SusChem: Mixing and Moving for Mobility!

European Mobility Week 2018 is focusing on 'multimodality' - the mixing of transport modes within the same journey or for different trips. This EU-wide week of events takes place from 16 to 22 September 2018 under the slogan ‘Mix and Move!’ and is encouraging  EU citizens to explore the many different options available for getting from A to B. Embracing the concept of multimodality means rethinking the way we move about our cities and being willing to try out new forms of more sustainable mobility.

Mobility is one of the major challenges facing our urban areas today. And it is an area where SusChem and sustainable chemistry is contributing significantly. SusChem’s 2015 Strategic Innovation and Research Agenda has a dedicated chapter on Smart, Green and Integrated Transport covering many innovations that are vital to achieving more sustainable mobility and has also focused on specific innovations in lightweight materials and advanced battery storage technologies.

Chemistry contributions

Electric mobility must play an important role in the future and chemistry already offers numerous products and solutions in this area. The battery is the key component in electric vehicles and chemistry can make this technology more affordable, powerful and secure with the aim of increasing the range of vehicles.

SusChem has recently published a White Paper on Battery Energy Storage addressing the current state of battery technologies in Europe, outlining the main challenges and suggesting future action options.

Smart mobility – sustainable solutions

Similarly, lightweight design of vehicles is important as lowering the weight of a vehicle enables increased range can increase and / lower energy use. The chemical industry offers tailor-made polymers for many different applications from vehicle bodies to the engine compartment. SusChem has published its ideas on how Polymer Composites can enable automotive sustainability and more recently a White Paper on the technology and non-technology requirements for ensuring such advanced materials  can be successfully integrated into the circular economy.

Future vehicles must be made using recyclable materials, such as bio- and smart-materials, that can ensure vehicles do not become waste at the end of their useful life. And new tyre concepts can reduce rolling resistance and extend range. SusChem has a significant focus on advanced material technologies that can enable breakthrough application development across a wide range of value chains.

Managing energy in vehicles is  also important for efficiency, especially for electric vehicles. In summer, air conditioning consumes additional energy, while in winter good insulation is important. In contrast to internal combustion engines the electric motor produces almost no ‘waste’ heat. Chemical products can help here: special pigments applied on the windows reduce the warming of the interior in the sun, while high-performance foams offer perfect insulation in the winter.

While the internal combustion engine remains a significant vehicle propulsion source, sustainable chemistry will help through new catalytic exhaust gas treatments to remove organic compounds and fine particles. And fossil fuels can be substituted by synthetic fuels made, for example, by the conversion of carbon dioxide (CO2) with solar energy or by fuels made from renewable (biomass) sources. Hydrogen produced efficiently from renewable sources is also a potential emission-free alternative to fossils fuels.

You can find out more about some of the solutions that sustainable chemistry can provide to meet the mobility challenge for Smart Cities and help stem urban air pollution on the dedicated Smart Cities pages of SusChem's Innovation for Growth website.

What is European Mobility Week?

EUROPEANMOBILITYWEEK is an annual campaign on sustainable urban mobility supported by the European Commission’s directorates for Energy and Transport. The aim of the campaign is to encourage European local authorities to introduce and promote sustainable transport measures.

The week runs from 16 to 22 September every year and sees events taking place across Europe and globally. Since 2002 EUROPEANMOBILITYWEEK has sought to influence mobility and urban transport issues, as well as improve the health and quality of life of citizens. The campaign also gives citizens the chance to explore what the role of city streets really is, and to explore concrete solutions to tackle urban challenges, such as air pollution.

To discover more about how participating cities have used the campaign to enhance their sustainable transport policies, visit the EUROPEANMOBILITYWEEK website.

Catalysts for Cleaner Cement Production

Sustainable chemistry has a major role in building our future Smart Cities, ensuring our technologies are as clean as possible and providing the basis for 'green' living.

SusChem has provided much input on chemistry's contribution to energy efficiency in buildings and their contribution to Smart Cities initiatives including the SusChem report "Innovative chemistry for Energy efficiency of buildings in smart cities" and our visionary flagship project the Smart Energy Home. 

Another clear example of chemistry's contribution to cleaner construction is provided by Clariant. Cement production generates considerable harmful emissions including fine particulate matter, nitrogen oxides and ammonia, volatile organic compounds, carbon monoxide, carbon dioxide and sulfur oxides. Cement is the main component of concrete, the most widely used construction material in the world.

Using a combined catalytic process the emissions from cement production can be reduced by 90% or more. In a first stage nitrogen oxides and ammonia in the cement process flue gas react on a catalytic layer, where they bind to iron active centres. The molecules interact with each other forming water and harmless nitrogen.

In the next stage remaining organic contaminants and carbon monoxide are eliminated by catalytic oxidation in an innovative ceramic honeycomb catalyst with an activated zeolite-coated surface. The zeolite matrix provides durable protection against dust, sulfur oxides, and moisture which can result in fast catalyst deactivation. This key innovation enables the catalyst to survive under the harsh conditions of the process for a considerable time.

Benefits
Using the two-stage process toxic pollutants are almost completely purified with pollutant emissions reduced by 90% and more meaning that required emissions standards for hazardous air pollutants can be easily met by cement plants. You can find out more about this innovative process in the video below.

For more information on SusChem initiatives for Smart Cities and construction materials, please contact SusChem coordinator Jacques Kormornicki at Cefic.

SusChem: Moving on Mobility!

Today (16 September) the EU-wide celebrations for EUROPEANMOBILITYWEEK launched at the European Parliament in Brussels. The 2015 EUROPEANMOBILITYWEEK launch focused on encouraging cycle commuting and integrating cycling in multimodal travel with the motto: ‘Choose. Change. Combine.’ The full week presents a wide range of sustainable mobility alternatives to citizens, explains the challenges that cities and towns are facing to induce behavioural change and make progress towards creating a more sustainable transport strategy for Europe.

Mobility is clearly one of the major challenges facing our urban areas today. And it is an area where SusChem and sustainable chemistry is contributing. SusChem’s recent Strategic Innovation and Research Agenda has a dedicated chapter on Smart, Green and Integrated Transport covering many innovations that are vital to achieving more sustainable mobility.

