Dear colleagues and members of the SusChem community,
The past year showed us once again the enormous challenges and changes that our world and our industry have to cope with, whilst striving to achieve sustainable development. An extended summer across Europe reminded me and many of us that CO2 emissions are still on the rise; and the issue of plastics waste became more urgent on the political agenda.
Identifying solutions to global challenges like these is achieved via science and technology – and through collaboration. This is exactly the purpose of SusChem, and I think in 2018 we made further progress in sharing a ‘European voice’ on research and innovation priorities in Sustainable Chemistry and Industrial Biotech.
One highlight was our response to Horizon Europe, the ambitious research and innovation programme that the European Commission is forging to succeed Horizon 2020. At our annual stakeholders event in June, the potential of the contribution of SusChem and Key Enabling Technologies (KETs) under Horizon Europe was highlighted. And we initiated our consultation to build a new SusChem Strategic Innovation and Research Agenda (SIRA). I am sure the new SIRA will be a solid base for advising the European Commission on future technology priorities for Horizon Europe. Delivery of a final draft is planned in the course of 2019 – a major task for next year.
Looking back on 2018, I also well remember our brokerage event in October which was supported by keynote speakers from the Commission and also the disruptive innovation community. The event brought together some 200 European innovators to form strong consortia under open Horizon 2020 calls – a really impressive number! Also the number of national technology platforms (NTPs) rose in 2018 with the accession of Bulgaria, Finland and Sweden, so that our community now comprises 17 NTPs across Europe.
So 2018 was really impactful. Our key focus for 2019 will be to build on SusChem’s role as a multi-stakeholder advisory forum engaging with both academia and industry. Together we can provide a vision and direction on innovation and technology priorities in Sustainable Chemistry and industrial biotechnology to ensure the success of Horizon Europe. We therefore invite you to join us in formulating together the new SusChem SIRA!
On behalf of the SusChem Board and the SusChem secretariat, I would like to thank you all very much for your continuing commitment to our platform and activities. I wish you a relaxing Christmas break and a healthy, happy and “sustainable” New Year. We look forward to working with you on new SusChem inspired initiatives over the next 12 months!
Best wishes,
Dr Markus Steilemann
Chairman of the SusChem Board
SusChem has confirmed that the SusChem 2018 Brokerage Event will be held on Tuesday 23 October 2018 at Hotel Le Plaza in Brussels. SusChem #Brokerage2018 will cover published calls relevant to the sustainable chemistry community in the remaining two years of the Horizon 2020 programme.
Save the date – 23 October 2018 now! More information on the Brokerage event will be available via the SusChem website – www.suschem.org – soon and relayed via our social media channels.
Focus area of high interest for sustainable chemistry include:
'Building a low Carbon, Climate-resilient Future' (EUR 3.3 billion budget), will aims to align research and innovation investments with the climate change objectives of the Paris Climate Agreement as well as with the United Nations' Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).The focus area will support the development of solutions to achieve carbon neutrality and climate resilience by the second half of the century. Over EUR two billion will be invested in the four strategic priorities identified in the Accelerating Clean Energy Innovation Communication, namely renewables, energy efficiency in buildings, electro-mobility and energy storage solutions – with an emphasis on the next generation of batter technologies. SusChem has recently published its views on the innovations required in this area – link to battery paper.
'Connecting economic and environmental gains – the Circular Economy' (EUR 941 million budget) will support the Commission's ambitious Circular Economy package and make a strong contribution to sustainable development goals, climate action, resource efficiency, jobs and growth, and industrial competitiveness.
'Digitising and transforming European industry and services' (EUR 1.7 billion budget) will address the combination of digital technologies with innovations in other technological areas, as emphasised in the Digital Single Market strategy. This field offers huge opportunities for increasing industrial competitiveness, to create growth and jobs and to address a range of societal challenges.
To do good business means finding the right partners. The BioLinX Online Brokerage is an innovation exchange and a matchmaking platform serving academia, SMEs and large companies. If you are looking for new business partners, exciting inventions, new products and services or investments, BioLinX will connect you with the right people from the European bioeconomy community.
The third BioLinX Online Partnering and Brokerage Event takes place on 25-26 April 2018. Pitch your products, services and technologies and make new contacts in live bilateral online meetings in this international two-day event.
