European Sustainable Chemicals Support Service Final conference

The European Commission and the European Chemical Regions Network (ECRN) invite you to the final conference of the European Sustainable Chemicals Support Service entitled: 'Boosting regional investments in sustainable chemicals' that is taking place on 14 September in Brussels. The Sustainable Chemicals Support Service initiative was organised by a consortium of Cefic, PNO and CIRCE.

The event aims to present the results of the European Sustainable Chemicals Support Service initiative 'Six Model demonstrator regions for sustainable chemical production', that was funded by the European Commission. It will feature success stories and best practices from the six regions, selected by the European Commission as 'model demonstrator regions' in Europe for a sustainable chemical industry.

The regions are:

• Andalusia (Spain)
• Groningen-Drenthe (The Netherlands)
• Kosice (Slovakia)
• Scotland (United Kingdom)
• South and Eastern Ireland
• Wallonia (Belgium)

The Conference will also present the publicly available self-assessment tool, developed by the initiative, which aims to support all European regions to assess their investment readiness level to produce chemicals in a sustainable manner.

This event is free of charge and will be held in English.

You can get more details and register here.

Sustainable chemicals

The aim of the European Sustainable Chemicals Support Service initiative was to encourage investments in sustainable chemicals production in Europe that will contribute to the development of the circular economy, for example by taking advantage of domestically available feedstock such as biomass, waste or CO2.

Cefic and SusChem have been very supportive of collaboration within and between chemical regions based on concepts such as Industrial Symbiosis. This was demonstrated by Cefic-SusChem participation in the Chemical Regions for Resource Efficiency (R4R) FP7 project and expressed in the 2015 SusChem position paper on Circular Economy.

Sustainable Chemistry for Life - The Role of Chemistry in the European Bioeconomy

The Thirteenth Congress of the European Chemical Regions Network (ECRN) brings together decision-makers, industry representatives, researchers and stakeholders to exchange experiences on policies and good practices on sustainability, chemistry and the bioeconomy on 8 and 9 October in Novara and Milan, Italy. The discussions will be enriched by a ‘Market of Ideas’ introducing regional activities, innovative products and projects from chemical regions across Europe. You are invited to join the event, present your activities and be inspired by others!

The ECRN event will be organised in two parts. The first day will be held in Novara and the second day in Milan. The first day will focus on sustainable innovations and technological advancements in the field of biotechnology and bioeconomy and the second day will address policies and future perspectives.

Discussions will be linked to the broad themes of Expo Milan 2015, “Feeding the Planet, Energy for Life” and enriched by a “market of ideas” introducing regional experiences, best practices and projects that illustrate the variety of activities taking place across Europe's chemical regions.

The Market of Ideas
The afternoon of the first Congress day (8 October) is dedicated to presenting and exhibiting examples of regional projects and innovative chemical companies and clusters. Representatives from projects and organisations will have a chance share their stories with other participants. The Market of Ideas is an open, interactive session for networking and finding new partners and contacts. It provides regional and industrial actors, SMEs, (inter)regional projects, research institutes, clusters and other organizations with an opportunity to showcase their initiatives and success stories and build bridges across the value chain.

Each presenter will have their own space for networking and meeting other interested participants. Beyond brokerage or matchmaking, participants can learn from each others’ experiences and find new contacts. In addition to networking between individuals, a moderator will draw attention to interesting initiatives in the market with on-the-spot mini-interviews.

Participants should prepare a brief abstract (~ 250 words) on their project, product or organisation for the congress materials and organize any supporting materials you might need for your “market stall” – such as roll-up(s), flyers, brochures, reports, laptop presentations etc. - to promote their activities.

Reasons to participate in the ECRN Congress Market of Ideas include:

• Benefiting from a platform for networking opportunities and meeting valuable new contacts (decision-makers and stakeholders from authorities, academia and industry)
• Gaining visibility by having your project or organization presented in the congress materials and on the event website
• Using the opportunity to participate in the entire Congress programme (in Novara and Milan), the Congress reception, and visit the major EXPO 2015 in Milan.
• Participating in and presenting your activities is free – all you need to do is register!