Chemistry contributions
Electric mobility must play an important role in the future and chemistry already offers numerous products and solutions in this area. The battery is the key component in electric vehicles and chemistry can make this technology more affordable, powerful and secure with the aim of increasing the range of vehicles.

In addition, lightweight design of vehicles is important. If the weight of a vehicle drops, its range can increase and / or it will use less energy. The chemical industry offers tailor-made polymers for many different applications from vehicle bodies to the engine compartment. Vehicles can be designed using recyclable materials, such as bio- and smart-materials, that can ensure vehicles do not become waste at the end of their useful life.  And new tyre concepts can reduce rolling resistance and extend range.

Managing energy in vehicles is important for efficiency especially for electric vehicles. In summer, air conditioning consumes additional energy, while in winter good insulation is important. In contrast to internal combustion engines the electric motor produces nearly no ‘waste’ heat. Chemical products can help here: special pigments applied on the windows reduce the warming of the interior in the sun, while high-performance foams offer perfect insulation in the winter.

If the internal combustion engine remains a significant propulsion source in vehicles in the short to medium term, sustainable chemistry will help through new catalytic exhaust gas treatments to remove organic compounds and fine particles. And fossil fuels can be substituted by synthetic fuels made, for example, by the conversion of carbon dioxide (CO2) with solar energy or by fuels made from renewable (biomass) sources. Hydrogen produced efficiently from renewable sources is also a potential emission-free alternative to fossils fuels.

Smart mobility – sustainable solutions
The free movement of people and products is an essential element of our modern urban environment. However mobility comes at a cost: the consumption of a vast amount of energy (30% of the total energy consumed in the EU).

And with energy consumption – especially energy derived from fossil fuels – comes pollution. Mobility contributes considerably to CO2 emissions as well as other pollutants such as nitrogen oxides or small particles. Urban mobility accounts for some 40% of all CO2 emissions by road transport and up to 70% of other pollutants generated by transport.

Some of the solutions that sustainable chemistry can provide to meet the mobility challenge for Smart Cities and help stem urban air pollution are described above. But you can find much more information and ideas on mobility issues and sustainable chemistry solutions from SusChem, especially in the context of urban environments, at the resources outlined below.

SusChem is heavily involved with the European Innovation Partnership (EIP) on Smart Cities and Communities and you can download our Smart Cities Brochure. Mobility and Smart City solutions are also featured on our dedicated Smart Cities mobility page and the Innovation for Growth website.

What is European Mobility Week?
EUROPEANMOBILITYWEEK is an annual campaign on sustainable urban mobility supported by the European Commission’s directorates for Energy and Transport. The aim of the campaign is to encourage European local authorities to introduce and promote sustainable transport measures.

The week runs from 16 to 22 September every year and sees events taking place across Europe and globally. ‘Choose. Change. Combine’ is the motto for 2015 and embracing multimodality is the main theme of the week. The aim is to encourage people to think about the range of transport options available, to choose the right mode when travelling, and inviting people to combine ways of getting around, which can often lead to a quicker and more pleasant journey.

Since 2002 EUROPEANMOBILITYWEEK has sought to influence mobility and urban transport issues, as well as improve the health and quality of life of citizens. The campaign also gives citizens the chance to explore what the role of city streets really is, and to explore concrete solutions to tackle urban challenges, such as air pollution.

To discover more about how participating cities have used the campaign to enhance their sustainable transport policies, visit the best practice guides.

Sustainable Energy Europe Awards - Deadline Extended

The EU Sustainable Energy Week 2015 (EUSEW2015) will take place on 15-19 June and as part of this continent-wide array of events the Sustainable Energy Europe Awards are back. Launched by the European Commission in 2006, every year since the Awards have highlighted the very best sustainable energy projects taking place across Europe. And there is still time for you to take part! The closing date is 16 March.

The Sustainable Energy Europe Awards show where you -  private companies, public authorities, energy agencies, NGO’s, cooperatives, chambers of commerce, industry and consumers associations, media, academic institutions and research and technological centres - can make a difference. The awards are the EU's reference prize for sustainable energy projects in Europe. Are you proud of your company’s efforts in reducing its carbon footprint? Does your city deserve further recognition and visibility for its achievements in sustainable energy? If so - don’t hesitate. The Awards are made for you.

If you are involved in a sustainable energy project take part in the Awards competition and get the recognition and visibility you deserve! The winners will be announced in a ceremony to take place in Brussels during EUSEW2015.

Apply now!
The deadline for applications is now 16 March 2015. And applying is easy. Just submit a draft description of your project that you can then adjust after receiving our personalised eligibility feedback.

For the Sustainable Energy Europe Awards 2015 there are three entry categories:

• Renewable energy
• Energy efficiency
• Cities, communitites and regions

Don't delay apply today!

What is EUSEW?

The EU Sustainable Energy Week (EUSEW) is an initiative of the European Commission that first took place in 2006. Today, it is coordinated by the Executive Agency for Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (EASME), in close cooperation with the European Commission’s Directorate-General for Energy.

The EU Sustainable Energy Week showcases activities dedicated to energy efficiency and renewable energy solutions. It is designed to spread best practices, inspire new ideas and build alliances to help meet the EU’s energy and climate goals.

Our aim is to form a bigger picture out of multiple individual efforts to motivate change through a varied programme of events.

For more information please contact the EUSEW Secretariat. You can also follow EUSEW activity on twitter (@euenergyweek) and the hashtag for EUSEW2015 is #eusew15.

Climate-KIC unveils four new climate change innovation programmes

Today (15 May) the Climate-KIC, the European Union’s main climate innovation initiative, has announced €100+ million funding for long-term programmes aimed at fighting the climate change challenge. At least two of these new programmes will be of interest to SusChem stakeholders.

The four new flagship pan-European innovation programmes will accelerate efforts in climate change mitigation and adaptation and will be supported by a combination of Climate-KIC, partner and external sources of funding to the tune of more than €100 million over the next four years. The programmes will start this year.