Matchmaking has never been easier
Upload your profile and cooperation offer on the brokerage platform.
Present your business ideas and projects in live bilateral online meetings to CEOs, business developers, technology scouts and potential investors.
Or more effective
Learn about the latest offers & requests of leading universities, research centres and SMEs.
Identify promising innovators, contact them and let BioLinX automatically schedule your online meetings.
What are the advantages?
Saves time and costs.
Avoids unnecessary business trips.
Enables experts from all over Europe to participate.
Makes it quick and easy to pinpoint offers and requests.
What is BioLinx?
The Horizon 2020 project BioLinX supports participants in FP7 and Horizon 2020 projects to commercialise their innovative ideas and connects them to markets and regional networks. Don't let your projects' research and development results be shelved- translate them into innovativebioeconomy solutions and products!
As always the SusChem Brokerage event will be the unique opportunity for SusChem stakeholders from industry, academia, SMEs and other sectors to present project ideas, develop consortia and submit funding proposals targeting the 2018 and 2019 calls for Horizon 2020 with deadlines falling in the late 2017 and early 2018.
Delegates are kindly invited to propose their project ideas for the 2018 and 2019 calls of Horizon 2020 on GRANT-IT - your one-stop access to funding opportunities from the European Commission and Regional and National governments in the field of sustainable chemistry.
SusChem members can use GRANT-IT resources for free to search for funding, identify project opportunities, propose project ideas and search for potential project partners.
Submitting your project ideas via GRANT-IT will make it available to the whole SusChem community and allow interested partners to contact you for meeting requests when the brokerage speed dating tool is open.
The London event is suitable for anyone with an interest in participating in European projects in the forthcoming 2017 call topics under the Bio-based Industries Joint Undertaking. The workshop will present a range of experience in European projects from newcomers to people who have coordinated EU projects on a regular basis.
Representatives from industry (small and large), academia, RTOs and other types of organisations with appropriate skills and expertise to address the forthcoming 2017 call topics in BBI should attend and delegates from all European Member States are encouraged to be there – in fact one-third of the spaces available are reserved for non-UK participants.
By attending the workshop delegates will have the opportunity to:
Identify and link with new partners across Europe
Join consortia forming around forthcoming 2017 call topics
Discuss and refine your projects ideas with potential partners
Gather information on forthcoming 2017 call topics
Take advantage of the NCP, BBI JU, KTN and EEN support available on the day
BBI calls for 2017 and 2018
The strategic orientations for the BBI JU’s calls in 2017 and 2018 are:
Fostering a sustainable biomass-feedstock supply to feed both existing and new value chains;
Optimising efficient processing for integrated biorefineries;
Developing innovative bio-based products for specific market applications;
Creating and accelerating the market uptake of bio-based products and applications.
The calls that will be reviewed at the workshop are:
The event will take place at the Ambassadors Bloomsbury Hotel in central London. More information is available here. Registration is free, but all participants must register by 13 April. Please contact Susanne Coles with any further queries.
The 2017 AWP is the fourth AWP in a total of seven that are planned between 2014 and 2020. The critical path towards 2020 for the PPP is the acceleration of the development of (new) sustainable value chains from biomass feedstock supply via efficient processing, to the acceptance and application of biobased products in end-markets. The 2017 AWP refocuses on the need to better integrate biomass feedstock suppliers on the front end of the value chain to create a demand for biomass feedstock from biorefining processes.
Similarly, the AWP aims to stimulate the formation of partnerships with end market actors to create a ‘market pull’ for biobased products for identified applications. As initiated in last year’s AWP 2016, the AWP 2017 moves away from a strict biomass feedstock ‘push’ based on traditional value chains, towards a demand for biomass to enable processing to respond adequately to a ‘pull’ from the end markets.
Focus and impact
The identified priorities for the BBI JU continue to build on those for 2016, but add emphasis on products with new functionalities, and on supporting actions to better realise the associated expected impacts. In addition, the emphasis on sustainability, addressing the environmental, social and economic dimension, is increased.
The strategic orientations for 2017 and 2018 are:
Fostering a sustainable biomass-feedstock supply to feed both existing and new value chains;
Optimising efficient processing for integrated biorefineries;
Developing innovative bio-based products for specific market applications;
Creating and accelerating the market uptake of bio-based products and applications.
