SPIRE moves to build new R&I road map with new structure

On Monday 4 February the SPIRE PPP celebrated five years of hard work in which it has seen the launch of 89 projects with a combined budget of some EUR 900 million. The A.SPIRE General Assembly meeting elected Pierre Joris, a board member of a number of international process and chemical companies and previously a senior manager at Solvay, as the new Chairman of the SPIRE Board. Pierre takes over from Daniel Gauthier who had completed his two-year term as Chair. Pierre (right) and Daniel (left) are pictured below with SPIRE Executive Director Angels Orduña at the SPIRE celebration.

At the General Assembly SPIRE announced a range of changes required to translate its SPIRE 2050 Vision, released towards the end of 2018, into concrete research and innovation proposals through the development and publication of a SPIRE 2050 research and innovation road map.

The SPIRE 2050 Vision has been strongly endorsed by SPIRE members, stakeholders and the PPP’s partners at the European Commission and SPIRE now aims to have a solid plan to achieve the implementation of this ambitious vision through the forthcoming Horizon Europe programme and beyond.

The process of building the road map is now beginning and will kick-off officially in March with the aim of achieving a first draft during the Summer and finalising the document by November 2019.

SusChem will contribute to the formulation of the road map through work on its own new Strategic Innovation and Research Agenda, in particular in areas such as process technologies, industrial symbiosis and digitalisation, where SPIRE calls could be a channel to the realisation of projects.

New working groups

In order to facilitate the development of the new road map the A.SPIRE Board of Directors and its Industrial Research and Innovation Advisory Group (IRIAG) has initiated the setting up of seven new SPIRE Working Groups (WGs).

The seven working groups are:

• G1 - Energy Mix
• G2 - Electrification of Industrial Processes
• G3 - Use of Hydrogen
• G4 - Capture and Use of CO2
• G5 - Resource and Process Efficiency (and Flexibility)
• G6 - Industrial and Urban Symbiosis
• G7 – Digital (This WG was already established in autumn 2018)

The current SPIRE WGs (FEED, WASTE, PROCESS and APPLICATIONS.) will no longer be active, however the Advocacy group (aka the Outreach group) will be (re)activated.

A Steering Group will provide strategic guidance and manage the structure of the road map to ensure coherence with SPIRE 2050 Vision. In addition, a consulting company will be selected by A.SPIRE in early 2019 to support the WGs in the formulation of the road map.

WG members required

To populate the new Working Groups, SPIRE is calling for experts from its member organisations to get involved! Two types of expert input are required:

• Technical Experts to provide expertise in the topics addressed by the WGs. In addition, expertise in supply-chain structures and in the upstream and/or downstream related sectors is needed, in order to ensure an integrated approach and consider the wider trends and developments on related EU policies (e.g. Industry, Climate Change and Circular Economy).
• Specialists to provide strategic guidance and input, e.g. experts from companies or research organisations that hold positions to lead implementation strategies in the WG topic.

The new road map will provide an outlook up to 2050, divided into two parts: firstly, a more detailed part that will look into the investments required to reach market deployment within the time line of Horizon Europe, and then up to 2030; and secondly, a less detailed part that presents the plans of the process industries up to 2050.

After the road map exercise, the SPIRE WGs will remain active for the development of the Work Programmes under Horizon Europe.

Five year perspective

At the SPIRE celebration, the former Chair of A.SPIRE, Dr Klaus Sommer, delivered a video presentation outlining the origins of SPIRE, what the PPP has been achieved so far and what the future holds.

Introducing new SusChem Chair: Dr. Markus Steilemann

The European Technology Platform for Sustainable Chemistry (SusChem) Board has announced that Dr. Markus Steilemann is its new Chair, succeeding Dr. Klaus Sommer who served six years in this position.

Dr. Steilemann (above), who will lead the Board in managing SusChem’s strategy and activities, brings valuable expertise in innovation and management. He is the Chief Commercial Officer of material producer Covestro and - since 2015 - a member of the Covestro Board of Management. His responsibilities encompass all commercial functions, including innovation and the company’s three segments: Polyurethanes, Polycarbonates and Coatings, Adhesives and Specialties.

Dr. Steilemann holds a PhD in Chemistry and started his career at the Bayer Group, where he moved to various management positions at the former Bayer MaterialScience, which has become Covestro in 2015.

SusChem beyond 2020

“I am honoured to take the leadership of SusChem at a time when new strategies in the European research and innovation policy, missions and funding beyond 2020 are being designed,” Dr. Steilemann said, adding that SusChem is already working together with the European Commission on the preparation of the next EU Framework Programme after Horizon 2020.

“The role of the chemical industry should feature prominently in it as the crucial link between scientific breakthroughs and societal challenges for delivering impact. The disruptive technologies needed to transform our economy and society towards a more sustainable future will be enabled through chemistry,” Dr. Steilemann underlined.