The new innovation programmes will incorporate a range of pioneering research, innovation and entrepreneurship in diverse technology sectors including:

• Sustainable urban environments
• Climate-friendly homes and offices
• Exploiting CO2 as a resource
• Catastrophe models for the finance industry

Mary Ritter, Climate-KIC Chief Executive Officer, said: “These new flagship initiatives will provide focus and impact for Climate-KIC’s approach to climate change mitigation and adaptation. These innovation programmes enable us to expand our work with climate experts, educators and innovative entrepreneurs across Europe to address climate change mitigation and adaptation – and shape the world’s next economy.”

The four programmes were announced at the European Business Summit in Brussels.

Exploiting CO2 as a resource
Under the leadership of Bayer MaterialScience, the enCO2re programme will further broaden the approach for CO2 re-utilisation, connecting technology leaders as well as leading European universities and institutes in order to leverage a broad utilisation of CO2 as feedstock for chemical value chains. Bayer MaterialScience has successfully demonstrated the feasibility of utilising CO2 as polymer feedstock and the news on this new project came on the same day as Bayer announced plans for an industrial scale plant producing CO2-based polyols in Europe.

Following a successful test phase and promising market analysis, Bayer MaterialScience plans to invest € 15 million in the construction of a production line at its Dormagen site to use CO2 to produce a precursor for premium polyurethane foam. The line will have an annual production capacity of 5,000 metric tons. The objective of the “Dream Production” project is to launch the first product on the market in 2016. Processors of polyols and polyurethanes have already expressed considerable interest.

#useCO2
Within the new enCO2re programme turning CO2 into high-value products, as well as evaluating the required infrastructure, will contribute to further decoupling energy and resource consumption from industrial growth a major objective of SusChem and the SPIRE2030 PPP.

Christoph Sievering, Head of Strategic Energy Management, Bayer MaterialScience commented: “Bayer believes in the potential of industrial symbiosis and open innovation. Climate-KIC offers a unique umbrella for further leveraging our ambitions to turn value chains into closed carbon cycles. The Climate-KIC enCO2re flagship is an industry initiative for enabling CO2 re-use. Climate-KIC drives innovation by connecting industry and technology leaders and convinced us with its three-pillar concept of innovation support, educational programmes and start-up acceleration.”

Other Partners of the enCO2re project include: Imperial College London, Delft University of Technology, Chalmers University of Technology, Laborelec, Institute for Advanced Sustainability Studies, RWTH Aachen, GDF Suez, TU Berlin, and AkzoNobel.

Climate-friendly homes and offices
The Building Technologies Accelerator will bring together multidisciplinary ‘living lab’ teams across Europe to address the climate impact of new building technologies and accelerate the potential of low carbon products and services in the built environment. By the end of 2014, a range of new prototype technologies will be ready to be launched across Europe’s building sector.

Last year SusChem published a report on Key Innovations in Energy Efficiency in Buildings for Smart Cities that could contribute here and other sustainable chemistry contributions to improved resource and energy efficiency can be found at the Cefic-SusChem Smart Cities website.

Partners for the Building Technologies Accelerator include: Delft University of Technology; ETH Zurich; EMPA; Chalmers University of Technology; Knight Frank; and IVE Spain.

Sustainable urban environments
The Smart Sustainable Districts initiative will help some of Europe’s highest profile city district developments become global exemplar projects testing smart, sustainable systems for replication in other urban areas world-wide. Initially working with four pilot districts from a wider collaborative network of 12, the project will bring together some of the most advanced innovations from Climate-KIC’s network of over 200 partners. The project is led by Imperial College; Institute for Sustainability; TU Berlin; TNO; TU Munich; and Utrecht Sustainability Institute.

The fourth KIC covers ‘Catastrophe models for the finance industry.’

Check out RESIDE!

One of Cefic and SusChem’s latest FP7 project has just launched its website. The RESIDE project aims to boost innovation in the European Union’s building refurbishment sector through roadmaps for demand side policy measures. The project consortium includes Cefic, consultants Bax and Willems and CiaoTech (part of PNO Consulting Group), and the University of Utrecht and will focus on three EU regions: Noord Brabant in the Netherlands, Catalonia in Spain and Lombardia in Italy.

RESIDE aims to support the implementation of European Union strategies to boost demand for innovation in the building refurbishment market and complements SusChem activity in materials research in this area such as SusChem's award winning work on 'Innovative Chemistry for Energy Efficiency of Buildings in Smart Cities' and our work in the Smart Cities/ Smart Housing priority area in general. The project kicked of on 21 December 2013 and run for 18 months.

The project aims to achieve its objectives by adapting and applying a promising emerging scientific approach, Technology Innovation System (TIS), for an extended localised market assessment of refurbishment needs. RESIDE will define, implement and monitor multi-level strategic roadmaps for Demand Sides Policy Measures, based on the TIS market assessment and proactive engage with all target groups in the whole process, in order to guarantee that project’s results have a sound basis and good implementation chances in the ‘real world’.

Market assessment
RESIDE will assess the market and set up a robust baseline scenario for the EU refurbishment market with a focus on three EU regions (Lombardia, Catalonia and Noord Brabant), using the TIS methodology to identify the interactions among different parts of the system.

The best suitable mix of demand side policy measures for the three selected regions will be proposed based on a combined bottom-up regional approach together with an EU-wide market assessment and a clear implementation plan for region-specific and effective demand side policy measures will be developed.

Moreover, the Consortium will pro-actively engage with relevant authorities at all levels and other relevant EU stakeholders in the value chain with the aim of ensuring that the final roadmaps are formalised with maximum levels of realism, viability and impact potential.

Finally, RESIDE will develop appropriate methodologies to monitor and evaluate the roadmaps in their development and implementation, with links to the EU Innovation Demand Monitoring System (IDMS) and Business Innovation Observatory (BIO).

To find out more about RESIDE visit the website or contact the project via this link.

Final call for Sustainable Energy Awards 2014!

Is your company investing in energy efficiency, renewable energy or clean transport? Are you keen to gain EU recognition and visibility for your company’s sustainable energy investments? If so, the European Commission invites you to participate in the Sustainable Energy Europe Awards 2014. But you'll need to be quick: the deadline for entries is 28 March!