The 2017 Call
The 2017 call will have the identifier: H2020-BBI-JTI-2017 and the anticipated official publication date is 11 April with a indicative deadline for proposal submission of 17h00 (Brussels time) on 7 September. The call will be a single stage call and the total indicative budget for the call is € 81 million with an estimated value of the in kind contributions by the members other than the European Union or their constituent entities of a minimum of € 40 million.
The full call topic list is below. Research and Innovation Actions – Total indicative budget: € 36 million
BBI 2017.R1 – Valorisation of gaseous side streams from bio-based operations into chemical building blocks (Strategic orientation: Feedstock, Indicative project funding: € 2 million to € 5 million)
BBI 2017.R2 – Innovative technologies for the pre-treatment and separation of lignocellulosic feedstock and complex composition streams into valuable fractions while maintaining key characteristics (Strategic orientation: Process, Indicative project funding: € 2 million to € 5 million)
BBI 2017.R3 – Exploiting extremophiles and extremozymes to broaden the processing conditions to convert biomass into high value building blocks (Strategic orientation: Process, Indicative project funding: € 2 million to € 5 million)
BBI 2017.R4 – Proteins and other bioactive ingredients from side streams and residues (Strategic orientation: Products, Indicative project funding: € 2 million to € 5 million)
BBI 2017.R5 – Novel bio-based chemical precursors to improve the performance of mass consumption products (Strategic orientation: Products, Indicative project funding: € 2 million to € 5 million)
BBI 2017.R6 – Competitive biodegradable, compostable and/or recyclable bio-based plastics for a sustainable end-of-life phase (Strategic orientation: Products, Indicative project funding: € 2 million to € 5 million)
BBI 2017.R7 – Novel secondary bio-based chemicals without significant fossil-based counterparts but with high application potential (Strategic orientation: Products, Indicative project funding: € 2 million to € 5 million)
Innovations Actions – Demonstration Actions - Total indicative budget: € 22 million
BBI 2017.D1 – Valorisation of liquid and solid side streams from biobased operations into high added-value products to create new feedstock for bio-based products (Strategic orientation: Feedstock, Indicative project funding: up to € 7 million)
BBI 2017.D2 – Integrated multi valorisation of algae into advanced materials and high added-value additives BBI 2017. (Strategic orientation: Feedstock, Indicative project funding: up to € 7 million)
BBI 2017.D3 – Breakthrough primary bio-based chemicals without significant fossil-based counterparts but with high marketability (Strategic orientation: Products, Indicative project funding: up to € 7 million)
BBI 2017.D4 – Innovative bio-based fertilising products to increase the sustainability of fertilising practises in agriculture (Strategic orientation: Products, Indicative project funding: up to € 7 million)
BBI 2017.D5 – Advanced bio-based fibres and materials for large volume applications (Strategic orientation: Products, Indicative project funding: up to € 7 million)
Innovation Actions – Flagship Actions - Total indicative budget: € 21 million
BBI 2017.F1 – Integrated ‘zero waste’ biorefinery utilising all fractions of the feedstock for production of chemicals and materials (Strategic orientation: Process, Indicative project funding: up to € 21 million)
BBI 2017.F2 – Large scale production of proteins for food and feed applications from alternative, sustainable sources (Strategic orientation: Products, Indicative project funding: up to € 21 million) Coordination and Support Actions Total indicative budget: € 2 million
BBI 2017.S1 – Establish cooperation and partnership with brand owners and consumer representatives to improve market access of sustainable bio-based products (Strategic orientation: Market Uptake, Indicative project funding: up to € 1 million)
BBI 2017.S2 – Identify opportunities for ICT to increase efficiency of biomass supply chains for the bio-based industry products (Strategic orientation: Market Uptake, Indicative project funding: up to € 1 million)
More information
You can download the BBI JU 2017 AWP here. On 28 April 2017, the BBI JU will organise its fourth Open Info Day and Brokerage event in Brussels, following the official launch of the 2017 Call for proposals. The venue is planned to be the Commission's Charlemagne Building. The Open Info Day aims to bring together potential applicants and provide information and networking opportunities in time for the 2017 Call for proposals. For more information visit the BBI JU website.
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.
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.
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.
