Climate-KIC to unveil €100 million investment in four new flagship programmes at European Business Summit

Climate-KIC has announced that it is supporting four new flagship programmes to accelerate its efforts in climate change mitigation and adaptation.

The new programmes will be supported by a combination of Climate-KIC, partner and external sources of funding at a level expected to exceed €100 million over the next four years and will start this year.

ebs-2014Climate-KIC Chief Executive Officer Mary Ritter will be discussing the details of the new flagship programmes as part of the “Education and Business for Innovation: Acting Together” panel discussion at the European Business Summit 2014 on 15 May in Brussels.

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 said: “More than ever climate change is high on the agenda. These new flagship initiatives are long-term multimillion programmes that 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,” she said.

The four flagship programmes are:

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 has kicked-off the next phase of planning an industrial scale plant.

Turning CO2 into high-value products, as well as evaluating the required infrastructure, the programme will contribute to further decoupling energy and resource consumption from industrial growth.

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 elaborate 3-pillar concept of innovation support, educational programmes and start-up acceleration,” Sievering said.

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, AkzoNobel.

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.

Ian Short, Chief Executive of the Institute for Sustainability, commented: “Climate-KIC’s investment will not only help identify and mainstream a wide range of new products, technologies and services, but reinforce Europe’s position as leading the climate change adaptation and mitigation agenda.”

“Smart Sustainable Districts’ focus is on how we make change at scale against the complex background of cities and their existing infrastructure. Activity is designed to deliver against ambitious targets in four pilot districts, while capturing valuable lessons on how we can adapt new approaches for much wider application across Europe and beyond,” said Short.

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.

David Goatman, Partner, Head of Sustainability and Energy at global property consultant Knight Frank, stated: “Climate KIC is making an unprecedented investment into climate innovation via these four flagship programmes. These four flagship investments will deliver game-changing CO2 reductions and catalyse the development and up-scaling of new low carbon technologies across Europe. This in turn creates new jobs and economic growth across multiple countries.”

“The flagships bring together a wide range of private, public and academic organisations in a unique combination to develop new goods, products and services that address the climate change challenge,” said Goatman.

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

Catastrophe models for the finance industry

Lloyd’s of London has seen annual insurance losses due to extreme weather rise from $50bn in the 1980s to $200bn over the last decade. Climate-KIC’s OASIS+ programme is helping to address this climate driven challenge. The programme is well on the way to creating the world’s first open-access loss modelling framework – a software arena where state of the art extreme weather models are combined with models of damage and financial loss. Bringing together over 40 of the world’s leading insurers, reinsurers, ICT businesses and weather modellers they are already making insurance for extreme weather events more accessible and precise.

Partners include Imperial College London, ARIA, CEA/IPSL, CLIMPACT/METNEXT, Delft University of Technology, Deltares, Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research.

Visit our newsroom for the press release.

 
Articles you may be interested in
In The News
For cities to become climate-resilient, they need to invest in capability buil...

As cities grapple with transforming and adapting to meet...

For cities to become climate-resilient, they need to invest in capability building
In The News
EIT Climate-KIC signs declaration ‘EU Green Deal: from local to global’

All around the globe, cities and regions are driving...

EIT Climate-KIC signs declaration ‘EU Green Deal: from local to global’
In The News
EIT Climate-KIC organises first Festival of Circular Economy and Bioeconomy in...

Running from November 28 to December 2, the activities...

EIT Climate-KIC organises first Festival of Circular Economy and Bioeconomy in Santander
In The News
What does climate action look like for the Culture and Creative Sector Industr...

The Culture and Creative Sector Industries (CCSI) can play...

What does climate action look like for the Culture and Creative Sector Industries?
In The News
Collaboration and knowledge sharing is key to unlocking capital for climate ne...

In order to reach net zero by 2030, or...

Collaboration and knowledge sharing is key to unlocking capital for climate neutrality
In The News
Gipuzkoa shapes the green future with local actors

Gipuzkoa is taking action towards sustainability through collaboration with...

