On 8 June 2021 we have discussed how academic-industry partnerships funded by the Bio-based Industries Joint Undertaking (BBI-JU) and Horizon 2020 are fostering resilience and building towards achieving zero pollution of air, soil and water.
The event brought together almost 200 registered participants with an interest to learn more about the proposed solutions, and business cases for sustainability of five European projects based in the fields of low impact forestry & agriculture, low/no fossil chemistry and decarbonised transport.
In May 2021, the European Commission adopted the action plan “Towards a Zero Pollution Ambition for air, water and soil – building a Healthier Planet for Healthier People”. This is a key pillar of the European Green Deal, building on initiatives in the field of energy, industry, mobility, agriculture, biodiversity, and in particular climate. The diversity of these sectors is reflected in this on-line event held in connection with the 2021 EU Green Week, to showcase best practice from five industry-driven circular and bioeconomy projects, each contributing towards achieving zero pollution in their respective fields.
The event was divided in two parts: The showcase presentations from each of the projects and a presentation on the upcoming CBE (Circular Bioeconomy Europe) programme replacing BBI, were followed by a panel discussion with invited experts, representing industry & SMEs, academia and policy makers.
PROGRAMME
Download the full programme here.
10:10 Welcome
Stephen Webb, RTDS Group (AT)
10:15 Showcase Presentations
Five European stories with a common goal:
- Tech4Effect: Rasmus Astrup (NIBIO, NO) and Kalle Einlola (Ponsse, FI). Presentation in PDF here
- SUSBIND: Massimo Bregola (Cargill, IT) and Johan Bruck (IKEA, SE). Presentation in PDF here
- SUSFERT: Günter Brader (AIT, AT) and Thomas Schwaiger (SAPPI, AT). Presentation in PDF here
- BIOVEXO: Jose Manuel Garcia Madero (DOMCA, ES) and Josep Pocalles (AIMERIT, ES). Presentation in PDF here
- SUSTAINair: Jürgen Roither (AIT-LKR, AT), Jesper de Wit and Stefan Steeger (INVENT Gmbh, DE). Presentation in PDF here
11:05 Introduction to the Panel Discussion
11:20 Highlights of BBI and insights to implementation of the EU Green Deal in 2021 – 2027
- Virginia Puzzolo, Bio-based Industries Joint Undertaking, Head of Programme Unit. Presentation in PDF here
11:30 Panel Discussion with Q&A from participants
The panel discussion involves the speakers plus additional project representatives and stakeholders to discuss challenges, needs and expectations in achieving the twin transition towards a green and digital recovery of the European economy.
Participants are encouraged to interact by posing questions via the chat function as well as to take part in quick, live surveys.
12:30 Closing
PRESENTATIONS
The PDFs of the presentations are available under CC BY 4.0, attributed to the respective presenter. The presentations can be downloaded under the individual project presentation in the programme above. The full collection of presentation for download is available here in ZIP format.
RECORDING
The event was recorded. The recording is available under CC BY 4.0 RTDS Group for further share on YouTube here.
The Five Projects in Overview
The five projects contributing to the goal of the European Union´s Action Plan for Zero Pollution, to be showcased in order of starting date include:
TECH4EFFECT (BBI-RIA)
Techniques and technologies for effective wood procurement (21 partners, €5.37 mill, 4.8 years from 01.10.2016). TECH4EFFECT utilises digitisation and data-driven knowledge to enable incremental improvements in forest management to achieve reductions in fuel consumption, pollution and environmental impact during the energy intensive wood harvesting process.
SUSBIND (BBI-RIA)
Development and pilot production of SUStainable bio-BINDer systems for wood-based panels. (11 partners, €5.5 mill, 4 years from 01.05.2018). Panel boards used in mass produced furniture comprise small wood chips bound together by adhesive – a so-called binder. As with most adhesives, industrial binders include fossil-based components such as formaldehyde. SUSBIND develops novel panel board binders to improve indoor air quality, reduce carbon footprint and industry dependency on fossil-based resources.
SUSFERT (BBI-IA)
Sustainable multifunctional fertiliser – combining bio-coatings, probiotics and struvite for phosphorus and iron supply (11 partners, €9.8 mill, 5.5 years from 01.05.2018). The multifunctional SUSFERT fertilisers for phosphorus and iron supply, fitting into existing production processes and EU agricultural practice, directly contributes to zero pollution of soil and (ground)water.
BIOVEXO (BBI-IA)
Biocontrol of Xylella and its vector in olive trees for integrated pest management (11 partners, €8 mill, 5 years from 01.05.2020). BIOVEXO demonstrates innovative biopesticides targeting the plant-pathogenic Xylella bacterium and its transmitting spittlebug vector which seriously threaten olive and almond production in the Mediterranean region – without introducing toxic chemicals to soil, (ground)water and subsequently, the food chain.
SUSTAINair (H2020-RIA)
SUSTAINablility increase of lightweight, multifunctional and intelligent airframe and engine parts (11 partners, €5 mill, 3.5 years from 01.01.2021). Developing solutions to increase resource efficiency and aircraft performance to reduce waste and material costs for the total aircraft life cycle – from design to manufacturing, maintenance and repair, through to disassembly and recycling. SUSTAINair introduces circular economy to aerospace engineering to reduce material and energy consumption, thus contributing to zero pollution across the entire value chain.