A new Support Services for Exploitation of Research Results (SSERR) initiative for completed and ongoing research projects in the field of energy has been launched by the European Commission. SSERR offers on-demand services to FP7 and Horizon 2020 energy projects to help maximise their value added and impact and to support and advise project partners in the exploitation of results.
Project partners can request support for project risk analysis, exploitation strategy seminars, business plan development, getting assistance for patenting and organising brokerage events, as well as ad hoc assistance. SSERR’s aim is to bridge the gap between research and business.
The aim of the service is to support exploitation of research results. This might result in the creation of a product, process or service; it might mean the establishment of new standards; or the delivery of new training courses or curricula. Appropriate exploitation leads to innovation, new business, jobs and growth. Exploitation is a crucial element of EU research programmes and SSERR is here to help!
SusChem also supports its stakeholders to exploit the results of SusChem inspired projects through our brokerage events that help consortia building for Commission calls, our support to SMEs through SME workshops and our Guide to Innovation Funding for SMEs in Europe and our dedication to help bridge the ‘innovation valley of death’ in general and for Key Enabling Technologies in particular.
Who and what of SSERR
There are many reasons to contact SSERR:
If you have your potentially exploitable results but don’t know how to protect them
If you need to develop a viable plan for the exploitation and dissemination the research results
If you want to develop a business plan but don’t know all the items to be considered
If you are you looking for businesses and investors
SSERR can provide the answers you need using a series of tailored, on demand, free services including:
Project Risk Analysis to identify the risks and potential obstacles to the future exploitation of project results
Exploitation Strategy Seminars to brainstorm on key results, and how to address the risks and obstacles associated with exploitation
Business Plan Development service to assist project partners in commercialisation of results
Assistance for Patenting and the protection of intellectual property rights
Brokerage Events to allow projects to present their exploitable results to key investment actors
SSERR services can be accessed at any time during a project life cycle, even after the project has been completed. All that is required is an email from the Project Coordinator to RTD-ENERGY-SSERR@ec.europa.eu requesting SSERR assistance. The Project Coordinator and relevant Commission department then agree on the services and the Commission proposes a consultant who will deliver the service(s). The details are agreed between the Project Coordinator and the consultant under a confidentiality agreement. And all for free!
The SusChem 2016 Brokerage event took place in Seville on 13 September and was attended by some 100 participants including SusChem Board Member Fernando Moreno who presented the introduction to the event and Soren Bowadt Programme Officer at DG Research and Innovation who is SusChem’s primary contact in the Commission. At the start of the Project Ideas Session Anne Chloe Devic, the Coordinator for SusChem National Technology Platforms, welcomed the speakers to the first SusChem European brokerage event ever organised outside of Brussels.
The Brokerage event was hosted in Spain thanks to SusChem Spain, in conjunction with one of the biggest events of the year for the chemical community: the Sixth European Chemistry Congress. Our thanks to Cristina Gonzalez, the secretary of SusChem Spain, who was the prime mover in organising the event and acted as the chair of the meeting.
He made an overview of those projects that succeeded in obtaining grants in the 2014-2015 calls, gave an indicative overview of funding by the Commission for the last remaining years of Horizon 2020 and then detailed the 2017 calls, which were the main subject of the event. Soren also gave some hints on how to prepare a good project proposal.
Record-breaking
The event continued with the presentation of 22 proposals, out of which 19 were from companies - including from 13 SMEs. This is a record in terms of the proportion of industrial participation and specifically participation by SMEs.
Another record that was broken at the event was the number of bilateral meetings requested on the Connexme application, which reached 100!
And last but not least, a lively speed-dating session took place that continued right up to the closing of the event. We hope that the event will lead to the birth of many new and successful projects!
SuperBIO is an innovation project supported through the Horizon 2020 funding programme. The € 3.8 million project supports the development of promising industrial value chains in the bioeconomy and engages with the EU biobased business community. The SuperBIO consortium includes four industrial cluster organisations (from Belgium, France, Spain and Poland), and six service providers (from the UK, Germany and Belgium).
The workshop kicks off at 15:30h with a description of the SuperBIO project from Dr. Gloria de la Viña from project partner Corporación Tecnológica de AndalucÃa (CTA). This is followed by a discussion on SuperBIO Support to SMEs with Dr. Holger Bengs of BCNP Consultants GmbH, Dr. Lieve Hoflack from Bio Base Europe pilot plant and Dr. Caitlin Burns of NNFCC.