A driving force for KETs

SusChem is a driving force behind the EU strategy for Key Enabling Technologies. Under Dr. Sommer’s leadership its strategy was refocused and its role for accelerating innovation reinforced. 

SusChem now includes 14 national technology platforms, connecting national and regional sustainable chemistry initiatives and developing synergies with EU policy and funding schemes. 

Dr. Sommer (pictured right) played a decisive role in the discussions, initiated by SusChem, which lead to the establishment of the SPIRE Public-Private Partnership in the process industries and of which he was also Chair of the Board of Management.

#suschem2017 - Sustainable chemistry: Accelerating innovation and impact in Europe

Today, 8 June, 2017, the European Technology Platform for Sustainable Chemistry (SusChem) will be holding its annual Stakeholder event (#suschem2017) in Brussels. The event will bring together global audiences, senior players from the chemical and biotechnology industries, academia, research technology organisations (RTOs) and EU institutions to address common challenges and debate priorities crucial to the sustainability of the European chemical and biotechnology innovation sectors. The theme for #suschem2017 is ‘Accelerating innovation and impact in Europe: Shaping expectations and priorities for the next EU Framework Programme’.

The SusChem Stakeholder event is the platform’s biggest and most influential event and will culminate with a high level debate on how Europe can accelerate innovation and deliver real socio-economic impact through the next European Research Framework Programme (FP9). There will also be updates from SusChem’s network of National Technology Platforms and the launch of new SusChem branding at the event. All participants will get a chance to give input to the proceedings through parallel breakout workshops.

SusChem Chairman Dr. Klaus Sommer said: “Our SusChem 2017 Stakeholder event will provide input on success factors for innovation impact, how to better stimulate SMEs to engage with FP9 and which new instruments might be required in FP9, amongst other topics. This is exactly the role that a European Technology Platform like SusChem should play, continuing our role as thought leaders for sustainable chemistry Research & Innovation in Europe.”

What’s happening?
In the morning, the event will kick off with plenary presentations from Peter Droell, Director at European Commission DG Research and Innovation for Industrial Technologies and Dr. Klaus Sommer, Chairman of the SusChem Board. The SusChem communications team will also present the SusChem rebranding project.

Participants will then split into three parallel breakout workshop sessions. The three breakout session topics are:

• Defining success factors for EU funded projects to optimise innovation impact and value for Europe. How can we maximise the market uptake and impact of EU funded project results by examining success learnings from projects?
• SMEs as a driver of the EU innovation ecosystems: How can we stimulate market-creating innovation through SME funding? This breakout session will try to identify the right mechanisms and ways to enhance their engagement in European public funding.  
• Shaping funding instruments to accelerate innovation and competitiveness in Europe. This breakout session we will examine the strengths and weaknesses of the design and structure of EU innovation funding instruments by sharing experiences with Horizon 2020.

FP9 debate
In the afternoon SusChem stakeholders will receive updates from the SusChem NTP network and feedback from the breakout sessions before a high-level panel discussion will examine how to accelerate innovation and deliver impact in the forthcoming FP9 programme.

“The SusChem platform has made a significant contribution to the formulation, execution, implementation and success of the FP7 and Horizon 2020 European research and innovation programmes. The forthcoming FP9 programme is a great opportunity to ensure that this success continues for the benefit of European industry and society in general. For this it is essential that the outcomes of successful projects are widely implemented to achieve tangible impact.” concludes Sommer.

The panel will be moderated by Cefic Executive Director for Research and Innovation Pierre Barthelemy and features contributions from Prof. Michael Matlosz, President and Chief Executive Officer of the French National Research Agency (ANR), Angels Orduña, the SPIRE PPP Executive Director, Iryna Sukhotska, Head of Public Affairs and R&D Project Management at Biopolis, Ulrich Kuesthardt, SusChem Board Member and CIO at Evonik, Muriel Attané, Secretary General of EARTO and Kurt Vandenberghe, Director for Policy Development and Coordination at DG Research and Innovation.



#suschem2017 takes place at the Crowne Plaza Hotel, Brussels, You can access the full programme for the event is available here.

2016 SusChem End of Year Message

Dear colleagues and members of the SusChem community,

The year 2016 represented a significant milestone for SusChem. Together we defined five main priority areas for our research and innovation activities in sustainable chemistry -  Sustainable bio-economy, ICT for processes, Water, Catalysis and Processes, and Materials for Energy  -  and developed a comprehensive plan for following up other important topics.

During the year a number of SusChem inspired projects delivered significant results, most notably the E4Water project, that demonstrated the very tangible impact of our research and innovation agenda. 2016 also saw SusChem act to facilitate enhanced collaboration and cooperation between the two SusChem inspired Public Private Partnerships: the BBI Joint Undertaking and SPIRE.

