The report proposes two new KETs: artificial intelligence, and security and connectivity. The group also advises that, while biotechnology should be broadened to “life sciences”, the EU has to continue to prioritise advanced manufacturing technologies, advanced materials and nanotechnologies, micro-/nano-electronics and photonics.
With the right level of ambition and investment, KETs will contribute to support growth and democracy through stronger citizens’ engagement, and prosperity through more equality and better jobs.
Industry innovation
Pierre Barthelemy, Cefic executive director for innovation said: “Cefic welcomes the recommendations of the HLG to have digitalisation integrated into the KETs, in order to advance processes technologies, materials development and new business model creation.”
In this report, the HLG acknowledges a strong EU economy requires a strong industry. Economic growth should be coupled with manufacturing and service. “If Europe wants to be strong in manufacturing, we will need innovation and a new industry policy that gives high priority to KETs,” concluded Barthelemy.
KETs enable cross-sectorial industrial application and are instrumental in addressing societal challenges. The HLG recommends – in view of the Digital transformation and upcoming Horizon Europe / FP9 Framework programme – the following changes for KETs:
KETs conference
KETs will be discussed at the upcoming conference on “The Role of Key Enabling Technologies for Europe’s Competitiveness” organised by , the Permanent Representation of the Federal Republic of Germany to the European Union, the German chemical industry association (VCI) and the Federation of German Industries (BDI) on Tuesday, 15 May 2018, from 15:30 to 18:30.
The event will take place at the Permanent Representation of the Federal Republic of Germany to the European Union, Rue Jacques de Lalaing 8-14, 1040 Brussels. Prior registration is compulsory for this event.
You have just over one month to submit your entry for the ICIS Innovation Awards 2017! The awards were launched in 2004 by European Chemical News and are celebrating their fourteenth anniversary this year. The awards have grown in popularity with each succeeding year and SusChem has been proud to contribute to their judging panels on many occasions. This year SusChem board member Dr Pierre Barthelemy will be part of the judging panel. The awards include categories for company innovations and also recognise high performing individual entries.
Innovation is a key driver for sustainable growth and profitability in the chemical sector. And the ICIS Awards look to recognise and reward the very best in innovation in the chemical industry. Sustainable innovation is at the heart of SusChem’s priorities and the platform is happy to support the awards.
The ICIS Innovation Awards focus on companies and individuals that show high levels of innovation in products and processes, as well as providing benefits to the environment and advancing progress towards sustainability.
The winners will be those companies and individuals that have made significant steps forward in technological and business innovation, with tangible results emerging during 2016 and the early part of this year.
For the second year ICIS is again teaming up with Elsevier’s R&D Solutions as the overall sponsor of the awards and as a partner in the Alpha Innovator of the Year Awards for individual achievement that were launched last year.
Judging panel
The awards are open to any chemical company or collaborative effort between industry and academia anywhere in the World. The judging panel will be looking for innovative projects that solve problems or provide solutions for the company or its customers or that demonstrate an innovative approach to business, the environment and sustainability.
Pierre (pictured left) is executive director for research and innovation at Cefic, representing the priorities of the chemical industry towards the EU institutions for innovation-related aspects. He joined Solvay in 1988 and was seconded to Cefic in 2014. He has a PhD in chemistry from the University of Liège, Belgium
"I am really pleased to be part of this year's ICIS Innovation awards judging panel," said Pierre. "And am looking forward to seeing some truly innovative and sustainable entries."
Pierre’s fellow members of the 2017 judging panel include Christina Valimaki, senior director, chemicals segment marketing, for Elsevier; Mike Lacey, new product identification manager within the New Product Platform group of Exxon Mobil Chemical; Just Jansz, an independent board member and advisor, and founder and MD of business and technology management consultancy Expertise Beyond Borders; Mike McKenna, COO for Maroon Group, a North American specialty chemical and ingredients distributor; Paul Bjacek, principal director and lead for Accenture’s chemicals and natural resources strategic research; and Peter Nieuwenhuizen, global research, development and innovation director, specialty chemicals, at AkzoNobel.
Which award?