Examples of the valorisation of agricultural and horticultural residues from a range of Horizon 2020 projects will then be presented.
Dr. Francisco Egea from AlmerÃa University will describe the biomass potential of intensive horticulture followed by discussion of Biotechnological valorisation of horticulture residues by Dr. Javier Velasco of NEOL S.A and the final presentation will be on a success story showcasing horticultural bioproducts that are already in the market. The workshop will close at ~17:50h
SuperBIO’s strategic vision is to build new industrial value chains by integrating and supporting groups of SMEs in collaboration with other innovation actors.
The project aims to:
create open collaboration spaces for SMEs, Larger Enterprises (LEs) and other stakeholders in the biobased economy
identify new industrial value chain concepts maximizing the benefits for EU business and citizens
construct highly promising, disruptive and sustainable new industrial value chains by selecting synergistic groups of SMEs, LEs and other stakeholders, and
provide a diverse, stepwise and comprehensive innovation support programme that enables the efficient and optimal validation of new value chains and brings them closer to the market.
The SuperBIO project main objective is to build at least 10 new biobased value chains around innovative and promising ideas from the business community. In addition, SuperBIO will offer innovation services to at least 30 third-party SMEs that are part of identified value chains.
To further innovate in the EU bioeconomy, new partnerships and connections need to be established between different sectors (for example between chemistry and agriculture, between producers and end-users). SuperBIO helps to build these connections by engaging with the wider biobased business community. It supports cross sectorial and cross border industrial value chain building and provides innovation support services to SMEs.
Industrial stakeholders are invited to submit their idea for an innovative value chain to the SuperBIO project. The consortium ensures that their information will be treated as confidential throughout the process. The combined expertise in the biobased economy and skills of the consortium enable them to identify promising ideas for new innovative value chains. SuperBIO then supports cross sectorial and cross border development of the value chain of the selected ideas.
Once a value chain is created SuperBIO analyses the gaps to be filled and further requirements to bring this value chain closer to the market. Based on this, SuperBIO offers selected innovation services to SMEs that are part of the value chain. Six services providers are included in the consortium offering a combined set of 10 different professional innovation services: scale-up and proof-of-concept, IP support, life cycle assessment, techno-economic evaluation, feedstock analysis, market research, sustainability advice, business planning, access to investors and grant writing. These services are funded by the project for 75%, the remaining 25% being covered by the SME receiving the service.
This project will lead to the implementation of new value chains, the production of drop-in biobased chemicals and products and/ or the production of new chemicals and products with improved features. It can lead to investments in dedicated industrial production sites for the new value chains, for example via ESIF funds, and therefore provide leverage for the re-industrialisation of the EU using innovative technologies.
In brief, SuperBIO offers a unique opportunity to bring innovative, sustainable, cross border and cross sectorial biobased value chains closer to the market.
For more information on the SuperBIO project and the scope of its innovation services visit the project website (under construction).
This week (25 July) the European Commission unveiled its updated Horizon 2020 work programme for 2017. The packages announced by the Commission confirmed that in 2017 Horizon 2020 will support a range of SusChem relevant initiatives including Industry 2020 in the Circular Economy (€325 million) to develop strong and sustainable economies; Green Vehicles (€133 million); and Smart and Sustainable Cities (€115 million) to better integrate environmental, transport, energy and digital networks in the EU's urban environments.
In addition it was announced by Commissioner Moedas that for 2017 open research data will be introduced as the ‘norm’ for all new Horizon 2020 calls: projects funded under the programme will be required to offer free online access to all scientific data produced. The Commission believes that this move will boost competitiveness by accelerating innovation and collaboration, improving transparency, and avoiding duplication of efforts.
However, the Commission is aware that there are cases where research data cannot be open. Projects therefore have the possibility to opt out of the scheme, provided a valid justification is given such as protection of intellectual property.
A further new element in Horizon 2020 will be the use of Data Management Plans (DMPs), detailing what data the project will generate, whether and how it will be made accessible for verification and re-use, and how it will be curated and preserved. The use of a DMP is required for projects participating in the Open Research Data Pilot. Other projects are invited to submit a DMP if relevant for their planned research but only funded projects are required to submit a DMP.