We successfully held our annual Stakeholder event in June, as usual in Brussels, and a very successful Brokerage event in Seville in September during the 6th European Chemical Congress. New Working Groups were created and substantial and significant input, based on the needs of our sector, was gathered, delivered to the European Commission and well received by them. Moreover, our network of National Technology Platforms expanded to include a record number of fourteen Member States.

Towards the end of the year we launched our new SusChem identity at a reception in the European Parliament. This rebranding campaign will continue into 2017 including a revision of the SusChem website.

But above all, the greatest success factor for SusChem in 2016 was YOU! Your commitment, trust and involvement strengthened SusChem and motivated the platform in its mission to represent the significant sustainable chemistry research and innovation efforts of the Chemical Industry within the chemical science community, to the European Institutions, and beyond.

On behalf of the SusChem Board and the SusChem secretariat, I would like to thank you for your continuing engagement and we wish you all very happy and relaxing holidays and a healthy, happy and “sustainable” New Year. 2017 will be another important year for SusChem and we look forward to working with you on new SusChem inspired initiatives over the next 12 months.

Best wishes,

Dr Klaus H. Sommer
Chairman of the SusChem Board

New SusChem Branding launched at 8EIS

The new SusChem branding and logo were unveiled at an evening reception at the European Parliament in Brussels yesterday (15 November). The event was part of the Eighth European Innovation Summit (8EIS) organised by Knowledge4Innovation (K4I) and featured SusChem’s forward strategy plus a networking prize competition! Look out for the new SusChem clouds!

SusChem’s branding launch event was hosted by Lambert van Nistelrooij, MEP, Chair of the K4I Forum Governing Board (left), who praised SusChem for its commitment to collaboration and cooperation in research and innovation at the European and National level.

He looked forward to further contributions to address Europe’s common societal challenges combining sustainability and competitiveness.

Together for sustainability

Dr. Klaus Sommer of Bayer and Chair of the SusChem board introduced the new branding and logo. He stated that SusChem had been conceived in 2004 to shape one voice on innovation for the European chemical industry and had been very successful in promoting the chemical sciences and biotechnology in European research and innovation programmes.

“Sustainability and competitiveness are strategic priorities for SusChem,” he said. “Progress on sustainability, competitiveness and environmental protection are intimately linked; and chemical products and chemistry-driven technological advances provide critical answers to ensure the sustainable development of modern societies.”

Dr. Sommer described SusChem’s vision of “a competitive and innovative Europe where sustainable chemistry and biotechnology together provide solutions for future generations” and its mission is “to initiate and inspire European chemical and biochemical innovation to respond effectively to society’s challenges by providing sustainable solutions.”

There are three elements to the SusChem mission: 

• Developing strategies and providing a coherent business-focused analysis of research and innovation bottlenecks and opportunities related to societal challenges and industrial leadership 
• Mobilising industry and other stakeholders within the EU to work in partnership and deliver on agreed innovation priorities
• Disseminating information and enabling knowledge transfer to a wide range of stake-holders across the Europe

Dr Sommer highlighted that “the breakthrough technologies needed to transform our society to a more sustainable future will be enabled through chemistry.” The work to achieve this is already underway in several domains including the development of:

• Advanced materials for the sustainable production of renewable electricity,
• Energy storage solutions, 
• Energy efficiency solutions for buildings,  
• More sustainable water management, 
• More sustainable transport systems and mobility options
• More efficient processes

The new logo was then launched via a short video (see below).



Scratch card prizes
After the formal presentation SusChem Secretary, Flavio Benedito, introduced a fun networking activity with the chance to win an iWatch prize! All the attendees at the event had been given scratch cards on arrival and each revealed a ‘sustainable motto’. Ten phrases matched the chosen criteria and from these two were drawn as prize winners!

Our two winners were Susan Robertson of Innovators magazine (above right) and Tatiana Ivanciuc a student from Hanze University. 

Attendees were also given SusChem cloud stress busters. These blue clouds will also be distributed to SusChem National Technology Platforms and will be the subject of a further promotional prize competition in the near future. More details soon!

Sustainable Chemistry: Innovation for Competitiveness

Today (16 June) at its annual Stakeholder event (#suschem2016) the European Technology Platform for Sustainable Chemistry (SusChem) will discuss how sustainable chemistry can continue to deliver  innovation for competitiveness for Europe. The SusChem Stakeholder Event is the biggest annual event held by the technology platform and brings together the chemical industry, academia, Research Technology Organisations (RTOs) and EU policy representatives to address common challenges and debate priorities in the European chemical and biotechnology innovation sectors.

