Greenovate news

During a series of stakeholder meetings, the Commission has commented that it soon hopes to agree funding proposals for the upcoming European Innovation Partnership on water.

The EIP on water is one of a serried of Innovation Partnerships that aim to speed up breakthrough innovations and solve specific societal challenges in areas where there is also a large market potential for EU businesses. The partnership will cover both drinking and waste water and aims to make Europe a global leader in water management policy and innovation.

Brussels, 19 January 2012 – The fourth INNO-GRIPS II workshop - Social attitudes toward fostering entrepreneurship and innovation demand - was held to validate a study carried out by the Maastricht Economic and Social Research Institute on Innovation and Technology (UNU-MERIT).

Brussels, 20 December 2011 – The Commission has proposed guidelines for the modernisation of European directives on public procurement. The aim is to ensure the optimal use of funds to foster growth and job creation by simplifying rules and procedures and making them more flexible.

Brussels, 15 December 2011 – The EC has presented its Energy Roadmap 2050, which presents it plans for achieving the goal of cutting emissions by over 80% by 2050. The document outlines the policy framework needed to reach a carbon free energy system.

A report from the European Environment Agency has revealed that industrial air pollution cost Europe up to €169 bn in 2009, approximately €330 for every European citizen.

The analysis builds on existing policy tools and methods to calculate a range of estimated costs arising from damage to human health and the environment. It covers nearly 10 000 facilities across Europe operating in a number of different sectors, including large power plants, refineries, manufacturing combustion and industrial processes, waste and certain agricultural activities.

The REMake project is showcasing how SMEs can be more profitable by simply using less resources. New case studies have been published demonstrating the successful application of eco-innovation in the manufacturing industry across Europe. The three key areas of innovation targeted are process efficiency, product design and value chain optimisation.
These case studies illustrate the real benefits of providing targeted innovation support to improve cost benefits while being more resource efficient.

Brussels, 16 November 2011 – The European Commission today launched a consulting process on water efficiency in buildings to run until 8 February 2012. It wants to gather views and additional information on a number of policy options in order to make recommendations in March.

A new report from European Commission's Joint Research Centre revealed that five metals, essential for manufacturing low-carbon technologies, show a high risk of shortage. Reasons for this lie in Europe's dependency on imports, increasing global demand, supply concentration and geopolitical issues.

Brussels, 25 October 2011 – The European Parliament has approved a resolution calling for reforms to the EU rules of public procurement contracts, calling for them to become simpler, more inclusive and more flexible.

Price should no longer be the determining factor in awarding contracts, but it should be replaced by the “most advantageous tender in terms of economic, social and environmental benefits, taking into account the entire life-cycle costs of the good, service or work".

Amsterdam, 19-20 October 2011 – the annual European Forum for Industrial Biotechnology, which met on Wednesday and Thursday last week, heard how the EU is failing behind the US and Asia in the market deployment of new biotechnologies, even though it is developing them at a similar rate.

Brussels, 17 October 2011 – European Commission Vice-President Antonio Tajani has announced EU funding for a new programme to help investors integrate social, environmental and governance (ESG) information into their investment decisions. The programme will be led by the International Corporate Governance Network and the Secretariat of the United Nations Principles for Responsible Investment, who represent around 900 mainstream investors managing assets in excess of US$ 29 trillion.

Brussels, 20 September 2011 – The European Commission has set out a 'roadmap' aimed at transforming Europe's economy into a sustainable one by 2050. The Roadmap to a resource-efficient Europe outlines how we can achieve the resource efficient growth which is essential for our future wellbeing and prosperity. The roadmap identifies the economic sectors that consume the most resources, and suggests tools and indicators to help guide action in Europe and internationally.

The European Cluster Observatory is releasing two new studies, produced by Greenovate!

GreenConServe has published the brochure “Green service innovation vouchers – experiences from testing voucher schemes for sustainable construction service innovators”.

A survey of waste management firms in Romania, Hungary, Slovakia and the Czech Republic, presented recently at a conference in Helsinki, has found that these countries are at risk of missing recycling targets for household and construction waste set in the revised waste framework directive. According to EU law, half of combined glass, paper, metal and plastic waste from "households or other origins" – and 70% of construction waste – should be recycled by 2020.