Past ICIS awards winners have included the largest multinational and the smallest ‘micro’ SME – but the common denominator for success has always been the quality of the innovation. This year there are four prize categories for company entries to choose from:
Best Product Innovation
Best Innovation by a Small or Medium-sized Enterprise (SME)
Best Business Innovation
Innovation with Best Benefit for Environmental and Sustainability
An overall winner will be picked from the winners of the four individual categories.
In addition the Alpha Innovator of the Year Awards recognise individual scientists, engineers and other R&D professionals who are unafraid to tackle roadblocks head on, and who are unrelenting in their pursuit of innovation and optimisation as they strive to push the industry forward – not only as an industry but as a society.
Again this year, two individuals will be recognised as Alpha Innovators of the Year – one for their work in the area of product development and/or process optimisation and the other for innovations that help develop and promote environmental performance and sustainability in the chemical industry.
How to enter?
The ICIS Innovation Awards are open to any chemical company or individual, regardless of where they are based.
Having decided the appropriate category or categories you want to enter in either the ICIS Innovation Awards or Alpha Innovator of the Year Awards you then need to complete the relevant online application form that can be found at www.icis.com/awards, upload any supporting documents and click ‘submit’ – that is it!
The deadline for receipt of entries is 30 June 2017. A confirmation of receipt of your entry will be sent by email.
Winners of an award will receive a free trial to Reaxys, Elsevier’s R&D Solutions’ web-based tool for retrieval of chemistry information and data from published literature, including journals and patents; enjoy extensive editorial coverage in ICIS Chemical Business and ICIS online; be able to build on further publicity both within their company and externally, related to their success in the competition; be invited to an Awards lunch with the other winners, sponsors and judges later in the year; and receive an active Innovation Awards logo to host on their website, promoting their success in the competition.
The deadline for entries is 30 June 2017. A shortlist of successful entries in each category will be published in ICIS Chemical Business in August. Winners will be notified in September, and the announcement of the winners will be made in ICIS Chemical Business in October. Award presentations will be made in early December at a special lunch in a leading London venue.
For more information about the ICIS Chemical Business Innovation Awards view the launch video below or for specific queries contact John Baker at ICIS.
The conference programme includes sessions on ‘Sustainable Chemistry and the SDGs: Policy Options to Realise the 2030 Agenda’ including a panel discussion on how to mainstream sustainable chemistry into governmental and business policies and practises; ‘Mainstreaming Sustainable Chemistry: Opportunities and Challenges for ISC3’; ‘Sustainable Chemistry, Sustainable Development, Investment and Economics’ including a panel discussion on the main economic drivers for sustainable chemistry; and the scope, expectations and challenges for ISCnet
The conference also provides an opportunity to meet members of the ISCnet global network, which is open to everyone engaged in sustainable chemistry.
The conference will take place at the German Ministry for Environment, Nature Conservation, Building and Nuclear Safety situated on Potsdamer Platz in the heart of Berlin. Until 1989, the building was actually part of the Berlin Wall and part of the wall was preserved and can be visited inside the building. Please register via the ISC3 website.
What is ISC3?
The International Sustainable Chemistry Collaborative Centre (ISC3) wants to support the global breakthrough of Sustainable Chemistry. The project for the establishment of ISC3 was launched in March 2015 by the German Federal Environment Agency. ISC3 will act as a platform for the Sustainable Chemistry community, an incubator and multiplier of ideas and innovations, a think tank and source of inspiration, and as a knowledge base for Sustainable Chemistry. ISCnet will be the global network of all stakeholders, scientists and practitioners engaged in sustainable chemistry approaches. SusChem board members Klaus Kuemmerer and Pierre Barthelemy are members of the ISC3 Advisory Council.
The first issue of Elsevier's Current Opinion in Green and Sustainable Chemistry contains an article from SusChem on the 'European chemical industry's contribution to sustainable development' by Pierre Barthelemy and Esther Agyeman-Budu. The paper was presented at the inaugural Green and Sustainable Chemistry Conference that took place in Berlin on 3 to 6 April. SusChem board member Prof Klaus Kümmerer, Director of the Institute for Sustainable and Environmental Chemistry at Leuphana University Lüneburg was the chair of the conference organising committee.