SusChem Chairman Dr. Klaus Sommer (right) said: “In the context of the European Commission Innovation Strategy and the recently published action plans on the Circular Economy, Energy Union and Digitisation, this year’s Stakeholder Event will highlight the role of the European chemical industry in five innovation priority areas. These areas are Sustainable bio-economy, ICT for processes, Water, Catalysis and Processes, and Materials for Energy and were identified through intense discussions during our 2015 Stakeholder Event.”

                                                                                     

“Progress in these areas, as an integral part of the SusChem Strategic Innovation and Research Agenda (SIRA), will be discussed in two panel debates. These discussions will help us to identify new opportunities and synergies and define priorities. The outcomes will help to create a shared view between the Chemical Industry and the European Commission on future research and innovation actions in the European chemical and biotechnology sectors. This will then be quality input for the next calls under the Horizon 2020 programme and other European and national collaborative research and innovation initiatives. This is exactly the role that a European Technology Platform like SusChem should play” he continued.

What is happening?

This year’s event will include a number of exciting activities and present important new developments for the SusChem community, including two lively high-level panel debates to discuss the recently published European Commission Innovation Strategy packages: Circular economy and the Energy Union and Digitisation.

Strategic topics related to SusChem funding and its programme will be described by Rudolf Strohmeier, former Deputy Director General of DG Research and Innovation, and this will be followed by SusChem chairman Dr Klaus Sommer presenting on 'Implementing the new SIRA: Status and priorities'.

Delegates will receive updates from working groups on the five main SusChem research and innovation priorities of Water; ICT for processes; Processes & Catalysis; SustainableBioeconomy; and Materials for Energy management.

SusChem's network of National Technology Platforms (NTPs) will also present and demonstrate their vital role in the SusChem eco-system by leveraging national government funds, working with SMEs and initiating cross border cooperation. 

Plenary debates

The afternoon sessions will be dominated by two plenary discussions on Circular economy and the Energy Union and Digitisation that will bring together strategy experts from the European Commission and captains of industry to discuss the hot topics surrounding these EC packages including:

• Identifying new challenges and opportunities for sustainable chemistry ;
• Identifying areas of consensus that align with the priorities of the EC and the European chemical industry; and
• Defining new ways forward to ensure that the five SusChem innovation priorities identified are systematically considered in these two new high-level policy initiatives.

 The first plenary debate will examine the “Circular Economy” and be moderated by Pierre Barthélemy, Executive Director of Research and Innovation at Cefic. Contributions from the European Commission will come from Reinhard Buescher, Head of Unit 'Chemicals' at DG Internal Market, Industry, Entrepreneurship and SMEs (GROW), and Waldemar Kuett, Head of Unit 'Biobased Products and Processes' at DG Research and Innovation (RTD).

On the industry side the panellists are Reinier Grimbergen, Director Science to Innovate at DSM, Gloria Gaupmann, Public & Regulatory Affairs Manager, Group Biotechnology at Clariant, Anton Valero, General Manager of Dow Chemical Ibérica, and Greet van Eetvelde, Head of Energy & Innovation Policy at INEOS.

The second plenary debate will cover “Energy Union & Digitisation.” Alexis Bazzanella, Head Research & Project Coordination at DECHEMA e.V. is the moderator and panellists for the Commission are Khalil Rouhana, Director for 'Components & Systems' at DG Communications Networks, Content and Technology (CNECT), Marie Donnelly, Director for 'Renewables, Research and Innovation, Energy Efficiency' at DG Energy (ENER) and Helene Chraye, Head of Unit 'Advanced Materials and Nanotechnologies' at DG Research and Innovation (RTD).

On the industry side are Jens Rieger, Senior Vice President at BASF, Henrike Gebhardt, Senior Manager Scientific Relations at Evonik Industries AG, and Nicolas Cudre-Mauroux, Research & Innovation Group General Manager (CTO) at Solvay.

Event objectives

The SusChem Stakeholder Event is an annual high-level initiative that aims to:

• Improve dialogue between our stakeholders;
• Identify innovation drivers for the future;
• Present the European chemical industry as a solution provider to address societal challenges;
• Promote a common view between the chemical industry and the European Commission to increase synergies and develop shared solutions on innovation priority areas.

You can follow the SusChem Stakeholder event using the hashtag #suschem2016 The event takes place at the Hotel Bloom in Brussels, Belgium. The full programme for the event is available here: http://bit.ly/1On0L2A

Save the date: Industrial Technologies - Creating a Smart Europe June 22-24

The Netherlands Presidency of the European Union will be hosting the European Conference Industrial Technologies 2016 to be held from 22 to 24 June 2016 at the RAI Conference Centre in Amsterdam.

Industrial Technologies 2016 will be the largest networking conference in the field of new production technologies, materials, nanotechnology, biotechnology and digital technologies in Europe with more than 1 250 high level delegates expected.