Participating and presenting in the Market of Ideas is free of charge, but advance registration is required. Registration is being handled by the ECRN Secretariat in Brussels and the office can also provide additional information to interested potential participants. The secretariat can be contacted via email.

More details on the Conference can be found on the ECRN website and the Congress programme can be downloaded here.

SusChem and the bioeconomy
The opening ECRN session will highlight the ways in which chemistry and chemical innovations can enhance and contribute to the bioeconomy and sustainability. Chemistry is a key source for sustainable solutions and future challenges on issues like sustainable feeding or biobased solutions for a circular economy are very important for the chemical industry.

The SusChem Strategic Innovation and Research Agenda (SIRA) has a dedicated chapter on ‘A Sustainable and Inclusive Bioeconomy’ and SusChem is an essential link between the chemical industry, industrial biotechnology and stakeholders in the bioeconomy.

The platform is actively involved in two large and relevant PPPs between the European Commission and industry launched in 2014:

• The Joint Technology Initiative ‘Biobased Industries’ (BBI) that brings together research and industry partners along the whole value chain of biobased products and focuses on innovation for products from biobased feedstock.
• The PPP ‘Sustainable Process Industry through Resource and Energy Efficiency’ (SPIRE) that provides a solid basis for academia, SMEs, and multinational companies to collaborate on cross-sectorial initiatives in these areas.

SusChem contributes to the alignment of both initiatives. The interface between BBI and SPIRE is the provision and use of biobased platform chemicals. In addition, both PPPs may support projects using biotechnological conversion processes and specific improvements of biotechnology processes may be eligible for funding through either PPP. SusChem will enable the coherence of ongoing and future funding initiatives and the deployment of flagship projects that demonstrate technological leadership and that Europe is a globally competitive location to invest in the bioeconomy.

For more information on SusChem's Bioeconomy activities, contact Cefic Innovation Manager for the Bioeconomy Flavio Benedito.

Making it happen for Chemical SMEs

On 24 February the European Chemical Regions Network (ECRN) organised a workshop in Brussels on “Small and Medium- sized enterprises, the engine of the European Industry”. The workshop took place at the Committee of the Regions and SusChem was there to present its activities in support of SMEs in the chemical industry across Europe.

The event was hosted by the Committee of the Regions and was opened by Mr. Hartmut Moellring, ECRN President and Minister of Science and Economic Affairs, Saxony-Anhalt, Germany and Karl-Uwe Buetof, ECRN Vice President and Director, Ministry of Economic Affairs, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. Both ECRN spokesmen stressed the importance of SMEs in Europe, which represent more than 95% of the total industry with slightly differences depending on the specific sectors.

SusChem supports SMEs
Cristina Gonzalez (pictured below) from Feique (the Spanish Federation of Chemical Industries) and the Secretariat of SusChem Spain presented on behalf of SusChem and talked about “Chemical SMEs, making it happen”. The percentage of SMEs in the European chemical industry is more than 95%, with a similar figure for Spain itself.

She presented Cefic and Feique, and explained the role of SusChem, the European Technology Platform on Sustainable Chemistry and its network of National Technology Platforms. She highlighted how Feique and SusChem Spain can help Spanish SMEs in addressing regulation and other aspects having an impact in their daily business activities, such as raising awareness and training them in aspects of the REACH legislation; and the open innovation portal (SusChem innova) to facilitate consortia building.

Finally she presented the SusChem project “Skills needed for Innovation”, a survey run among larger chemical companies to identify skill gaps and requirements. The results of this survey had also been validated with SMEs. She described the SusChem programme “Educate to Innovate” that is focused on exploiting innovation results from R&I projects, enhancing innovation skills and engaging industry and higher education institutions. You can download her presentation here.