The paper examines the role of chemical research and innovation as a key enabling factor in achieving a sustainable and equitable global society and shows how the European chemical sector is a key player in the global chemical and pharmaceutical market and has been working to improve its own sustainability for many decades.
The paper features how initiatives such as SusChem are developing new solutions that will further reduce the environmental impact of the sector, while boosting its energy and resource efficiency, and introducing new materials and processes based on renewable resources for use by society. Moreover these innovative solutions catalyse sustainability in other sectors and value chains and will help realise concepts such as a truly circular economy. Finally the paper shows how effective implementation of such solutions requires close cooperation between government, industry and research bodies.
Current opinion
Elsevier’s Current Opinion series of journals were developed out of the recognition that it is increasingly difficult for specialists to keep up to date with the expanding volume of information published in their subject.
Current Opinion in Green and Sustainable Chemistry covers:
The views of experts on current advances in Green and Sustainable Chemistry in a clear and readable form.
Evaluations of the most interesting papers, annotated by experts, from the great wealth of original publications.
All chemical aspects along the life cycle of chemicals as well chemical products and materials, for example resources, synthesis, use and after life issues.
Full article title: European chemical industry's contribution to sustainable development. Article reference: COGSC10 Journal title: Current Opinion in Green and Sustainable Chemistry Corresponding author: Dr. Pierre Barthelemy. Full bibliographic details: Current Opinion in Green and Sustainable Chemistry (2016), pp. 28-32 DOI information: 10.1016/j.cogsc.2016.08.002
Carbon Dioxide Utilisation (CDU) is a topic of growing interest around the world and as reported earlier a CO2 Forum panel on 'Impacts, Policies and Strategies of CDU' took place on September 15 in conjunction with the four-day International Conference on Carbon Dioxide Utilisation (ICCDU) in Sheffield, UK. The ICCDU is now organised as an annual event in response to the growing interest CDU in the academic community. ICCDU 2017 will take place in Shanghai. The CO2 Forum enjoyed a high level of representation from industry with presentations and participation in the debates from companies including Covestro, Carbon8, Total, 3M, and Sunfire.
The high level of debate was reinforced by the presence of delegates from the IEA and IASS Postdam. In addition several partners from the SusChem supported SCOT project were also present and discussed the conclusions and recommendations of their project.
This year, the CO2 Forum was truly international with the participation of a some US delegates sharing views and highlighting additional and currently less known up scaling projects such as Skyonic in the US and CarbFix in Iceland.
CDU (or #useCO2) approaches are a medium to long-term research and innovation priority of SusChem and are featured in the SusChem Strategic Innovation and Research Agenda (SIRA). SusChem inspired #useCO2 calls have been included in Horizon 2020 work programmes including those developed through the SPIRE PPP such as SPIRE calls 05-2016 and 08-2017.
Economic issues
Although more #useCO2 projects are being announced, the economics of CO2 valorisation remains a significant issue in the current conditions. More incentives and support schemes are needed to support technology development and demonstration of CDU technologies at the large scale.
Pierre Barthelemy, Executive Director Research and Innovation at Cefic participated in a panel debate at the CO2 Forum and highlighted the need for support across all Technology Readiness Levels (TRLs), in particular financial support is needed beyond TRL 7 (defined as 'system prototype demonstration in operational environment' under Horizon 2020). He also called for an appropriate regulatory framework that supports #useCO2 business cases.
Inevitably the discussion at the CO2 Forum also included the potential for Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS), however the slow development of this technology was highlighted. By 2025, CCS projects currently in the pipeline could capture only 10% of what is required to support the two degree scenario (2DS) discussed at COP21 in Paris. Clearly no technological option should be rejected and more innovation is needed to meet the challenge of climate change.
Club CO2 seminar
The technical and economic issues around #useCO2 projects will also be the subject of the second CO2 reuse seminar organised by ClubCO2 with the support of ADEME and the CO2Forum. This event takes place on 21 October 2016 in Lyon, France and will focus on the question: What are the economic and environmental benefits of CO2 reuse? The first ClubCO2 seminar was organised in Le Havre in May 2015, Club CO2.
