.org.
Key Enabling Technologies (KETs) are a cornerstone for innovation in Europe's economy and SusChem was heavily involved with the development of the European Commission’s policy in this area. KETs are important drivers of innovation, growth and industrial competitiveness in Europe. Approximately 10 000 smaller to medium-sized companies in Europe, including many developing sustainable chemistry solutions, base their businesses on the development and commercialisation of KETs. The European Investment Bank (EIB) has just published a study that reviews access-to-finance conditions met by companies investing in KETs and proposes nine recommendations to improve conditions.
The study highlights that, despite good market conditions in the financial markets, not all companies benefit from these conditions in the same way. Many dynamic innovators and research-driven newcomers find it hard to raise growth capital to develop and scale-up their businesses. Investment in innovation in Europe still lags far behind that of the US and Japan.
“We must bring “science to finance” and “finance to science”. It is my priority for the EIB Group to ensure that effective finance solutions and targeted advisory support are available for innovative companies to do just this,” says Werner Hoyer, President of the EIB in his foreword to the study.
What is the problem?
The key insight of the study is that many KETs companies struggle to obtain adequate debt financing. Due to its general risk aversion, the banking sector does not cater to the specific needs of many KETs companies with almost 30% of KETs companies in the study failing to obtain adequate debt financing. More KETs companies (about 50%) find themselves struggling to obtain the finance needed to generate further growth and innovation.
The study concludes that a high capacity for innovation and strong growth figures alone are not guarantees of adequate access-to-finance. Current conditions on Europe's financial markets are not to blame – the overall lending climate is described as favourable by market participants. But Europe's conservative financing “ecosystem” is not in favour of the most dynamic innovators. Most R&D-driven businesses find it hard to convince traditional/regional banks to provide the desired level of funding.
KETs companies can be clustered into three categories depending on their financial needs:
Post start-ups: typically smaller KETs companies, which have outgrown the R&D phase and are generating profits but have a high business risk
Quantum leap companies: KETs companies of various sizes, targeting a large scale-up requiring large amounts of debt in relation to their company size
Well-established innovators: typically relatively larger KETs companies with a stable market position and a solid revenue base
KETs financing is a highly knowledge-driven business. In order to assess investment plans and business outlooks, enhanced technology, market and financial expertise are needed, but not always available to banks. By sharing and leveraging its existing knowledge base, the EIB could significantly improve access-to-finance conditions for KETs companies.
Big is beautiful – smaller KETs companies face more difficulties and require broader support beyond pure finance. The current banking system places smaller KETs companies at a disadvantage. These companies, which are often young and highly innovative, tend to fail in raising adequate finance due to the conservative, asset-based lending approach followed by the smaller banks/regional branches. Better preparation of both these financial intermediaries and smaller KETs companies, coupled with a higher-risk-taking approach to lending, is needed in order to help innovative KETs companies realise their full potential.
Public financing agencies could also play a stronger role in leveraging private money - in addition to "merely" providing funds. The public sector must take the lead initiative in order to significantly leverage the growth and employment potential of KETs companies providing access to higher risk capital and also advisory services and facilitating the meeting of demand for and supply of capital. What can be done?
The study’s review of high-tech innovation financing worldwide yielded a number of approaches that the EIB could build on. The most promising innovative approaches for KETs financing found were higher-risk-taking debt instruments, specific equity-based programmes and the combination of financing instruments with advisory services. In addition the ability of financial instruments to attract private co-financing is a key element of successful public support to improve financing conditions for KETs companies.
The EIB is well-positioned in technology financing, with substantial funds available from EU-level programmes and financial instruments under the umbrellas of InnovFin and the European Fund for Strategic Investments (EFSI). The existing programmes, however, do not fully meet the specific needs of many KETs companies.
The study has developed nine recommendations on how the EIB and European Commission can help improve access-to-finance conditions for KETs companies. These are detailed below.
The EIB and European Commission should place particular emphasis on two areas:
Improving “knowledge” in the market on both technology and finance to bring “science to finance” and “finance to science”
Higher-risk-taking products and instruments designed to meet the specific needs of the identified KETs company types
In a highly fragmented European KETs landscape, the EIB has a unique ability to combine a deep understanding of the market with the necessary boldness to make a significant difference the study concludes.
The European Commission has issued a new guide on how European Funds for Strategic Investments (EFSI - a key element of the Juncker Investment Plan) and European Structural and Investment Funds (ESIF) can be combined at project and financial instrument level, for example as an investment platform, to support risky and innovation-driven European projects.