Every action counts; whether it’s a freshly refurbished energy efficient office, a clean mobility project, an energy efficiency campaign, or your energy saving software for customers. For 2014 the Sustainable Energy Europe Awards include five categories:

• COMMUNICATING: rising awareness actions
• LEARNING: educational and capacity building programmes
• LIVING: exemplary buildings
• CONSUMING: energy saving and renewables in consumption and production processes
• TRAVELLING: clean mobility projects

Winning projects will receive recognition and communication support, press promotion and a free audio-visual production featuring the project’s results. In addition, short-listed (five projects per category) and final winners will be invited to Brussels to present their project in a special conference and networking event to take place during the upcoming EU Sustainable Energy Week (23-27 June 2014). Travelling and accommodation costs for one representative will be covered. SusChem, of course, will be supporting #EUSEW 2014 as we did in 2013.

The winners will be announced during the EU Sustainable Energy Week 2014 in the presence of Energy Commissioner Günther H. Oettinger.

Why not share your company’s contribution to the EU 2020 energy targets and bring home the EU’s most important sustainable energy award?

More information
For more information visit the ManagEnergy and Sustainable Energy Europe Awards websites. Check out the competition’s eligibility and assessment criteria or click here to complete the short application form. You will need to register with the website before you can complete the form.

Don't forget the deadline for the competition is 28 March 2014. For queries or specific issues contact David Crous at the EUSEW organisers.

EcoMondo 2013 hosts European Platforms for Innovation and Sustainability

Last week (6 to 9 November), SusChem and SPIRE were presented as part of the new European initiatives to enable and facilitate sustainable growth at EcoMondo 2013. This is one of the largest events in Southern Europe for the exploitation and recycling of materials and for the development of the Green Economy in Europe.

EcoMondo is one of the largest trade fairs in the sector and the event took place in Rimini, Italy. It is one of the most accredited platforms in southern Europe and the Mediterranean basin with regard to innovation in sustainable development, with an equal focus on new technologies and best practice and on the uptake of new markets. The event’s ambition is to facilitate the key elements of a sustainable economy in Europe including  industrial research, more cooperation between the public and private sectors, funding, new quality standards and not only more, but also better, outreach to the European public.

The event traditionally prioritizes those areas where significant progress can be achieved at a pan-European level. This year’s conference focused, among others, on key areas of innovation for SusChem such as treatment of waste water, bio-based industries and smart cities. Nonetheless, EcoMondo 2013 also invited panellists and speakers to discuss a broader array of topics including waste management, clean-up of contaminated soil and air pollution.

SusChem: An EU and National approach 

SusChem’s brokerage activities and projects have already been gathering stakeholders and interested parties to deliver real innovation in areas of interest at EcoMondo. Antonia Morales Perez (right), CEFIC Innovation Manager and a member of the SusChem secretariat, introduced the EcoMondo audience to the many tools and opportunities available through SusChem.

Antonia’s presentation highlighted the importance of the SusChem network that was able to reach into many Member States. SusChem’s National Technology Platforms (NTPs), already present in 11 European countries and with Switzerland soon joining, offer a unique structure to support SusChem’s work for Europe 2020 with a joint European vision firmly rooted in national strategies through localized networks of industry and academia. Practically that translates into supporting the engagement of SusChem’s national members in transnational collaborations in EU collaborative projects and programmes like FP7 and the forthcoming Horizon 2020 calls.

During the meeting Antonia was interviewed in Spanish about SusChem activities. Her interview can be viewed below.



The key role of NTPs in the implementation of the SusChem strategy and action plans was highlighted, particularly in reference to developing Strategic Research and Innovation Agendas, including identification of skill requirements and regulatory barriers and encouraging industry participation in Horizon 2020 through active cooperation with partnerships in Member States.

Inspiration for SPIRE

EcoMondo was also the venue where the audience were able to appreciate the innovative approach of the SPIRE Public-Private Partnership. Loredana Ghinea (right), SPIRE’s Executive Director, explained how the value-chain of the process industry has come together to initiate a collaboration with the European Commission for a new systematic approach throughout the complete production cycle to ensure radical resource and energy efficiency.

Loredana explained how realizing the SPIRE vision means reducing the use of feedstock and emissions, re-use of energy and resources between different parties in the value chain, replacing current feedstock with renewable sources –including sources such as CO2. This can pave the way to re-inventing the whole interaction among all the technologies used in the value-chain of the process industry.

Find out more about SPIRE here.

ICIS Innovation Awards 2013 Result

The winners of the ICIS Innovation Awards for 2013 have been announced. The awards were launched in 2004 and celebrated their tenth anniversary this year. The overall winner is selected from the winners of five individual categories (see below) and for 2013 the winning company is the Cabot Corporation. 

“Energy efficiency and bio-based materials technologies were very much to the fore in this year’s ICIS Innovation Awards,” said John Baker of ICIS. “Of the 12 shortlisted entries, no fewer than half offered innovations in these two areas.”

The awards have grown in popularity with each succeeding year and SusChem has been proud to have contributed to the competition’s judging panels on many occasions. This year SusChem coordinator Jacques Komornicki was part of the panel.

SusChem believes that innovation is a key driver for growth and profitability in the chemical sector. And The ICIS Innovation Awards are designed to reward innovation, environmental advances and sustainability in the global chemical industry.

Smart Cities, smart materials
Cabot Corp received the award for its aerogel technology that can dramatically increase insulation in building and construction. The overall winner was unanimously selected by the judging panel of six innovation experts. The company also won the award for Innovation with Best Environmental Benefit.

Innovations like the Aerogel materials (see above - image from ICIS) developed by Cabot offer huge potential to improve the insulation values of a whole range of building materials and are typical of the type of chemical innovation that SusChem has been highlighting recently for the built environment.

Chemistry lies at the heart of the built environment in every city providing the fundamental building blocks for new advanced materials for housing such as smart coatings and insulations that are making houses, offices and factories more energy efficient and form the basis for the ‘Smart Cities’ of the future.

The Chemical Industry is already heavily engaged in this area and has offered five concrete solutions for Chemistry-based initiatives for energy efficiency in buildings, which were selected as top key innovation by city officials at the recent Smart Cities and Communities Stakeholder Platform conference.