The morning session (to be conducted in English) will present the current position and prospects for the policy-making, regulatory and economic aspects of CO2 reuse and analyses of the economic and environmental benefits of different CO2 conversion processes, based on industrial applications.
The afternoon parallel expert sessions will be organised in English and French speaking workshops with the aim of discussing and highlighting the conditions for the successful emergence of CO2 transformation technologies.
At the recent G20
Summit in Hangzhou, China the world’s leading
nations adopted the G20 2016 Innovation ActionPlan. The ambitious plan underlines the recognition by G20 leaders of the need to
“further advance innovation and assist member countries to create innovative
ecosystems” in order to foster innovation-driven growth. This approach is
broadly welcomed by SusChem as a long-time advocate of the need for innovation to
drive sustainable development. “Sustainable chemistry is a major driving force for innovation in Europe and beyond and essential for smart and sustainable growth across all sectors,” said Pierre Barthélemy, Executive Director, Research and Innovation at Cefic.
In their communique
issued at the end of the summit,
the G20 leaders highlight that “in the long run, innovation is a key driver of
growth for both individual countries and the global economy as a whole” and
commit to pursue pro-innovation strategies, policies and measures supporting
investment in science, technology and innovation.
The G20 communique noted that “To achieve innovation-driven growth and
the creation of innovative ecosystems, we support dialogue and cooperation on
innovation, which covers a wide range of domains with science and technology
innovation at its core” and “commit to pursue pro-innovation strategies and
policies, support investment in science, technology and innovation (STI), and
support skills training for STI - including support for the entry of more women
into these fields - and mobility of STI human resources”.
Commenting on the communique Pierre Barthélemy (left) said: “To truly tackle and solve our current societal challenges, Europe’s innovation landscape needs to be driven by a holistic approach. Innovation is not only about new technology development, it’s also about new ways of working together, having a workforce with the necessary skill-set, the integration of technology and working along value chains. This is the European chemical sector’s view on innovation.” “Through its products and processes, innovation from the chemical industry is a major driving force for innovation as a whole in Europe and is essential for smart and sustainable growth across all sectors,” he continued.
The G20 also stressed that “growth, to be strong, sustainable and
balanced, must also be inclusive… we place sustainable development high on the
G20 agenda” and “reaffirm our commitment to further align our work with the
universal implementation of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.”
A 2016 G20 Innovation Report will also be produced and released. As well as the Innovation Action
Plan the G20 also published a G20 Blueprint on Innovative Growth at the Summit.
The inaugural Green and Sustainable Chemistry Conference will take place in Berlin on 3 to 6 April. SusChem board member Prof Klaus Kümmerer, Director of the Institute for Sustainable and Environmental Chemistry at Leuphana University Lüneburg (pictured below) is the chair of the conference organising committee and will be giving an opening address and one of the keynote lectures on green and sustainable products. Fellow SusChem board member Dr Pierre Barthelemy, Executive Director of R&I at Cefic, will also contribute to the session on Context.
The conference will open with a high-level session as part of a comprehensive and wide-ranging programme that features keynote and invited speakers supplemented by more than 75 other presentations and an extensive poster session. Paul Anastas, Director of the Center for Green Chemistry and Green Engineering at Yale University and often referred to as the ‘Father of Green Chemistry’ will give the opening keynote lecture.
As the world’s population edges towards nine billion, the strain on the planet’s resources is steadily increasing. In both the developed and developing world there is a growing demand for food, manufactured goods and improved access to clean water and fuel. Over the past 30 years it has become obvious that the products of human manufacture, even those produced to benefit society, can have negative effects on human health and the environment.
The field of Green and Sustainable Chemistry developed to help monitor, understand and limit the impact that chemicals have on our environment. Sustainable chemistry is all about developing new methods to reduce waste, boost energy efficiency and improve use of resources. In this way chemistry can both contribute to more sustainable industrial growth and to a greener economy and environment.