Through a number of illustrative examples, the Guide describes how combining funds is possible for projects supported either under the EFSI 'Infrastructure and Innovation Window' or under the 'SME Window'. In addition an in-depth example of a 'layered fund' is provided in one of the annexes of the guide combining ESIF and EFSI in the case of investment platforms.
In the next few years, EFSI and ESI Funds will be able to finance significant levels of investment in Member States and their regions. They are both set to play an essential role in the delivery of European policy objectives. While rationale, design, legislative framework and timeframe for implementation are different, there is considerable scope for ensuring coordination, synergies and complementarity for additional investments. This guide provides an overview of these possibilities so that stakeholders are well informed. The funds
The European Fund for Strategic Investments (EFSI) was established by the European Commission in partnership with the European Investment Bank and the European Investment Fund (EIB and EIF – the 'EIB Group') to mobilise at least EUR 315 billion of additional finance for investment in higher-risk projects over three years.
Member States are also now starting the implementation of multiannual programmes co-financed by the European Structural and Investment Funds (ESIF) for the 2014- 2020 programming period. In total, more than EUR 450 billion will be invested in Europe through ESIF in this period.
On 10 December at the European Investment Bank's conference 'Financing the Circular Economy', EU Commissioner for Environment, Maritime Affairs and Fisheries, Karmenu Vella, presented some instruments to facilitate access to credit for businesses, in particular for small and medium enterprises (SMEs), to help them shift towards the circular economy model.
At the conference in Luxembourg the European Commission, the European Investment Bank and the Ministry of Economy of Luxembourg signed an amendment to the InnovFin Delegation Agreement that will enable higher-risk, yet innovative sustainable business models to access credit through InnovFin - an EU finance support programme under Horizon 2020.
At the conference Commissioner Vella highlighted that: "Today's event is all about making real changes on the ground. We want to give businesses more certainties when they innovate. New ideas also mean taking risks. The EU will help companies take the innovative risks needed to make real breakthroughs with more durable, repairable and more resource-efficient products".
InnovFin
Under Horizon 2020 the European Commission and the European Investment Bank Group (EIB and EIF) launched a new generation of financial instruments and advisory services in 2014 to help innovative firms access finance more easily. Until 2020, "InnovFin – EU Finance for Innovators" will offer a range of tailored products which will make available over EUR 24 billion of financing support for research and innovation (R&I) by small, medium-sized and large companies and the promoters of research infrastructures. This finance is expected to support up to EUR 48 billion of final R&I investments.
Backed by funds set aside under Horizon 2020 and by the EIB Group, InnovFin financial products support R&I activities, which by their nature are riskier and harder to assess than traditional investments, and therefore often face difficulties in accessing finance. All are demand-driven instruments, with no prior allocations between sectors, countries or regions. SusChem, Finance and SMEs
Coinciding with the #SusChem2015 stakeholder event earlier this year, SusChem published a new Guide to Innovation Funding for SMEs in Europe (left). The publication outlines five dedicated SME funding schemes (including InnovFinn) and describes how SusChem can help SMEs get involved with collaborative research and innovation projects.
Following on from Monday’s successful CRM_InnoNet workshop, today (Friday 19 April) sees both SusChem and SPIRE joining with CRM_InnoNet to provide input to a Conference on Initiatives relating to the European Innovation Partnership (EIP) on Raw Materials organized by the European Commission DG Enterprise in Brussels. The conference will focus on five panel sessions looking to identify synergies between the various work packages defined for the EIP on Raw Materials.
Loredana Ghinea, Executive Director of the proposed Public-Private-Partnership (PPP) on resource and energy efficiency (SPIRE) will be part of the panel discussing work package one on technologies for primary and secondary raw materials production together with representatives from relevant technology platforms, the European Investment Bank and ERA-nets.
Antonia Morales-Perez, Innovation Manager at Cefic, will contribute for SusChem to the discussion on the second work package on technologies for substitution of raw materials together with delegates from CRM_InnoNet and other technology platforms.
The session on work package three (Improving Europe’s raw materials regulatory framework, knowledge base and infrastructure) will see interventions from JRC, the KIC on Raw Materials and Eurostat among others.