Other category winners in the ICIS Innovation Awards 2013 were:

• Solvay Aroma Performance for Best Product Innovation for Govanil: pioneering the new reference of vanilla flavours
• Renmatix for Best Innovation by an SME with its advances in sugar conversion technology using supercritical hydrolysis to provide an economical bridge between upstream and downstream biochemicals
• Virent for Best Innovation for Sustainability with its process to convert plant sugars to paraxylene for renewable, recyclable packaging and fibres, and
• Archroma (until recently part of Clariant) for Best Business Innovation and its “One Way” sustainability service.

You can find full details of all the winning entries and the shortlisted innovations in each of the categories in a 16-page special ICIS publication celebrating the winners and chemical innovation in general.

What are the ICIS awards?
The annual awards are open to any chemical company or collaborative effort between industry and academia anywhere in the World. The judging panel looks 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.

In 2013 there were five prize categories:

• Best Product Innovation
• Best Innovation by a Small or Medium-sized Enterprise (SME)
• Best Business Innovation
• Best Innovation for Sustainability
• Innovation with Best Environmental Benefit

For more information about the ICIS Chemical Business Innovation Awards visit the website or contact John Baker at ICIS.

Chemical Innovation to play a critical role in Smart Cities

Today (October 14) the High-level Group (HLG) of the Smart Cities and Communities (SCC) European Innovation Partnership (EIP) presented its Strategic Implementation Plan (SIP) to the European Commission. Chemical innovation can provide a range of concrete solutions to the challenges of improving our urban built environment and infrastructure and enable the realization of the truly Smart Cities of tomorrow.

With about three-quarters of European citizens living in or around cities, it is essential that Europe gets this right. “We need more structured EU dialogue on how to balance the diversity and complexity of city requirements with the industrial needs for a broader market scale of integrated technological concepts, from the retrofitting of buildings to ICT-enabled buildings to create a European market of affordable solutions,” said Dr. Gernot Klotz, Executive Director for Research and Innovation at Cefic and a SusChem board member. “A potential 50 000 individual solutions for the needs of 50 000 individual cities is an unsustainable path. There is a clear need to bring cities together to enable industry to supply broader affordable solutions.”

Strategic plan
The Strategic Implementation Plan (SIP) marks a major milestone achievement for the Smart Cities and Communities High-level Group. The group brings together cities, industries and stakeholders across Europe to discuss ways to improve the standardization of innovative new solutions for urban districts and to accelerate their deployment across European cities.

The meeting (above) was hosted by Commissioner Neelie Kroes (Digital Agenda) and statements were made by Commissioners Siim Kallas (Transport), Günther H. Oettinger (Energy) and Johannes Hahn (Regional Policy). The chemical industry is represented on this important policy group by Giorgio Squinzi, CEO of Maipei and recent past president of Cefic.

The SIP outlines eleven ambitious targets in three specific areas that are expected to contribute to the broader development of sustainable mobility, sustainable districts and built environments, and integrated infrastructures and processes across Energy, information and communication technologies (ICT) and Transport.

“We appreciate the efforts and the result of the High Level Group in having a strategic implementation plan delivered within six months, on an extremely diverse and complex topic such as the future of cities in Europe” continued Dr. Klotz.

Chemistry: concrete contributions
Chemistry lies at the very heart of the built environment in every city and provides the fundamental building blocks for ICT, Energy and Transport. For example, new advanced materials for housing such as smart coatings and insulations are making houses more energy efficient, while advanced light-weight materials and printed electronics for mobility are making cars more connected, safer and more energy efficient.

These applications are expected to make a significant contribution towards the EIP’s goals. It is hoped that the SIP proposals will be implemented in full to address the full scale of “smart” city enabling technologies and to prioritize the creation of jobs and growth in Europe.

The Chemical Industry is ready to engage longer-term in the work of the EIP and has offered five concrete solutions for Chemistry-based initiatives for energy efficiency in buildings, which were selected as top key innovation by city officials at the last Smart Cities and Communities Stakeholder Platform conference.

The five key chemistry-based products proposed by SusChem to help improve building efficiency and help reach the EU 20-20-20 targets are:

• High-reflectance indoor coatings
• High-reflectance and durable outdoor coatings
• High-performance insulation foams 
• High-performance vacuum insulation panels
• Phase-change materials (PCM)

These five key chemistry-based products have been adopted as a Key Innovation by the Smart Cities and Communities Stakeholder Platform. Combined these products can offer substantial energy savings of up to 40% at an acceptable investment.

“All these solutions are assessed for technical feasibility and impact. What remains is the real life testing of these technologies in European cities and the chemical Industry is ready for this next step,” said Dr. Klotz.

Urban opportunity 
This Smart Cities and Communities EIP offers a great opportunity to reduce the complexity of city requirements and creates a market pull along industrial value chains as well as accelerating the creation of jobs and growth in Europe.

“It is only by working together that we can bridge the innovation gaps and stimulate the convergence of industrial value chains in the Energy, Transport and ICT sectors to find and implement the best solutions for smart cities. This is Europe’s unique strength and competitive edge over other regions of the world” concluded Dr. Klotz.

The EIP still has to improve its potential by including manufacturing as well as services in order to stimulate innovation for a broader European economy. This can happen through creating market pull and improvement to the SIP by giving manufacturing a more prominent role.

A public launch event for the SIP is being planned for 26 November in Brussels that will outline European funding and business commitments.

This is just the beginning of a large scale programme of work by all the partners and many others. An important part of that work will be the "Lighthouse Projects" - cities which will demonstrate and deliver Smart City solutions on a large scale. These Projects will be partly financed by the European Commission's Horizon 2002 Research Funds. Further business and public funding will help to spread these new solutions to other cities and economies of scale will help to make these "innovative" and "high tech" solutions the norm and available more easily to all cities and neighbourhoods.

The Commission is expected to invest around €200 million to create Smart Cities projects in the next two years.

Smart Cities
The Smart Cities and Communities EIP (SCC) is a partnership across the areas of energy, transport, and ICT with the objective of catalyzing progress in areas where energy production, distribution and use; mobility and transport; and ICT are intimately linked and offer new interdisciplinary opportunities to improve services while reducing energy and resource consumption and greenhouse gas (GHG) and other polluting emissions.