The Green and Sustainable Chemistry conference has a broad scope, addressing many diverse fields of Green and Sustainable Chemistry. The goal of the meeting is to bring together international researchers, from academia and industry, to communicate and share the latest developments across the broad and diverse fields that comprise Green and Sustainable Chemistry.
The conference session topics include:
Mineral resources and recycling
Non-fossil sources for old and new organic molecules
Another unique feature of the conference will be the Green and Sustainable Chemistry Challenge. Entries for this competition consisted of projects that could be from any field of Green or Sustainable Chemistry but had to be applicable for use in developing countries.
At the conference the top five candidates will be invited to make presentations to a panel of judges. The winners will be selected from these five finalists and an award ceremony will held at the end of the conference. The winning project will receive €50 000; with a second prize of €25 000.
The session covered changing attitudes and approaches by the chemical sector to biobased, the measures needed to accelerate uptake of renewable feedstocks, and views on the most significant recent developments in the biobased industry sector.
Transformative
The SusChem session highlighted the transformative nature of the bioeconomy and its strong impact on the chemical industry. This goes beyond mere adoption of new feedstock; the emergence of the bioeconomy can lead to entirely new value chains, products with new or enhanced functionality, new markets and new business models.
The panelists in the session shared optimistic perspectives on its theme of the ‘chemical industry catching up with biobased’ including several highly relevant success stories. But they also expressed an array of motivations for considering biobased feedstock ranging from an opportunistic approach (the new properties and improved competitiveness that certain biobased products could provide) to strong consumer demand for some segments of the industry and longer term sustainability objectives.
The rational choice of raw materials and their smart use is a key factor for better resource and energy efficiency - indeed the bioeconomy is one option for the chemical industry to reach its challenging sustainability objectives. Therefore the chemical industry needs to be prepared to foster industrial symbiosis combining different technologies in a truly sustainable approach. For example, the combination of chemical and biotechnological processes can provide the tools to maximize the full potential of biomass.
“A Biorefinery is a good example of Industrial Symbiosis as it requires multiple partners”
Considering upstream aspects of the biobased value chain, raw material availability and feedstock price are major drivers that influence directly the development of new biobased products. On the other hand, consumer needs must be taken into consideration since the conception phase of new products and markets, as well as transparency via product labelling, are important to increase the acceptance of biobased products in society.
Cultural barriers and skills
The discussion covered the need to overcome cultural barriers with new or unusual partners and the necessity for the chemical industry to deal more closely with upstream partners in the biobased value chains. Looking at the challenge for another perspective an interesting question was: “Is biobased prepared to be part of the chemical industry?”
Panelists also stressed the need to communicate more and better to society/ the general public about the benefits of biobased products and services.
An interesting discussion within the panel and with the audience touched upon the skills required to develop the bioeconomy. New skills, including ways to work across different disciplines, are strongly required for the development of biobased value chains. However “the borders between disciplines are blurred” and this is a challenge that needs to be addressed.
The session was hosted by Cefic’s Executive Director Research and Innovation Pierre Barthélemy with Dr. Henrike Gebhardt of Evonik Industries, Reinhard Buescher of DG Grow, European Commission, François Monnet from Solvay, Dr. Stefan Lundmark of Perstorp AB, and Dr Marcel Wubbolts from DSM on the discussion panel (see above).
SusChem and the bioeconomy
Industrial Biotechnology is currently worth €23 billion representing just 6% of sales in the overall worldwide chemicals market. However, the sector is significantly out-performing the overall chemicals market at an impressive 20% annual growth rate and has the potential to become the dominant technology of tomorrow’s chemicals industry.
The SusChem Strategic Innovation and Research Agenda (SIRA) includes 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.
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 on-going 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.
EFIB 2015 Highlights
Further reporting on the activities at EFIB2015 and preliminary details on EFIB2016 to be held in Glasgow from 18 to 20 October 2016 can be accessed via the EFIB website.
A short video featuring highlights from the EFIB2015 conference and exhibition is embedded below.