The conference's advisory board includes a number of SusChem stakeholders - not least SusChem's Chairman of the Board Dr Klaus Sommer.

"Innovation is the basis of Europe’s competitiveness. In particular piloting and demonstration facilities are important to bridge the gap between research and competitive business," says Dr Sommer. "New technologies play a key role in this effort, signified by e.g. the focus on Key Enabling Technologies."

"Europe would benefit from a stronger sense of community between innovation and technology players. The conference is a great opportunity to network but also to emphasize the importance together with the European Commission," concludes Dr. Sommer.

Creating a Smart Europe
The three day conference will bring together personalities involved in research, industry, education, finance and policy activities from  manufacturing and process industry and technology domains from all over Europe to identify priorities that are crucial to strengthen the European industrial innovation ecosystem and deliver ‘A Smart Europe’.

Reasons to attend include:

• Inspiring keynotes and eye-opening site visits
• Interaction to identify priorities for the policy agenda
• Networking with European players in research, industry, finance and policy

Registration is now open and 'early bird' fees will apply until 15 April.

A provisional schedule for the conference is available. To keep up to date with developments for the conference visit the conference website and subscribe to the conference newsletter. You can also follow the conference on Twitter via @IndTech16.

2015 Season's Greetings from SusChem

Dear colleagues and avid SusChem supporters,

2015 was an important year for SusChem: Early in the year we published the new SusChem Strategic Innovation and Research Agenda (SIRA) which is the result of intensive discussions with you and our other stakeholders. It focuses on the solutions that the chemical industry and its customers and partners in industrial value-chains can bring to tackle the societal challenges that Europe is facing. As such SusChem is an important contributor to the European innovation landscape.

When analysing the first round of Horizon 2020 calls that were issued for the 2014-2015 period, we found that more than 100 calls are connected to technologies described in the SusChem SIRA. We see a similar trend for the 2016-2017 calls. This emphasises in a very tangible way the central role that the chemical industry plays in carrying out Research and Innovation actions that have a significant impact for Europe.

More importantly, SusChem is committed to mobilise its stakeholders to participate in the European innovation effort. We do not only do this through our yearly brokerage event but also through special efforts e.g. dedicated to SMEs. During our stakeholder event in June 2015 we conducted a special brokerage session for SMEs. Here we created an opportunity for SMEs to link with other companies, creating room for companies to get to know the special innovations and business propositions of the SMEs.

Looking forward, SusChem is now engaged in establishing its roadmap for the five years to come, geared towards the implementation of the SIRA. After the kick-off during the Stakeholder event in June we are now working hard on identifying priorities that will be translated into specific initiatives and lighthouse projects. We are looking forward to discussing the outcome with you, soon.

The end of 2015 has also seen a successful conclusion to the COP 21 discussions in Paris. Beyond the global negotiation between states, we all know that the world will need technology solutions to support the transition towards an economy with substantially reduced CO₂ emissions. Here, SusChem is uniquely positioned with sustainability as our fundamental theme and the SIRA clearly focused on the many contributions that the chemical and industrial biotechnology sectors can make.

On behalf of the SusChem Board and the SusChem secretariat, we wish you all very happy and relaxing holidays and a healthy, happy and “sustainable” New Year. 2016 will be another important year for SusChem and we expect to see the first results from the SusChem inspired projects that were launched in the first two years of Horizon 2020 and in which many of you are participating.

Best wishes






Dr Klaus H. Sommer

Chairman of the SusChem Board

Head Consumer and Product Management Bayer Technology Services

SusChem Spain enabling the Circular Economy

Under the motto ‘Enabling circular economy’, the SusChem España national technology platform is organising the third edition of the Forum Sustainable Chemistry, innovative and competitive companies (3SCICC Forum Sustainable Chemistry), an international meeting aimed to debate and share information on new chemical products and processes that are more efficient, safe and environmentally friendly. This major event takes place in Tarragona, Spain on May 28 and 29. Tarragona is home to the largest chemical cluster in the Mediterranean and Southern Europe.

3SCICC Forum Sustainable Chemistry is sponsored by the Spanish Chemical Industry Federation (FEIQUE) and Expoquimia – the International Chemistry Event of Fira de Barcelona together with industrial sponsors Dow Chemicals and Emerson Process Management.

SusChem chairman Dr Klaus Sommer of Bayer and board member Gernot Klotz of Cefic will be presenting at the meeting. More details of the programme can be accessed here.

Circular
The Circular Economy is an economic model that finds ways to reuse products and components and restore their material and energy inputs. And sustainable chemistry innovation provides the fundamentals for making it possible.