The Commission wants the 2017 Horizon 2020 work programme update to support competitiveness through open science. The calls and other actions under the current work programme updates have a budget of €8.5 billion. All the calls and related information are published on a single portal and build on the success of Horizon 2020 to date.
The Horizon 2020 Work Programme is directly aligned with the agenda of the Commission. It will contribute to the Jobs, Growth and Investment Package helping to strengthen Europe’s global competitiveness through innovation to create new and sustainable jobs and promote growth.
The 2017 announcement highlighted six priorities:
A new Boost for Jobs, Growth and Investment - Research and innovation investments will cover both the immediate need to engage the re-industrialisation of Europe as well as the longer-term objective of building solid knowledge needed for the next wave of innovative breakthroughs. This includes around €1.45 billion of funding for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), including €438 million through a dedicated instrument which should benefit over 1 000 highly innovative SMEs.
A Stronger Global Actor, Towards a New Policy on Migration, and an Area of Justice and Fundamental Rights Based on Mutual Trust – this demonstrates the flexibility of Horizon 2020 to address topical issues including an €11 million package of migration actions and €49 million to assist research on the Fight against crime and terrorism.
A Resilient Energy Union with a Forward-Looking Climate Change Policy – to ensure that Europe has secure, affordable and climate-friendly energy including initiatives to close the water cycle gap, by reconciling water supply and demand in both quantitative and qualitative terms with a budget of €10 million in the 'Greening the economy' call and research to support the future development of a production base for next generation Lithium battery cells or post-lithium battery cells under the Green Vehicles cPPP. In total the 2017 energy calls dedicate more than €84 million for developing energy storage systems improving the flexibility of the energy grid to integrate an increasing share of renewables.
A Deeper and Fairer Internal Market with a Strengthened Industrial Base – this priority includes a call on Industry 2020 in the Circular Economy (€225 million) which will contribute to boosting and renewing Europe's industrial capacities while ensuring sustainability and a call on personalised medicine (€332 million).
A Connected Digital Single Market – to address existing barriers that access and providing innovative digital solutions including in electronics, computing, networking, robotics, photonics and cybersecurity.
Cross-cutting and other features - supporting a range of cross-cutting initiatives in 2017 including Industry 2020 in the Circular Economy (€325 million) and Smart and Sustainable Cities (€115 million).
Research Integrity
The EU's Horizon 2020 research funding programme has now a more specific set of rules on research integrity to be followed by beneficiaries. The revamped model agreement provides more clarity on previously general requirements contained in Article 34 of the agreement. The article now explicitly calls for beneficiaries to respect the principles of honesty, reliability, objectivity, impartiality, open communication, duty of care, and fairness and responsibility for future science generations.
The European Code of Conduct for Research Integrity has recently been revised in a process led by All European Academies (ALLEA), and once updated, in January 2017, the new code together with the revised Article 34 will constitute an effective mechanism to promote adherence to the highest standards of research integrity across Europe.
European Parliament Safeguards Horizon 2020 Funding
Meanwhile earlier this month the European Parliament adopted an own-initiative report that calls on the Commission and the European Council to support the report’s proposal to safeguard Europe’s research and innovation budget in the next Multiannual Financial Framework (MFF).
In its report, the European Parliament “regrets that the portion of the EU budget dedicated to research and innovation has often been the first to be affected by any cuts in the budget” and demands an increase to the ceiling of the competitiveness heading of the MFF in order to compensate for European Fund for Strategic Investments (EFSI) related cuts.
The SusChem Brokerage event will also outline SusChem relevant work package details and help participants to find project partners and start their Horizon 2020 journey! Register today!
The event will open with two plenary sessions: the first introducing Societal Challenge 5 on Climate Action, Environment, Resource Efficiency and Raw Materials followed by a session on effective proposal submission; and the second session covers open data and risk management issues.
This will be followed by parallel sessions covering the following topic areas:
Nature-based solutions & Cultural heritage for sustainable growth
Climate services and decarbonisation, The Arctic dimension and earth observation
In the afternoon there will be an extended brokerage and matchmaking session. Live webcast
If you can’t make it to Brussels on 14 September the morning plenary sessions and the parallel sessions will be webcast live (links available nearer the event) and after the event video recordings with sound and integrated slide presentations will be made available online too.