The HLG acts in an advisory role to the Commission and consists of senior representatives of industry, cities, civil society, relevant EU initiatives in this area and member s of the European Commission as members. The group is led by the three European Commissioners for Energy, Transport and the Digital Agenda.

For more information on SusChem activities in support of the Smart Cities and Communities initiative, or to discuss potential collaborations in this area, please contact SusChem Coordinator Jacques Komornicki at Cefic. The new SusChem report can be downloaded here.

EU Week of Regions and Cities

The eleventh European Week of Regions and Cities is taking place this week (from 7 to 11 October) across Brussels. Jointly organised by the EU's Committee of the Regions and the European Commission’s DG for Regional and Urban Policy, the week highlights many areas of interest for SusChem – in particular Smart Cities and Mobility.

At the heart of European Week of Regions and Cities are the Open Days 2013 a series of events that takes place at venues around Brussels and feature examples of innovative initiatives to boost sustainability and competitiveness in regions and cities across the EU.

To coincide with the week a special issue of European Parliament Magazine’s Regional Review has been published with many articles focusing on regional policy from the Commission and parliamentary figures.

European Commissioner for Regional Policy Johannes Hahn has invited all regions and cities to use this year's event to "learn more about the priorities of the next phase of the structural and investment funds". He underlined the aim to "ensure that the EU invests in key areas of growth to stay competitive in an ever more globalised economy".

The chair of the European Parliament's Regional Development Committee, former regional policy Commissioner Danuta Hübner, MEP, also called for the EU's regions to "be placed at the heart of the industrial renaissance process".

SusChem: innovation for growth
With the closer integration of structural and regional funds with research and innovation funding via Horizon 2020 it is clear that the opportunity for increased innovation –led growth in the EU regions will become a reality. And SusChem is willing to take a leading role in this exciting development.

In particular SusChem and the chemical sector have a portfolio of current and future solutions for the challenges of developing Smart Cities and the regeneration of the urban environment.

Coinciding with the EU Week of Regions and Cities our new website on Innovation-for-Growth has been launched. Within this website there are specific mini-sites on major societal challenges including Smart Cities for Europe and mobility.

The websites outline the challenges facing society in urban environments and regions and then describes the variety of solutions that chemistry and the chemical sector can or will be able to provide in the near future to boost EU citizen’s quality of life while also providing jobs and growth.

There is also a SusChem Smart Cities flier available.

More information
For more information on SusChem activities in the built environment take a look at the Innovation for Growth website or contact the SusChem secretariat.

Chemistry-Enabled Technologies Key to Future Mobility!

The European Union is currently celebrating its 13th European Mobility Week (EMW 2013) from 16 to 22 September. Many cities and towns across the continent have joined the initiative and implemented solutions and good practices that can be shared with other towns.

A typical example is the story of Burgas in Bulgaria. Last February, the city's bus fleet was entirely replaced by 67 new clean vehicles. The city’s efforts are now concentrated in the construction of a new Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) line which should be operational in 2015, creating a North-South bus corridor through the city. The city aims to further promote its investment in sustainable mobility by participating in EMW 2013.

More about this story can be found in a video produced by the Covenant of Mayors an organisation of local and regional authorities dedicated to sustainable development to which SusChem is affiliated.

Clean chemistry
Clean vehicles are based on solutions provided by the chemical industry: they require lightweight materials to contain energy consumption, and specific materials for the smaller batteries and catalysts required to clean up emissions.  Chemistry is the player that can enable more success stories on clean mobility in Europe and ensure clean air becomes a widespread urban reality.

Local authorities can rely on the chemical industry to provide the solutions to ensure that the ambitious EU targets for sustainable mobility are achieved, for example by helping making the vision for mobility of the Smart Cities Platform a reality.

But chemistry does not provide only sustainability and energy efficiency. It is also a force for safer transportation: from defrosting products for aeroplane wings that are essential in harsh weather conditions to resilient material for automotive vehicles, chemistry is at the heart of the processes ensuring safe and sound mobility.


SusChem staff recently followed a debate on Smart Mobility in Cities organized by the European Voice in Brussels. Speakers from the private sector, trade associations, local authorities and the European institutions discussed the most innovative technologies and initiatives for the mobility of tomorrow: from a new approach to parking space to novel hydrogen and electric vehicles.

Chemistry will surely play a part in making their vision and ideas a reality!

If you want more information on what chemistry can offer in terms of innovation in mobility, take a look at the new SusChem flier on mobility!

SusChem on the move for Mobility!

‘Smart Cities’ need smart, sustainable chemistry innovation and SusChem has developed some exciting proposals on energy efficiency in urban buildings. But one of the major challenges facing our urban areas is mobility. How can SusChem and sustainable chemistry help?  During European Mobility Week (16 – 22 September) SusChem will be highlighting some of chemistry’s contributions in this area.

Around three-quarters of the EU’s citizens live in or around cities and urbanisation is growing. Europe’s urban areas consume over 80% of the continent’s total energy supply. With growing pressure on resources, achieving a sustainable quality of life in cities is one of Europe’s major challenges.

To be environmentally sustainable, economically competitive and remain attractive to live in, cities need to reduce their total energy consumption, increase their use of renewable energy, adapt their physical and communication infrastructures and find solutions to mobility issues – in particular personal mobility.

Smart mobility
The free movement of people and products is an essential element of our modern urban environment. However mobility comes at a cost: the consumption of a vast amount of energy (30% of the total energy consumed in the EU).

And with energy consumption – especially energy derived from fossil fuels – comes pollution. Mobility contributes considerably to carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions as well as other pollutants such as nitrogen oxides or small particles. Urban mobility accounts for some 40% of all CO2 emissions by road transport and up to 70% of other pollutants generated by transport.

Changing our transport habits can go a long way to stemming urban air pollution. This year’s European Mobility Week theme is “Clean air – it’s your move!” and reflects the power that citizens have to clean up air quality through their mobility choices. It is a reminder that we all have a part to play, and that even small changes, such as commuting by bicycle rather than taking the car, opting for public transport, or choosing to walk, can enhance our quality of life.

