Apply now for LIFE Funding! The LIFE programme is the EU’s funding instrument for the environment and climate action. LIFE contributes to the implementation, updating and development of EU environmental and climate policy and laws by co-financing projects with European added value. Since its creation in 1992, LIFE has been through a number of different funding periods. The current funding period 2014-2020 has a budget of EUR 3.4 billion and the 2019 LIFE Call for project proposals will be launched at the beginning of April and published on the LIFE Calls website.
Participants will be invited to a morning information session on the 2019 LIFE call, covering the significant changes to the programme compared to previous years.
The afternoon will be dedicated to networking with fellow participants to share experience, match with potential new partners and meet representatives of the LIFE programme from the European Commission.
The main topics in the 2019 call will cover:
Environmental technologies and solutions including water, waste, air quality, soil, forest, health
Climate change adaptation
Climate change mitigation
Nature conservation and biodiversity
Climate and environmental governance and information initiatives
The agenda
The #EULife19 event will open with a review of the policy drivers of the LIFE programme led by Julien Guerrier, Director of EASME (the European Commission's Executive Agency for SMEs) before the 2019 programme call for action grants: priorities and novelties will be outlined.
There will be an opportunity for questions on the programme calls before a session on tips for a successful application.
After lunch an afternoon of networking and consortium building is foreseen with participants interested in applying for LIFE funding having the chance to find potential project partners or seek advice from EASME experts and National Contact Points in one-to-one meetings.
Why should you participate?
To find and meet potential partners for your next LIFE project
One of the key elements of the RECREATE project was the development of the RECREATE Green Horizons Scoreboard. The scoreboard gives access to a unique combination of indicators on innovation systems for sustainability, covering EU28 and additional European countries. The scoreboard allows users to make comparative analyses on sustainability innovation across countries, years and innovation systems.
To show potential users the possibilities provided by the Scoreboard, RECREATE has produced an instructional video that takes users through a number of example analyses.
To achieve this, RECREATE built on the following specific objectives:
Assessing the impact of potential break-through innovations in the relevant fields
Developing scenarios and analysing trends that help to define research and innovation priorities
Benchmarking Member States' performance in the relevant fields
Creating and maintaining a broad network of stakeholders that get involved in the above activities
Transmitting the knowledge produced by the project effectively to policy-makers and other target groups
RECREATE will provide evidence and intelligence concerning the future directions of these research fields. Watch the video below to find out more or go to the RECREATE project website.
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.
From May 24 to 28 the Startup Fest Europe is taking place in the Netherlands under the patronage of Prince Constantijn van Oranje. This exciting cluster of events is designed to connect innovative talent and their breakthrough technologies with investors and corporate innovators worldwide. As part of this event on Thursday 26 May Shell, DSM, Eneco, Rockstart, Sungevity and Salesforce are hosting an Energy Fest at the Shell Technology Centre in Amsterdam. The event will explore how innovators are tackling the biggest energy transition challenges.
Energy Fest promises to be an exciting day of energy technology innovation featuring breakthrough solutions and disruptive technologies in the start-up ecosystem. Energy Fest will experiment with taking collaboration and creativity to a new level that can tackle our current energy challenges and tap into new opportunities. The event offers accelerated match-making between venture capital investors, corporate innovation programmes and start-up companies to stimulate collaboration as well as ‘bigger picture’ insights from government and thought leaders.
If you are a start-up, corporate, venture capitalist or someone with an interest in energy innovation then you should attend Energy Fest to hear leading experts speak at the Energy Fest conference and panels. The speakers include Maros Sevkovic (Vice President of the European Commission responsible for the Energy Union policy), Bertrand van Ee (CEO of the Climate KIC), and Rob van Leen (Chief Innovation Officer at DSM). Connect and collaborate
The event will allow delegates to connect and collaborate with great thinkers from Silicon Valley and The Netherlands, to explore our Start-up Village displaying a multitude of exciting energy start-ups and enjoy facilitated matchmaking between start-up companies, venture capitalists, corporates, start-up accelerators and potential customers. You can also discover the corporate innovation support programmes available to innovators and start-ups at Shell, DSM, Salesforce and Eneco.
You can also attend our start-up pitch competitions. Energy Fest will hold an open pitch competition focusing on three areas ripe for innovation:
Renewable Energy & Storage
IT in Energy, and
Oil & Gas
If you are a start-up looking for funding and acceleration then you cannot afford to miss this opportunity to present your ideas to a broad audience of potential investors and an expert jury. How to register
Attending the Energy Fest is free of charge, but there are only a limited number of places available. To reserve your place, please click on this link to register today!
The European Commission is starting to prepare the next Horizon 2020 Work Programme and calls for proposals that will cover the period 2018-2020. Within Societal Challenge 5, research and innovation aims to "achieve a resource – and water – efficient and climate change resilient economy and society, the protection and sustainable management of natural resources and ecosystems, and a sustainable supply and use of raw materials, in order to meet the needs of a growing global population within the sustainable limits of the planet's natural resources and eco-system."
Since Horizon 2020 was adopted the socio-economic and policy context has changed. For Societal Challenge 5, the budget to be allocated for 2018-2020 will be of the order of EUR 1 billion and to ensure relevance a new consultation of stakeholders is required for this final programming period.
Consultation questions
The consultation seeks answers to the following questions:
What are the challenges in the areas of Societal Challenge 5 that require action under the Work Programme 2018-2020? Would they require an integrated approach across the Horizon 2020 Societal Challenges and Leadership in Enabling and Industrial Technologies?