The SusChem Brokerage event is a unique opportunity for
industry, academia, SMEs and other sustainable chemistry research and innovation actors to get ready to develop consortia and submit funding
proposals targeting the more than 70 SusChem-relevant Horizon 2020-2017 call topics
with deadlines falling in the period Q4 2016 and Q1 2017.
The identified call topics include potential projects in research areas such as Raw Materials, Energy Sources, Process Technologies, Material Technologies and Horizontal Issues.
Project ideas for the Horizon 2020-2017 can be submitted on the GRANT-IT portal. All submitted project ideas will be made available to the SusChem
community and will allow interested partners to contact you for meeting requests when the SusChem Brokerage event 'speed dating' tool is open.
For additional information on the event and for questions
related to accommodation
or how to access the
venue, please visit the SusChem 2016 Brokerage event registration
portal at suschembrokerage.com. The SusChem 2016 Brokerage event is jointly organized with SusChem Spain.
The event will take place at the FIBES - Seville Conference Centre during the Sixth European Chemistry Congress organised by EuCheMS and the Asociación Nacional de QuÃmicos de España, ANQUE. The Congress itself runs from 11 to 15 September and is supported by SusChem Spain amongst others.
The Congress is a valuable and unique opportunity for the global community of chemistry professionals to meet, exchange ideas, explore the state of the art progress and debate the key issues underlying chemical science and practice. It is also where the European chemical community congregates and EuCheMS Divisions and sections showcase their research developments and plan future activities.
The scientific programme for the EuCheMS congress includes plenary lectures from world-leading scientists including Nobel Laureates, around 120 keynote and invited lecturers, with in total over 200 oral and poster sessions.
The Scientific programme is structured in horizontal major themes that include significant contributions to research at the forefront of chemical sciences in all areas related to chemistry: analytical, engineering, inorganic, physical, theoretical, biological, materials and technology. The main themes are for this year's Congress are outlined below.
Registration is now open for the BBI Open Info Day and brokerage event taking place on 21 April 2016 in the European Commission’s Charlemagne Building in Brussels. Registration for the event is free but mandatory with places offered on a ‘first-come, first-served’ basis so to guarantee a place register as soon as possible.
The aim of the 21 April event is to bring together potential participants interested in the BBI JU 2016 Calls for proposals. All potential applicants are welcome including SMEs, large industry and academic and research organisations.
The sessions will give participants useful information about how to participate in BBI JU’s 2016 Call for proposals, including how to apply, tips and tricks on writing a proposal, BBI Call rules, and how to submit a proposal. More information on the 2016 Call topics can be found in the BBI's 2016 Annual Work Plan.
The afternoon will provide an opportunity for participants to hold face-to-face introductory meetings using the BBI JU Partnering Platform. To take advantage of this opportunity delegates will first need to create or update a professional/corporate profile on the BBI JU partnering platform. More information on, and access to, the BBI JU Partnering platform can be accessed here.
In parallel with the brokerage event, participants will also have the opportunity to find out more about the Bio-based Industries Consortium (BIC), how synergies with other programmes (including SPIRE) are being realised and to meet national representatives from a number of member states. BBI JU programme office staff will also be on hand to answer specific questions about the BBI JU Call process and procedure. SPIRE projects
The day before the BBI event SPIRE is organising a conference to introduce its current project portfolio. This continues last year’s event “Introducing SPIRE-2014 projects” that attracted a large audience from the SPIRE community and beyond. The event on 20 April will feature SPIRE projects granted funding in 2014 and 2015 and will take place at the Silken Berlaymont Hotel on Boulevard Charlemagne in Brussels.
The SPIRE projects conference will aim to:
Disseminate the objectives and targets of the current SPIRE projects to the broad audience of SPIRE members, the European Commission, supporters, partners and other stakeholders
Discuss possible synergies and actions that can support the projects deliver on their objectives as well as future uptake of their deliverables
The meeting agenda will be organised around specific technological areas allowing representatives of various projects to learn about approaches and innovations in other projects, to exchange experiences on common issues and discuss new ideas.
The event is aimed at companies and research organisations that are interested in European Funding for Biobased Industries and who wish to work with European counterparts in collaborative research and innovation projects. During the morning the event will highlight information about the 2016 call for proposals from the Biobased Industries Consortium including views from industry and an overview of the purpose and objectives of the BBI JU. In the afternoon a highly participative session will support consortia building and proposal development.