A Circular Economy is an industrial system replaces the ‘end-of-life’ concept with restoration and aims for the elimination of waste through the superior design of materials, products and systems, facilitating component separation and making it feasible for manufacturers to collect, re-manufacture and re-distribute their products, thus generating a circular, cradle-to-cradle system.

Circular Economy has an increasing number of supporters as the essential model needed to face the economic, social and resource challenges of the 21st century. The European Commission has chosen to move to this restorative economic system as part of its strategy for Europe 2020, as it drives substantial and lasting improvements in resource productivity. Sustainable chemistry and engineering innovation provides the fundamental basis that can enable the circular economy (new materials, new production systems, sustainable water management etc.).

Raw materials
Critical Raw Materials reducing, reusing, recycling or substitution; state-of-art and new trends in biobased products and biorefineries; new trends and challenges in process optimization or different ways for by-product valorization, are among the topics to be discussed at the 3SCICC Forum Sustainable Chemistry. Cities and industry symbiosis and the solutions chemistry provides to make this possible will also be addressed.

The day before the conference, May 27, will see the opportunity to visit a variety of industrial facilities and research centres in the Tarragona area to see the exciting sustainable chemistry taking place there.

For more information and registration details visit the 3SCICC Forum Sustainable Chemistry website.

SusChem looks forward to 2014

Dr Klaus Sommer (pictured below), Chairman of the SusChem Board, talked to SusChem News reflecting on another year of achievement for SusChem during 2013 and looking forward to the challenges for 2104.

SusChem News: "What have been your main highlights of the year for SusChem?"

Klaus Sommer: “Just before the holiday season, on December 11, the Commission published the Horizon 2020 calls, these were close to the drafts on which SusChem has worked since this summer and which were the subject of our pre-brokerage event on October 23. This pre-brokerage event was very successful with a great attendance and a number of interesting proposals generated.”

“Our analysis of the Horizon 2020 work programmes has shown that many of the SusChem proposals are already being considered in the ‘Industrial Technologies’ or ‘Societal Challenges’ areas. This is the result of all the hard work accomplished on many fronts following the revised SusChem strategy and based on an active participation in European Innovation Partnerships (Water, Raw Materials, Smart-Cities and Communities), strong support to Public Private Partnerships initiatives (particularly the SPIRE cPPP and the Bio-Based Industries JTI), participation in Task Forces and the High level Group on Key Enabling Technologies and the revision of our Materials Technologies agenda.”

SusChem News: “What has been the effect of this huge effort on SusChem’s profile?”

Klaus Sommer: “All this hard work has allowed us to boost SusChem’s visibility and influence, have a true dialogue with the EU and with all our stakeholders and finally play our role as a recognised ‘ETP 2020’ Technology Platform.”

“I would like to thank all the SusChem stakeholders for the support they have provided to make this happen either by direct involvement or by providing the required expert resources from their organisations. I personally would like to thank our colleagues at Cefic who support SusChem, in particular Jacques Komornicki, for their great commitment and support. Without them, it all would not work out.”


SusChem News: “Where do you see the main focus for SusChem in 2014?”

Klaus Sommer: “Looking forward, it is very important that we confirm our engagement by participating actively in the first round of calls of Horizon 2020. For this SusChem is organizing a ‘true’ brokerage event on January 31 where project ideas can be confirmed and consortia started - first deadlines for project submission are as soon as mid-March 2014. And the new Grant-it on-line facility is also available for free to all SusChem registered members. We urge you to mobilize your respective organisations to actively participate.”

SusChem News: “How else can the SusChem community contribute to the platform’s activities in 2014?”

Klaus Sommer: “Another important effort, which is part of our core strategy, is to have the SusChem National Technology Platforms play a more active role in mobilising our stakeholders at the national level; some clear progress has been made in 2013 with the publication of our new rules, the creation of a twelfth National Platform in Switzerland and an active brokerage activity by some NTPs. In the next steps we will further involve the National Platforms in our discussions and actions. I encourage SusChem members to support the SusChem platforms in their respective countries.”

“A further short-term action for 2014 is to publish a new Strategic Research Agenda based on our revised strategy; strong support from the board and stakeholders will be needed to make it a high quality document and a cornerstone of our communication activities for the future.”

“Finally, as you will know, Horizon 2020 contains many more innovation activities than previous programmes and our chances of obtaining successful project awards will depend on the quality and preparation of the evaluators of project proposals. The Commission has recently issued an appeal for such experts – and this is an opportunity for experts in your organisations can become expert evaluators.”

More information
More information on the requirements for expert evaluators can be found here. And the registration site for experts is available here.

SusChem News wishes all members of the SusChem community an excellent holiday break and looks forward working with you during another successful year for SusChem in 2014.

See you at the SusChem brokerage event on 31 January!