Smart mobility requires a mind-set change in commuting habits. We need to re-think our reliance on a singular means of transportation, such as, walking, driving, biking, or taking public transportation to one that considers using a combination of these methods to achieve the most efficient commuting solution at the lowest carbon footprint.

Sustainable solutions
So what is sustainable chemistry doing to meet the mobility challenge for Smart Cities and help stem urban air pollution?

The answer is a huge amount with aspects of chemical science and engineering enabling innovative solutions to numerous mobility issues! Here are just a few examples.

• Lightweight materials, particularly composite and hybrid materials can drastically reduce the weight of vehicles without compromising safety requirements. And lighter vehicles mean lower cost, increased recyclability, better energy efficiency and therefore fewer emissions.
• And designing vehicles using recyclable materials such as bio- and smart-materials can ensure that vehicles do not become waste at the end of their useful life.
• New fuels, for example hydrogen produced from renewable sources, are potentially emission-free alternative to fossils fuels. The environmental and health benefits to society are even greater when hydrogen is produced from low- or zero-emission sources, such as solar or wind energy.
• Electric and hybrid vehicles are becoming more popular and have significant energy security and local zero emissions benefits. Battery technology is a key enabler here and future electric vehicles need smaller batteries that can provide a longer range between charging. Chemistry is key to ensuring that these very high energy density batteries are safe and can make electric mobility more attractive, cheaper and reliable.
• Catalysts are a key enabling technology for improved air quality and mobility whether as an essential element of new clean fuel cell powered cars or cleaning up emissions from fossil fuel powered vehicles. Catalyst exhaust systems remove a range of pollutants and using photo-catalytic coatings on the walls of tunnels and other transport infrastructure mean noxious pollutants can also be removed directly from the atmosphere.

You will be able to find more information on mobility issues and sustainable chemistry solutions at SusChem’s dedicated Smart Cities website due to be launched soon.

What is European Mobility Week?
European Mobility Week is an annual campaign on sustainable urban mobility supported by the European Commission’s directorates for Energy and Transport. The aim of the campaign is to encourage European local authorities to introduce and promote sustainable transport measures. The main theme for 2013 is ‘Clean air – it’s your move’.

The week runs from 16 to 22 September every year and will see events taking place across Europe and also globally. The week culminates in an ‘In Town Without My Car!’ event which sees participating urban areas setting aside areas solely for pedestrians, cyclists and public transport for an entire day.

In Brussels ‘Car Free’ day will be on Sunday 22 September and will see the whole 160 square kilometres of the capital region closed to traffic from 9 am to 7 pm transforming Europe’s capital into a pedestrian and cyclists’ paradise.

EUSEW13: Top Speakers share SusChem Priorities

Yesterday (June 26), the High-Level Conference of the European Union Sustainable Energy Week (EUSEW) officially came to an end. Over three days top-level speakers from the European Union, Member States and from civil society organisations discussed the priorities for energy in the years to come. It was clear that SusChem’s priorities in the areas of sustainability and efficiency in energy are shared by many of the speaker at EUSEW.

SusChem was present at a number of the over 100 events organised in Brussels alone and can report that our vision of the coming challenges is widely shared. In future society will need a more efficient and sustainable use of energy if we want to maintain our quality of life and be competitive on the world scene. And that means we have to support innovation in technologies, legislation and the market.

As explained by Paul Hodson, the Head of Unit for Energy Efficiency in DG Energy at the European Commission, we must overcome “financial, administrative and regulatory” barriers if we want to achieve our targets for energy efficiency in 2020. He was speaking at the EUSEW13 event 'Towards EU2020 and Beyond - Local and Regional Actions'. Following his stimulating keynote speech, a series of successful projects were presented: ranging from energy-savings measures for the street lighting of the city of Pula to the renovations of school heating system in some Paris district: it is now clear that the sustainable and efficient use of energy is a priority across the continent.

Chemistry role
And chemistry has a big part to play in overcoming the challenges of energy efficiency. One of the best examples of possible SusChem contributions to this field are the cooling and heating innovative insulations for buildings presented at the recent Smart Cities Platform Stakeholders Conference in Budapest.

Aside from being voted among the top three innovations at that conference, at EUSEW events it was made clear that this type of innovation is exactly what Europe will need to achieve its targets. At the conference event on Energy Efficiency, Mr. Pascal Eveillard, president of EURIMA – the European Insulation Manufacturers Association – made clear that cost-efficient solutions which can resolve technical challenges for the renovation of buildings will be crucial in achieving the proposed energy targets. This description fits SusChem’s key innovations like a glove.

Incentives
On top of this, local authorities are developing new incentive schemes to promote energy-efficient buildings and construction. Mr. Hoogelander of the Dutch NL Agency part of the Dutch Ministry of Economic Affairs presented one such scheme that includes tax reductions calculated on expenses incurred while refurbishing buildings, bank capitalisation support for mortgages for energy-efficient houses and an additional index in the calculation of the building’s market value according to their energy savings. A similar scheme, though wider in scope, was presented by Mr Gatier of the French Ministry for Ecology, Sustainable Development, Transport and Housing.

It is clear that SusChem, and sustainable chemistry in general, will have further opportunities to contribute solutions for the current energy dilemmas. If solutions on par with those already proposed can be made available, it will become evident that chemistry is a key area to involve in the planning of a society that can use energy sustainably and efficiently.

For more information on SusChem’s winning proposals for Key Innovation for sustainable buildings download the SusChem report.

SusChem and Smart Cities at #EUSEW13

SusChem will be actively engaged at the EU’s Sustainable Energy Week 2013 (EUSEW 2013) this week (24 to 28 June). SusChem's chemistry-based key innovation proposals was a big hit at the Smart Cities Stakeholder Platform Annual Conference in Budapest and information on our Smart Cities Innovation initiatives will be available at the Smart Cities desk in the exhibition area on the 5th floor of the Jacques Delors building at the Committee of the Regions venue in Brussels.

EUSEW 2013 is set to be an exciting event that is packed full of activities bringing together energy stakeholders and the general public - and a great opportunity to further promote the message on chemistry and energy efficiency to a wider audience.