BBI 2016.R4 - Flexible biorefining technologies able to handle different feedstock, leading to new value chains or enlarging existing ones by using the same processing plant
BBI 2016.R5 - Advanced biomaterials for smart food packaging
BBI 2016.R8 - Emerging technologies for conversion of the organic content of Municipal Solid Waste and improving waste-to-chemicals value chains
BBI 2016.R9 - Exploiting algae and other aquatic biomass for production of molecules for pharma, nutraceutic, food additives and cosmetic applications
BBI 2016.R10 – Industrial biotransformation for the production of bio-based chemicals
Many of the calls topics under the BBI JU require environmental and socio-economic assessments, such as LCA, therefore organisations with recognised strengths in this area are especially welcome to participate in this event.
The event will take place at the Chancellors Hotel (part of the University of Manchester) on the Fallowfields campus in south Manchester, UK.
Use our Grant-it tool to find your partners for the 2016-2017 Horizon 2020 calls! Following the SusChem brokerage event on October 6 2015 in Brussels, more than 20 project proposals can now be found on the Grant-it website and are freely accessible to all SusChem members. You can also browse for calls of interest to you and post our own proposals.
The project proposals can be found here and range across the portfolio of SusChem inspired calls in the Horizon 2020 work programmes for 2016-17. The proposals include ideas to optimize biocatalysis and processing, recovery of high-value raw materials from waste streams, novel smart food packaging, and 3D printing applications amongst many, many more ideas. Just use your SusChem username and password to get access!
One-stop shop Launched in 17 December 2013, the Grant-it portal is your ‘one-stop’ shop for information and project building tools for Horizon 2020 and a range of other financing initiatives for collaborative research and innovation projects in Europe.
The experience gained by SusChem in FP7 was used to shape the Grant-it portal to enable SusChem stakeholders to successfully engage with the new opportunities presented by Horizon 2020. The Grant-it website is your ‘one-stop’ access to funding opportunities from the European Commission and from selected national and regional governments in the field of sustainable chemistry.
With Grant-it you can search for funding opportunities, search for and identify project opportunities, propose project ideas, and search for potential project partners. The system also allows searches of past funded EU projects including FP5 to FP7 and other initiatives.
For SusChem
Grant-it is a password protected free service offered by Cefic to its members and SusChem stakeholders to further boost industry participation in collaborative research and innovation activities. SusChem members can log-in with their SusChem username and password.
Grant-it is based on the cloud-concept of sharing innovation knowledge, projects and funding between stakeholders in Europe and has been specially developed by Cefic for the SusChem community working with PNO Consultants and its software partner Innovation Engineering.
The objective of the BioHorizon Brokerage Event is to assist you in finding the right project partners for the SC2 calls for 2016. The new work programme for 2016 - 2017 has just been launched and the first proposal submission deadlines will be at the beginning of 2016, making this the perfect opportunity for your institution to begin building a consortium.
The main part of the day is dedicated to bilateral meetings between participants interested in the same topics. On the basis of the registration form inputs, the organisers will prepare an individualised schedule of bilateral meetings for participants. The programme for the event will also see attendees provided with information on what makes a good consortium, and provide a selection of researchers and entrepreneurs a platform to present their project ideas during a series of five minute flash presentations.
The partnering event will target a wide spectrum of stakeholders, from companies (including SMEs), universities, research organisations and other interested parties, from Europe and beyond, seeking to share new project ideas and to find collaboration partners for the Horizon 2020 SC2 work programme for 2016.
About BioHorizon BioHorizon is a network of specialised NCPs (National Contact Points) for Horizon 2020 within the scope of the Societal Challenge 2 (SC2) “Food security, sustainable agriculture and forestry, marine and maritime and inland water research and the bioeconomy” and the Key Enabling Technology (KET) “Biotechnology” (KET-B). The network consists of officially appointed Food Security NCPs and Contact Points in International Cooperation Partner Countries coordinated by the Instytut Podstawowych Problemów Techniki Polskiej Akademii Nauk (IPPT PAN) in Poland.
The mission of BioHorizon is to facilitate transnational cooperation within the network of BIO NCPs with a view to identifying and sharing good practices in order to improve general standard of support to programme applicants taking into full consideration the diversity of stakeholders and actors involved in SC2 and KET Biotechnology.
Best wishes,