Regions for SMEs
Earlier Thomas Wobben, Director of Horizontal Networks and Studies, Committee of the Regions talked about the key role of regional authorities in supporting SMEs. He announced the adoption of the Energy package for Europe to be approved in the Spring Council which will have a significant impact on the Chemical Industry as one of Europe’s major energy users.

The Committee of the Regions interact very closely with the EU regions to promote entrepreneurship in SMEs and to develop fitness assessments on how regulations affect the activities of small and medium companies.

The Small Business Act (SBA) adopted by the EU Commission aims to address the needs of Europe SMEs by establishing 10 principles to guide the implementation of EU policies. Skills and innovation, together with public support for their needs and facilitating information provision are amongst the key principles included.

The Committee of the Regions launched the European Entrepreneurial Region (EER) Award label to facilitate the implementation of the “Small Business Act for Europe” at regional and local levels. This project identifies and rewards European regions with excellent entrepreneurial visions with the label of “Entrepreneurial region of the year”. Some recent winners include the regions of County Kerry (Ireland, EER 2011); Murcia (Spain, EER 2011); State of Brandenburg (Germany, EER 2011) and Southern Denmark (Denmark, EER 2013).

Commission view
Joanna Drake, Director of Entrepreneurship and SMEs at the European Commission DG Growth highlighted the importance of SMEs for the European economy with more than 20 Million companies. She argued that complicity is the key to success; complicity with EU Institutions, National and Regional authorities, all working together to facilitate the existence of small companies, through information and helping them overcome barriers.

The burden of regulation has been identified as one of the major problems for SMEs. REACH has been highlighted as the most unfriendly regulation for small and medium enterprises. As a result, ECHA is now revising the process to help SMEs.

To support/encourage SMEs in Europe, some actions need to be taken into account, including cutting the time and cost for setting up a company; cooperation with authorities at all levels; facilitating access to finance; networking; internationalization; and giving SMEs more visibility. A lack of appropriate skills was also mentioned as a weaknesses for SMEs.

To conclude the workshop, some good practice examples from European chemical regions were presented: the Chemi-Cluster in Bayern; the Competitiveness & Innovation Unit in Wallonia; and KV consulting Services BVBA from Flanders.

ECRN SME Workshop

Small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) are of central importance to the European economy. They play a key role as providers of employment opportunities and serve an important function for the well-being and economies of local and regional communities. Moreover, they are often at the core of value networks and the creation of added value.

In this context European Chemical Regions Network (ECRN) is organising a workshop: ‘Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises – The Engine of the European Industry’ on 24 February from 14:00 to 17:00 at the Committee of the Regions in Brussels.

At the ECRN the workshop, the focus will focus on the important role of SMEs not only in the chemical industry but as an integral part of the overall European economic fabric. The event will bring together policy makers and practitioners to discuss how local authorities can design more efficient strategies to encourage the development of innovative SMEs. In particular, the workshop will provide substantive examples of how SMEs can be supported at the regional level and focus on the success factors and potentially transferable elements of such strategies or initiatives.

Cristina Gonzalez of SusChem Spain and Feique will be presenting at the workshop on behalf of SusChem. She will talk about “Chemical SMEs, making it happening” covering examples of innovative SMEs in Spain and how SusChem can help small enterprises to move forward, for example, by giving them support to get involved with European projects through information sessions, networking, etc.

Other presentations will include the ‘Key role of regional authorities in supporting SMEs’ from Thomas Wobben, Director of Horizontal Networks and Studies, Committee of the Regions and the ‘Importance of SME policy at all levels – European, national, regional’ by Joanna Drake, Director of Entrepreneurship and SMEs at the European Commission’s DG Growth.

Examples of good practise will be drawn from the regions of Bavaria, Wallonia, Flanders and North Rhine-Westphalia.

Further information
ECRN is committed to enhancing cooperation and exchange of experiences across regions and wants to draw attention to what can be achieved by leveraging regional competences and bringing concrete examples and experiences into European policy discussions.

You can view the event programme here and an ECRN background briefing on SMEs here. For more information and to register for the workshop contact the ECRN Secretariat by 20 February.