Climate-KIC Valencia has been present in the “First Climate Cluster event” in Castellón (VISION 2020)

This week, the Institute of Ceramic Technology, partner of Climate-KIC, hosted the first Cluster Climate under the Horizon 2020. The European Union focus its activities of research and innovation on this program with the aim of sharing best practices to identify area of common interest and upcoming opportunities for future collaboration.

Vision 2020 is an innovation platform for research Organizations and companies participating in the Horizon 2020 EU Funding Program. The research organization members of Vision2020 are a selected group of excellent institutions, Universities and groups of experts, that are highly active in European research and Innovation; among them we can name the London Imperial College, ITC, Politecnico di Milano, the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Zurich, and many more; inside the network there are also experts from different field of expertise, like the Berkley Associates, specialized in the European Commission’s project management.

For two days, 40 experts from various European countries, gathered in Castellon to share their expertise and knowledge on issues such as climate change, environment, energy, water, waste and raw materials, etc.

Among them was present Climate-KIC, where the Chief Innovation Manager, Ignacio Chanzá, showed to the attendant the objectives of the European Institute of Innovation and Technology (EIT) in innovation, and the different communities of existing knowledge, the KICs. Moreover he emphasized the role of Climate-KIC as Europe’s largest public-private innovation partnership, working together to address the challenge of climate change through innovation and the development of zero-carbon economy.

Chanzá, then, had the occasion to announce the Agenda of Strategic Innovation of the EIT for the period 2014-20 which included a new program called Regional Innovation Plan. The aim of this plan would be to expand the Climate-KIC participation in activities related to innovation, entrepreneurial spirit and training, and the establishment of close collaboration between Climate-KIC and other regions of Europe.

Day 1: “Innovation in Climate and Environment: Opportunities in Horizon 2020 Work Program for 2016/2017”

The first Day has been dedicated to the presentation of the program Horizon 2020, whose mission was, with its 77 billion of Euros budget, to invest in research and innovation, trying to maximize the impact of its projects through stakeholder’s knowledge and a strong and active participation of SMEs (Small and Medium-sized enterprises).The Program is divided in three main pillars, which are: Excellent Science, Industrial Leadership, and Societal Challenge.

The third pillar “Climate action, environment, resource efficiency and raw materials”, is the one on which we need to focus our attention on. The principal objective of this topic, also known as SC5, will be to “achieve a resource – and water – efficient and climate change resilient economy and society, the protection and sustainable management of natural resources and ecosystems, and a sustainable supply and use of raw materials, in order to meet the needs of a growing global population within the sustainable limits of the planet’s natural resources and eco – systems.” For achieving this goal it will be necessary to find concrete answers for the future so it promote and encourage the active participation of all stakeholders.

 Day 2: “Innovation in Climate and Environment: Brokerage event and networking regarding the 2016 calls”

The second day highlighted the ideas and projects of the companies invited on the panel. There was also a partner of Climate-KIC, which is, at the same time, the host of the conference, the Institute of Ceramic Technology (ITC), a research center created from an agreement between the Association of the Ceramic Industry Research (ALICE) and the University Jaume I of Castellón (Spain), which commented the areas of climate change they were involved in, and their commitment in searching new ideas and projects to join.

Among the participant of the second day, we can named important organization, companies and universities which had actively participated at the cluster, showing to the audience which are their solutions to fight against climate change. Some example that can be named are: The Brunel Unversity of London, the LEITAT Technological Centre of Terrasa, The European Research and Innovation Office of the University College of London, the Universidad Politecnica de Madrid, the Institute of Physichs, Polish Academy of Sciences of Warsaw, and many others.

This event took place a month before the Paris summit, COP 21. This is an opportunity to recall that the experts are not too late to tackle climate change but needs enough so united political will and immediate action from all citizens.