Full details can be found on the EUSEW 2013 website. This site contains all you need to know about attending events, submitting projects for the annual Awards or organising Energy Day activities that are taking place across Europe. The core message of this eighth edition of EUSEW is: 'One small step from you, one giant leap for Europe!'

If you haven't yet registered for any events, on-the-day registration is possible for some. But check the website for details.

SusChem will be reporting back from a number of Smart Cities orientated sessions at the high-level policy conference taking place in Brussels in particular:

• Towards EU2020 And Beyond – Local And Regional Actions taking place in the European Commission's Charlemagne Building in Brussels on the morning of 25 June
• Energy Efficiency taking place in the Charlemagne building during the afternoon of 25 June
• Towards smart cities and smart housing in Europe also taking place in the afternoon of 25 June in the Committee of the Regions Building, room JDE 51
• Innovation In Energy Efficiency Buildings And Districts For Smart Built Environment taking place on the morning of 26 June in the Committee of the Regions building in Brussels and organised in association with the Energy Efficient Buildings Association (E2BA) and
• From Ambition to Action: How to best deliver European building sector policies on the ground? on the afternoon of 26 June in the Committee of the Regions building and organised by the Buildings Performance Institute Europe.

Look out for our blog report later in the week!

What is EUSEW?
The EUSEW event is organised by the European Commission's Directorate-General for Energy, the Executive Agency for Competitiveness and Innovation (EACI), the European Institutions, major energy actors and private companies. EUSEW 2013 celebrates innovative energy initiatives for a sustainable future – very much a SusChem theme.

You can follow EUSEW 2013 on Twitter by searching for the hashtag #EUSEW2013. For more information on SusChem's Key Innovations in Energy Efficiency in Buildings for Smart Cities access the SusChem report here.

EU Sustainable Energy Week 2013

Following the tremendous interest in SusChem’s chemistry-based proposals for increasing energy efficiency in buildings shown at the Smart Cities Stakeholder Platform Annual Conference in Budapest stakeholders will be interested in the events being organised during the EU’s Sustainable Energy Week 2013 (EUSEW 2013) in late June.

One small step from you, one giant leap for Europe! That’s the core message of this eighth edition of the EUSEW. The event takes place from 24 to 28 June and registration is open now!

EUSEW 2013 is set to be an exciting event that is packed full of activities that bring together energy stakeholders and the general public - and a great opportunity to further promote the message on chemistry and energy efficiency to a wider audience.

Details can be found on the EUSEW 2013 website that has been designed to ensure all participants can easily manage their involvement in the Week. The site contains all you need to know about attending events, submitting projects for the annual Awards or organising Energy Day activities that are taking place across Europe.

To participate in the high-level policy conference taking place in Brussels, or any event happening in your region or city, you must first create an account and then register for the conference, workshop, guided tour or exhibition of your choice.

A number of events taking place as part of the high-level conference in Brussels have caught SusChem’s eye:

• Towards EU2020 And Beyond – Local And Regional Actions taking place in the European Commission's Charlemagne Building in Brussels on the morning of 25 June
• Energy Efficiency taking place in the Charlemagne building during the afternoon of 25 June
• Towards smart cities and smart housing in Europe also taking place in the afternoon of 25 June in the Committee of the Regions Building, room JDE 51
• Innovation In Energy Efficiency Buildings And Districts For Smart Built Environment taking place on the morning of 26 June in the Committee of the Regions building in Brussels and organized in association with the Energy Efficient Buildings Association (E2BA) and
• From Ambition to Action: How to best deliver European building sector policies on the ground? on the afternoon of 26 June in the Commitee of the Regions building and organised by the Buildings Performance Institute Europe.

What is EUSEW?
The EUSEW event is organised by the European Commission's Directorate-General for Energy, the Executive Agency for Competitiveness and Innovation (EACI), the European Institutions, major energy actors and private companies. EUSEW 2013 celebrates innovative energy initiatives for a sustainable future – very much a SusChem theme.

The first EUSEW took place in 2006 and showcases activities dedicated to energy efficiency and renewable energy solutions. It is designed to spread best practices, inspire new ideas and build alliances to help meet the EU’s energy and climate goals.

SusChem voted Key Innovator for Smart Cities

A set of chemistry-based proposals for increasing energy efficiency in buildings from the European Technology Platform (ETP) for Sustainable Chemistry (SusChem) has been voted as one of the top three key innovations needed to transform European cities at the Smart Cities Stakeholder Platform Annual Conference in Budapest.

On Wednesday 5 June, SusChem’s proposal on advanced materials for energy efficiency and buildings was voted as one of the top three Key Innovations critical to the sustainable development of European cities at the Smart Cities Stakeholder Platform annual conference. The SusChem proposal highlights five major chemistry-enabled solutions that have been tested and proven to significantly reduce energy consumption in buildings as well as contribute towards achieving the EU 20-20-20 targets.

The vote for the participants'  favourite Key Innovations closed the first day of the Smart Cities Stakeholder Platform Annual Conference. Following a full afternoon of parallel sessions where the conference delegates learned more about the 13 Key Innovation proposed by the Platform, the audience had the chance to vote its 'top three'.

Chemical winners
Key Chemistry-enabled Solutions for Smart Cities:

• High Reflectance Indoor Coatings
• High Reflectance and Durable Outdoor Coatings
• High Performance Insulation Foams 
• High Performance Vacuum Insulation Panels
• Phase Change Materials (PCM) 

The chemistry industry’s Key Innovations were presented by Rinske van Heiningen of Akzo Nobel in his presentation on Advanced Materials for Energy Services.

According Jacques Komornicki, SusChem coordinator and Innovation Manager at Cefic: "Using these tested energy efficiency solutions can reduce energy use in buildings by up to 70%."

“These innovations are particularly suited to the renovation market and this market in turn has the potential to create growth and jobs in Smart Cities that adopt them whilst also contributing significantly to their emissions reduction goals - a double win!” he continues.

You can learn more about these Key Innovations for Smart Cities in the SusChem report: "Innovative chemistry for Energy efficiency of buildings in smart cities." For more information, please contact Jacques Kormornicki at Cefic directly.