Innovation – a simple concept and an essential one for the chemical industry is the message of a recent special report in ICIS Chemical Business that featured SusChem and the SPIRE PPP. Both Cefic’s Executive Director, Research and Innovation Pierre Barthélemy and Loredana Ghinea, executive director of SPIRE are interviewed in the article by ICIS editor John Baker.
In his interview Pierre Barthélemy (right) emphasises the commitment of the chemical industry to innovation to increase industry’s contribution to GDP and address global societal challenges like climate change and an ageing population. “Addressing these issues is something we can do only if we innovate,” he says.
Pierre also talked about the chemical industry’s role in improving resource efficiency through developing better materials and processes and stimulating collaboration along value chains.
SusChem
Pierre points out that the industry’s recognition of the need to invest more in innovation collectively was a major driver behind the SusChem initiative. In particular the platform has helped to identify and develop major public-private-partnerships (PPPs) – specifically the SPIRE PPP (see below) and the BioBased Industries Joint Undertaking.
He also highlights SusChem’s work in progressing initiatives for the use and valorisation of carbon dioxide. These innovations have the potential to provide opportunities for new chemical feedstocks and for chemical energy storage, he explains.
SPIRE PPP
The two key goals for the PPP ‘Sustainable Process Industry through Resource and Energy Efficiency’ (SPIRE) are spelled out in its title and also require innovation. As well as delivering environmental benefits energy and resource intensity are two prime costs in the process industries. “There is a drive to innovate with new technologies that deal with these costs,” says Loredana Ghinea.
SPIRE aims to address three fundamental challenges in Europe:
The urgency to create growth and increase competitiveness in a global market
The need to rejuvenate the European process industry
The imperative to reduce resource and energy inefficiency and the environmental impact of industrial activity
SPIRE has its own strategy for research and innovation. “We are already attracting high interest and the first very promising projects have begun this year, with 18 now agreed and up and running,” says Loredana (left).
The SPIRE PPP is clearly of importance to the chemical sector with 27 chemical companies already involved. “We are bringing companies together to discuss and identify strategic innovation priorities and actions,” she states.
With major chemical players looking to move into biobased products and processes the interview focuses on key questions surrounding the session: ‘Is the chemical industry catching up with biobased’. The interview covers changing attitudes and approaches by the chemical sector to biobased, the measures needed to accelerate uptake of renewable feedstocks, views on the most significant recent developments in the biobased industry sector and what they hope the EFIB session will achieve.
Pierre (right) says: “It is important to keep looking at success stories and achievements in the chemical industry, but it is even more important to highlight the challenges faced by the chemical industry to embrace the bio-based approach more widely. Switching to different feedstock is not just a technical challenge. It creates new value chains with different stakeholders that have to understand each other. It is essential for the chemical industry to explain its expectations and challenges in order to make progress in building the connections between stakeholders in these new value chains.”
“EFIB is an excellent platform to network with stakeholders from academia, finance, governments, industry, and NGOs,” comments Henrike (left). “This year I am especially looking forward to getting a insight into the approach of several brand owners to bio-based products, because they are closest to customers’ needs.”
Joining Pierre and Heinrike at the EFIB session will be Reinhard Buescher, Head of Unit for Chemicals Industry at DG Grow giving the view of the European Commission. Further insights from industry will be presented by François Monnet, Exec VP for Renewable Chemistry at Solvay, Dr. Stefan Lundmark of Perstorp AB, and Dr Marcel Wubbolts from DSM who was recently awarded CTO of the Year 2015. The presentations will be followed by a group discussion.
The session will cover topics such as differentiation in times of barrel price volatility, meeting changing consumer needs and connecting uncommon partners in new biobased value chains.
Industrial Biotechnology is currently worth €23 billion – this represents just 6% of sales in the overall worldwide chemicals market. However, the sector is significantly out-performing the overall chemicals market at an impressive 20% annual growth rate and has the potential to become the dominant technology of tomorrow’s chemicals industry - and represents a huge future opportunity.
SusChem and the bioeconomy
The SusChem Strategic Innovation and Research Agenda (SIRA) includes 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.
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 on-going 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.
