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EUCETSA SEMINAR 8th June 2012: Which way forward for Europe in global clean tech rivalry?
 

EUCETSA on 8th June 2012 organised a seminar on the Cleantec sector and how Europe is faring globally. Speakers gave perspectives on European initiatives and insight into European initiatives outside the European Union.


Cleantec means "a diverse range of products, services, and processes that harness renewable materials and energy sources, dramatically reduce the use of natural resources, and cut or eliminate emissions and wastes" which sounds like environmental technology hence EUCETSA’s stake. Europe still boasts some of the best businesses in environmental technology, making a potent and incalculable contribution to competitiveness. Always hard to define, this industry once invisible apart from end of pipe solutions is becoming mainstream and wooed by governments and policy makers. In Europe, the argument runs that Cleantec is the perfect solution to jobs, sustainability, competitiveness and a clean conscience. Painstakingly Europe is building a sophisticated international process and much has already been achieved in many areas of Cleantec. Meanwhile Europe’s competitors have not only swallowed the argument but digested the implications. They have launched massive dedicated programmes in clean technology and renewable, swayed also by skills and employment creation. In the US, major programmes with up to 10 mio jobs are projected, South Korea says it will create 1 million new jobs under the Green New Deal, Japan 2.2 mio jobs, and China 10.6 million new jobs. This seminar offered a glimpse into various European initiatives in the Cleantec sector.

Osten Ekengren Director IVL Sweden and President of EUCETSA presented the EU India programme called ‘EBTC’ European Business and Technology Centre, which aims to generate new business opportunities and technology transfer. Active in five sectors - Biotec, Energy, Environment , Transport and Trade&Investment, the Indian EBTC operates across India’s highly diverse and highly underdeveloped sector; India’s spending is 5.3bn$, a fraction of Chinese investment. Needs are huge as anyone who has travelled to India confirms– cities and rural areas are under equipped in drinking water and almost bereft of waste management systems. Diverse regulations from state to state hamper infrastructure development and an urgent priority is to reduce these barriers. The EU has made progress in the Internal Market but in countries like India, competition for business is far from harmonious. Despite or perhaps in parallel to this competition between EU Member States, the EU via the EBTC and through the EU India free trade agreement is supporting an adapted legal framework together with more attractive investment conditions http://www.ebtc.eu/

Astrid Severin is Director and Founder of Greenovate, a specialist organization for exploitation and dissemination on Cleantech Developments. An independent, non-for-profit membership organisation, Greenovate has 29 organisations from 13 countries which pools eco-innovation expertise with some 500 innovation experts and over 2000 technical experts. The expertise is provided to technology developers, companies and policy-makers at pan-European level. Astrid presented the ReMake consortium, a public-private partnership comprising National and regional innovation agencies, Industrial associations, Technical centres and Innovation experts. ReMake’s notable success is its two stage voucher system, targeting manufacturing SMEs that are producing or applying resource efficiency. The innovation voucher is a new funding scheme tested by the public innovation agencies Demea (Deutsche Materialeffizienzagentur), OSEO (France), Innovhub Milan (Italy), DII Navarra and CICI Valencia (Spain), and WRAP (UK). The voucher sponsors technical, business and innovation support in the field of recycling.

Lionel Platteuw spoke about SPIRE, a brand new PPP on Resource & Energy Efficiency.
SPIRE is a new European platform initiated jointly by EUnited and the Steel industry and dedicated to innovation in resource and energy efficiency, in the process industries. Industry interest dramatically grew and no fewer than 15 industry sectors including chemicals and minerals are now represented in SPIRE, with industry associations, European Technology Platforms and the research community as partners. The objective of SPIRE is to develop the enabling technologies and solutions in the process industry. Compelling arguments and a consensus exists about the need to improve resource and energy management, especially when rare or finite. SPIRE is developing a process industry roadmap, to help ensure that EU innovation projects address the right needs and early impact from 2013 to 2018 www.spire2030.eu.

Another Cleantec event is planned in autumn 2012 in collaboration with the OECD which has indicated a strong interest. The OECD’s sustainable manufacturing toolkit (SMT) and broader initiatives on Cleantech will be developed. These include for example new business models, good industry practices and successful pathways to innovation.

 

EUCETSA seminar "Resource Efficiency" June 16th 2011 

 Key focus topics:
• Latest developments on resource efficiency and the opportunities for technology suppliers
• Views from the European Commission on EU initiatives including legislation and policy

The EU ETV Pre-programme - Pierre Henry, DG Environment European Commission

The Resource Efficiency Roadmap - Josefina Lindblom, DG Environment European Commission

Phosphate recovery technologies and the EU context - Wim Moerman, Founder Akwadok 

 

EUCETSA Seminar “Opportunities for environmental
technology suppliers” 23rd June 2010
 

The European 2020 Strategy and what it means for industry - Philippe Lamberts MEP

Key developments in industrial policy and eco-innovation for technology suppliers - Patrick O’Riordan, DG Enterprise and Industry, Unit Sustainable Industrial policy.

The way forward for European Environmental Technology Verification Pierre Henry, DG Environment, European Commission, DG ENV.F.4 Chief scientist, Research and Innovation

Opportunities in resource efficiency, Raymond van Ermen, Executive Director European Partners for Environment

 

Delhi Sustainable Development Summit - 3rd Feb 2010