What is the output/impact that could be foreseen? Which innovation aspects could reach (market) deployment within 5-7 years?
Which gaps (in science and technology, innovation, markets, policy, financing and governance, regulation etc.) and potential game changers, including the role of the public sector in accelerating changes, need to be taken into account?
Which areas could benefit from integration of horizontal aspects such as social sciences and humanities, responsible research and innovation, gender aspects, international cooperation?
In view of the recent evolution of the socio-economic and policy context, what are the emerging priorities for Societal Challenge 5?
Responses should cite any available supporting evidence such as foresight and other assessments of research and innovation trends and market opportunities, across the six sub-challenges of Societal Challenge 5.
These are: Fighting and adapting to climate change; Protecting the environment, sustainably managing natural resources, water, biodiversity and ecosystems; Ensuring the sustainable supply of non-energy and non-agricultural raw materials; Enabling the transition towards a green economy and society through ecoinnovation; Developing comprehensive and sustained global environmental observation and information systems; and Cultural heritage.
From 30 November to 11 December 2015, world leaders will meet in Paris at the Conference of the Parties (COP-21) of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). Their objective will be to seek agreement on a global framework to reduce global greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, strengthen climate resilience and mobilise global political will to address the global climate challenge. This is a challenge that requires the contribution of a sustainable chemistry sector.
In early November leaders of Cefic, the European chemical industry association, published a signed letter in the Financial Times expressing firm support for government’s efforts to secure a strong, globally binding climate change agreement at COP21 in Paris. The full text of the letter to The Financial Times is reproduced below.
The letter clearly stated that the chemical industry does and will continue to support efforts by European governments and institutions to achieve a competitive, low carbon economy. However the leaders stressed the importance of the word “competitive” in that sentence: only a competitive, sustainable European chemical industry can contribute to the achievement of a low carbon economy through its essential innovations.
Sustainability is an overriding priority for the chemical industry and the industry can do much to change societal production and consumption patterns. In particular the sector can promote resource efficient products and is a key enabler for the advanced innovative products and services that can deliver sustainable solutions throughout the economy. Together with supply chain partners, the chemical industry takes a holistic approach to sustainability. With a skilled workforce, a sustainable chemical sector can develop and produce innovative products, services and solutions for a growing global population, while striving to conserve our planet’s resources and respecting the environment.
And SusChem-inspired initiatives and actions are a key part of this.
Cefic statement
Jean-Pierre Clamadieu, CEO Solvay and Cefic President elaborates more on the importance of sustainability and the chemical industry in the video below.
You can find out much more about the European Chemical Industry’s approach and view on COP-21, including more video interviews with chemical industry leaders, here.
An open letter to the European Council, European Commission and European Parliament
The European chemical industry backs strong global climate change agreement at COP21
"We, leaders of the European chemical industry, applaud the diplomatic efforts to achieve an ambitious and globally-binding agreement in the Paris climate negotiations next month. Climate action is needed worldwide, to truly protect future generations from this global problem.
Today, the chemical industry is a pillar of the European economy: a €551 billion industry in 2014 with a significant trade surplus of €43.5 billion, providing over 1 million direct jobs and nearly 2.5 million indirect jobs in Europe.
We believe the chemical industry is also a pillar of tomorrow’s low carbon economy.
We represent a creative industry, whose greenhouse gas emissions have fallen by 54% on 1990 levels while production grew by 70%. So, we want to set the record straight that Cefic does, and will continue to, support efforts by European governments and institutions to achieve a competitive, low-carbon economy.
Chemistry is often all but invisible yet essential to consumers’ everyday lives: from health and hygiene to transport, construction and computing. Chemical innovation enables current and future climate change solutions, including renewable energy, energy storage and thousands of products to improve energy efficiency, such as in vehicles and buildings. In future years, chemical companies around the world will develop many more of these innovative and important solutions.
For now, Europe’s chemical industry is facing the reality of ever fiercer global competition. It must remain competitive in order to continue being innovative.
Climate change policy leadership in Europe should not come at the expense of ‘investment leakage’ – the effect of regional imbalances in climate regulations and associated cost differences that lead to the relocation of carbon emissions but not to an overall global reduction. For this reason we would warmly welcome a successful outcome in next month’s climate negotiations. Meanwhile Europe’s policymakers also need to make certain that measures are in place ensuring energy-intensive industries are not exposed to investment leakage in any scenario. European deindustrialisation is not and should never be seen as a viable option on the journey to decarbonisation.
We wish success to all involved in the negotiations in Paris next month."
The events are theme-based and reflect the main interests of the UK research and industry community following preparatory work between the NCPs and many UK organisations for the 2016 - 2017 Work Programme. The events will be ideal places to learn about many interesting potential project ideas and to link up with project partners.
Attending one of the UK events will allow you to hear about the details of the SC5 funding calls and also to meet and network with organisations interested in collaboration.
More information
For more information or to take advantage of our extensive UK network of industry and academia contacts for partner searching opportunity (provided both via the Knowledge Transfer Network and the Enterprise Europe Network), please contact Ewa Bloch UK National Contact Point for EU Horizon 2020 - Climate action, environment, resource efficiency and raw materials (Societal Challenge 5). Ewa will also be at the 21 September InfoDay in Brussels.
To register for regular updates from Horizon 2020 UK NCPs visit the UK Horizon 2020 website.