SusChem Chairman shares view on how to boost EU growth

Dr Klaus Sommer, Chairman of the SusChem board and President of A.SPIRE aisbl - the legal entity backing the SPIRE PPP, has put his views on what is needed to exit the economic crisis and help Europe's economy to grow as part of a series of video testimonials on the Horizon 2020 website. You can watch his video below. If you get an issue with playback (may not work with iOS) you can also access the video here.



Dr. Sommer said: "I think in Europe we have one disadvantage, and that is actually beginning with an advantage. The advantage is that, in research, we produce great results: we're very competitive in basic research and in fundamental inventions. But the issue is that we are not as good in turning this into commercially successful results. And this has been referred to as the 'valley of death' a couple of times, which means that we cannot take these results to something commercially viable. So I think Horizon 2020, with its focus on demonstration and piloting, will give us a great opportunity to take some of these results to something that business people like and build businesses on and make money with."

To find out more about SusChem visit our website and more information about the SPIRE PPP can be found here. 

PPP information days 
Information Days on the Public-Private Partnerships (PPP) under Horizon 2020 are being organized by the European Commission on 16-17 December, 2013, at the Charlemagne Building, Brussels. Central to this event will be the presentation of the first research and innovation call topics for the SPIRE PPP under Horizon 2020. More information on the SPIRE session in the event will be available shortly, but registration to the event is open now.

The Information Days with cover the four research contractual PPPs envisaged under Horizon 2020: Factories of the Future; Energy-efficient Buildings; Green Vehicles; and Sustainable Process Industries.

On the first day of the meeting a plenary session is planned for the four cPPPs and then parallel workshops for each PPP focusing on the presentation of their new Multi-annual Roadmaps, opportunities in the calls included in the 2014-2015 Work Programme for Horizon 2020 and brokerage activities.

On the Tuesday (17 December 2013) a second plenary session for the PPPs is foreseen with contributions from Maire Geoghegan-Quinn, European Commissioner for Research, Innovation and Science and Neelie Kroes, EC Vice-President and Commissioner for Digital Agenda.

The programme also includes a final assessment of the first three Research PPPs established under the Recovery Plan, reports on success stories in the domains of the four PPPs, and a roundtable discussion on the expected impact of the PPPs.

SPIRE speaks at MANUFUTURE 2013

‘MANUFUTURE 2013 View on Horizon 2020: Sustainable Re-industrialisation of Europe’ organised by the European Technology Platform on Future Manufacturing (Manufuture) in Vilnius from 6 – 8 October saw a major presentation on the SusChem inspired SPIRE PPP.

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, presented the strategic SPIRE Roadmap and described what SPIRE will do in practice to create a world-leading, resource and energy efficient process industry for Europe.

You can watch Dr Sommer's speech below and also access the presentation as given.

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

The conference saw MANUFUTURE stakeholders from industry, academia and the public sector exchanging views on how to implement Horizon 2020 and related national programmes in a coherent and flexible manner. Horizon 2020 investments must translate into tangible wealth, growth and jobs. To achieve this requires better support 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.

For more information on the conference, please visit the MANUFUTURE 2013 website. More information on SPIRE 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.

SusChem is an ETP 2020!

Coinciding with the official publication on Friday (12 July 2013) of a European Commission document on a 'Strategy for European Technology Platforms: ETP 2020' SusChem has been confirmed as a European Technology Platform for Horizon 2020. The ETP 2020 strategy seeks to maximise the impact of European Technology Platforms (ETPs), such as SusChem, on Europe’s competitiveness and sustainability.

This important achievement was conveyed in a letter from the Director-General of the European Commission’s DG Research and Innovation, Robert-Jan Smits, to SusChem Chairman Dr Klaus Sommer, and SusChem Coordinator Dr. Jacques Komornicki.

“Since 2004 SusChem has been making a very significant contribution to European sustainable chemistry research and innovation programmes. SusChem has been a pioneer in terms of stimulating cross-sectoral and value chain initiatives and we look forward to continuing and enhancing our contribution through Horizon 2020,” said Jacques Komornicki.

“SusChem’s involvement in FP7 has been profound for sustainable research in Europe,” said Dr. Klaus Sommer. “Now we are looking forward to truly fulfil our potential also in the area of innovation through Horizon 2020 especially with our involvement in major EU programmes such as public- private-partnerships (SPIRE and BRIDGE), future emerging technologies and key areas such as water, raw materials, key enabling technologies and skills. We are ready to make a real impact economically and ecologically all over Europe through projects that generate great research results and true innovations to bridge the gap between invention and relevant business success.”

ETP 2020 landscape
A new landscape of Commission recognised ETPs is now in place following an assessment against revised criteria for recognition defined in the ETP 2020 Strategy (see below).