Yesterday (27 February) saw the first meeting of the new High Level Group (HLG) on Key Enabling Technologies (KETs) in Brussels. This second generation KET HLG is tasked with fostering the industrial deployment of KETs in Europe to keep pace with our main international competitors, restore growth, create jobs and help address today's major societal challenges. The chemical sector and its value chain partners are at the fore in the new HLG.
Wolfgang Plischke, Vice President of Cefic and Bayer Management Board member, will serve on the KETs HLG and Gernot Klotz, Executive Director Research & Innovation at Cefic will be active in the ‘associated ‘Sherpa’ group. The SusChem supported SPIRE PPP is also directly represented in the HLG by Markus Asch, President of EUnited with Lionel Platteuw, Executive Director of EUnited, participating in the Sherpa group.
The new KETs HLG met on 27 February in Brussels
The HLG was inaugurated by European Commission Vice-Presidents Antonio Tajani and Neelie Kroes as well as Commissioners Máire Geoghegan-Quinn and Johannes Hahn, reflecting the cross cutting influences on KETs on industry policy, the digital agenda, research, research, innovation and science, and regional policy.
Cross sector innovation
The European chemical industry believes that cross-sectorial collaboration, like that driven by SusChem, will be one of the most robust ways to drive EU KETs development while ensuring their development and production are firmly based in Europe.
Partnerships should be at the heart of an overall European Commission KETs strategy because these technologies are effective at cutting across different industries, sectors and regions to unleash innovation in a more intelligent way across the value chain.
“Value chain collaboration is the best route to tackle pressing issues like the need for a low-carbon economy or healthy ageing,” said Gernot Klotz. “Those partnerships work well because they address the reality that one sector cannot do it alone, avoiding KETs being placed in silos.”
Opening the 27 February meeting Vice-President Antonio Tajani drew attention to the fact that the Commission had already adapted its policy instruments to promote the industrial deployment of KETs and that more coordination was now needed to prevent the departure of industry from Europe, as well as of the Europe's centres of excellence. He expressed his strong wish that the private sector and other actors represented in the HLG had to contribute to the successful deployment of KETs.
KETs are a main pillar of the forthcoming European Commission Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme and at the HLG kick-off meeting Research Commissioner Marie Geoghegan-Quinn described the role of KETs in the programme. You can watch her summary in the video below.
KET chemistry
Four of the six KETs identified by the European Commission to strengthen EU industrial and innovation capacity are core businesses of the chemical sector: advanced materials, industrial biotechnology, nanotechnology and advanced manufacturing.
“If we want Europe to keep or gain a competitive edge, we have to act quickly now to deploy those enabling technologies, connect them with societal challenges and ensure that their production stays in Europe,” commented Gernot Klotz.
The chemicals sector enjoys a unique position in European industry as a value chain captain, engaging with finished-goods producers in Europe to deliver the latest materials and technologies that have a demonstrable use. The sector also benefits from a symbiotic network of small, medium and large companies that enable a wide range of innovative products and technologies.
Gernot Klotz concluded: “The European chemical industry is mobilized and committed to turning the KETs strategy for Europe into tangible solutions that create jobs and growth. To get there, we have to get investment and framework conditions right.”
What are KETs?
The KETs are six priority technologies - nanotechnology, micro and nano-electronics, photonics, advanced materials, industrial biotechnology and advanced manufacturing systems – that have been identified as important levers for innovation and competitiveness in Europe.
What will the HLG do?
The HLG will advise the European Commission on the implementation of the strategy to boost KETs in Europe. The scope of issues to be discussed by the HLG is broad and relates to:
Research and innovation aspects,
Financial engineering mechanisms for KETs-projects,
Cooperation of KETs value chain stakeholders,
Trade and state aid related issues,
Human capital & skills and
National and regional KETs policies.
Following this first meeting of the KET HLG, its ‘Sherpa’ working group will meet on a twice-monthly basis to progress the work. The full HLG is scheduled to meet twice a year and will develop and implement the focus given to KETs in the new strategy on industrial policy announced last year. The HLG will advise the Commission and monitor progress in the development and deployment of KETs and will promote the development of KET policies in EU member states.
Who is in the HLG?
Technology providers for each of the six KETs
Down-stream industry users to ensure that the KETs Strategy does translate to the production of KETs-based products
Civil society representatives and cross-cutting KETs representatives: including trade unions, NGOs, local and regional authorities as well as the Skills and SME Community, the Research Community and the European Investment Bank;
Public-Private-Partnerships (PPPs), e.g. Efficient Buildings, Factories of the Future, Green Cars and SPIRE.