ETPs span a wide range of technology areas and many, like SusChem, have played an important role in developing joint visions, setting Strategic Research and Innovation Agendas and defining research priorities that have been pursued in FP7.

As part of Horizon 2020 ETPs will:

• Develop strategies and provide a coherent business-focused analysis of research and innovation bottlenecks and opportunities related to societal challenges and industrial leadership actions
• Mobilise industry and other stakeholders within the EU to work in partnership and deliver on agreed priorities
• Share information and enable knowledge transfer to a wide range of stakeholders across the EU.

The objectives of ETPs will be achieved through a broad portfolio of activities many of which SusChem has been pursuing for a number of years. These include:

• Developing Strategic Research and Innovation Agendas
• Encouraging industry participation in Horizon 2020 and helping widen participation and build capabilities within Member States through cooperation with networks/partnerships in Member States
• Identifying opportunities for international cooperation and developing the necessary understanding to facilitate future collaboration
• Providing networking opportunities including with other ETPs to address cross-sectorial challenges and promote the move towards more open models of innovation
• Facilitating the formation of new partnerships that utilise ETP expertise.

Revised criteria
To date, one of the main benefits of the ETPs has been their ability to provide coherent, strategic advice. Moving forward, the Commission has defined criteria that must be met for the recognition of an ETP. These criteria are:

• Alignment with Europe 2020 priorities and objectives – this could either be in terms of their ability to effectively address a Horizon 2020 societal challenge and/or develop sustainable industrial capability in a priority sector or emerging area;
• Scale of the market opportunity – this must represent a sizeable proportion of a current or potential future market and be seen to contribute to the global value chain benefiting Europe;
• EU added value - the EU's capacity, capability and skill-base to research, develop and exploit the technologies and/ or innovations in the proposed field;
• Transparency and openness – the ETP must be representative of its field, transparent in its activities and be open to new members;
• Scope – the extent to which the ETP reaches beyond a niche area and fosters interdisciplinary and cross-sector work without duplication;
• Leverage – the level of engagement and commitment of industry and Member States to the ETP, the ETPs ability to deliver on its proposed agenda and its collaboration with other ETPs on achieving common objectives.

European Technology Platforms are industry-led stakeholder fora that develop short to long-term research and innovation agendas for action at EU and national level that can be supported by both private and public funding. SusChem was formed in 2004 as one of the first ETPs and has consistently been a model example of the format.

ETPs will be a significant part of the external advice and societal engagement effort that the Commission needs to successfully implement Horizon 2020. ETPs are a key element in the European innovation ecosystem and an essential element to transform Europe into a true Innovation Union.

The Commission is planning to hold a cross-ETP workshop in the near future to discuss, amongst other issues, how the new ETP 2020 strategy can be best implemented and how relationships between the ETPs and the Commission can be further strengthened.

SPIRE Goes To Parliament

A date for your 2013 diary. On Thursday 24 January 2013 MEPs will be talking SPIRE at a lunch time debate on innovation for resource efficiency at the European Parliament in Brussels. The meeting is hosted by Amalia Sartori, MEP and Chair of the ITRE (Industry, Research and Energy) Committee of Parliament in association with A.SPIRE (the European Association for Sustainable Process Industry through Resource and Energy Efficiency) and registration is open now.

The debate is entitled a “new industrial (R)evolution through the SPIRE Public Private Partnership’ starts at 13h00 and will include contributions from Madame Sartori (pictured left), A.SPIRE President Klaus Sommer of Bayer and Waldemar Kütt from Commissioner Geoghegan-Quinn cabinet among others.

Compelling arguments and a remarkable consensus exist between policy makers and industry about the need to improve the way we manage resources and energy, especially when these resources are rare or finite.

Industry has a responsibility and a unique ability to respond to these challenges. Through an ambitious research and innovation agenda, the proposal for a public-private partnership for Sustainable Process Industry through Resource and energy Efficiency (SPIRE) is one of the instruments that can help achieve Europe’s aspirations in this area.

Commitment for competitiveness
SPIRE’s high ambitions are matched by strong industrial commitment on an unprecedented scale (at least 20% of total European manufacturing industry, both in terms of employment and turnover, are represented in the SPIRE consortium) and, through it, Europe could significantly enhance its competitiveness and sustainability and achieve its goals for smart, inclusive and sustainable growth.

The lunch debate will be an ideal opportunity to hear more about the proposed SPIRE PPP, discuss its aims and ambitions with leading members of the eight major European industry sectors that are support and developing the SPIRE initiative.

The ITRE Committee is meeting on 23 – 24 January and the latest study requested by the committee is ‘Resource Efficiency in European Industry’ so the lunch time debate is well timed.

For more information on SPIRE visit its website. To find out more about the lunch debate including registration possibilities contact the SPIRE secretariat.