Gipuzkoa shapes the green future with local actors
In The News
How can we enable African climate innovation to thrive?  

Much of the discussion around COP27 this year has...

How can we enable African climate innovation to thrive?  
In The News
EIT Climate-KIC and partners publish recommendations to include systemic lands...

The European Green Deal represents a unique opportunity for...

EIT Climate-KIC and partners publish recommendations to include systemic landscape thinking into EU policies to achieve the Green Deal
In The News
The challenges of building a resilient farmers’ community in Africa

Audrey S-Darko is a researcher and a farmer from...

The challenges of building a resilient farmers’ community in Africa
In The News
EIT Climate-KIC joins business and civil society to call on governments to uph...

As the official COP27 outcomes are being drafted this...

EIT Climate-KIC joins business and civil society to call on governments to uphold commitments to 1.5
In The News
Climate innovation: “The purpose is people, everything else is just the mean...

Massamba Thioye is leading the UN climate change Global...

Climate innovation: “The purpose is people, everything else is just the means”
In The News
Become a European Climate Leader

The Climate-KIC International Foundation is looking for a Supervisory...

Become a European Climate Leader
In The News
EIT Climate-KIC launches open-access database to map start-up ecosystem, now w...

Climate start-ups supported by EIT Climate-KIC are now worth...

EIT Climate-KIC launches open-access database to map start-up ecosystem, now worth €11.8 billion in combined enterprise value
In The News
Slovenia higher education reform aims to create a supportive environment for s...

Slovenia’s ministry of higher education is gearing up for...

Slovenia higher education reform aims to create a supportive environment for students and teachers
In The News
Co-designing the future of coal regions

EIT Climate-KIC launches the Post Coal Future Lab initiative...

Co-designing the future of coal regions
In The News
Bringing in business is key to achieving systems transformation on the climate...

“What does it mean to enable businesses to deal...

Bringing in business is key to achieving systems transformation on the climate crisis
In The News
What will it take to build the New European Bauhaus?

“Beautiful, Sustainable, Together”. These are the values – and...

What will it take to build the New European Bauhaus?
In The News
EIT Climate-KIC selects five partners in Global South to implement gender main...

The intersection of climate and innovation remains a male-dominated...

EIT Climate-KIC selects five partners in Global South to implement gender mainstreaming into entrepreneurship
In The News
Citizens inspire a car-free Leuven

A broad survey, possible solutions displayed on screens, inspirational...

Citizens inspire a car-free Leuven
In The News
EIT Climate-KIC accelerates climate tech solutions for a net-zero Africa 

Climate-focused start-up teams in developing countries face distinct challenges...

EIT Climate-KIC accelerates climate tech solutions for a net-zero Africa 
In The News
New European Bauhaus Hackathons will reward most innovative solutions

EIT Community New European Bauhaus partners will be hosting...

New European Bauhaus Hackathons will reward most innovative solutions
In The News
Slovenia takes a pivotal turn towards circularity

Slovenia has decided to actively combat climate change by...

Slovenia takes a pivotal turn towards circularity
In The News
Innovative climate projects part of EIT Community New European Bauhaus initiat...

The European Institute of Innovation and Technology (EIT) has...

Innovative climate projects part of EIT Community New European Bauhaus initiative
In The News
A new air and climate plan for Milan

The City Council of Milan approved the Air and...

A new air and climate plan for Milan
In The News
Meet the three EIT Climate-KIC innovators nominated for EIT Awards

Three innovators from EIT Climate-KIC’s community have been nominated...

Meet the three EIT Climate-KIC innovators nominated for EIT Awards
In The News
100 European cities take up the challenge to become carbon neutral by 2030

On Monday 13 June, the representatives of the 100...

100 European cities take up the challenge to become carbon neutral by 2030
In The News
The role of cities and regions in transforming wood value chains

Climate smart forest economies It’s a crucial decade for...

The role of cities and regions in transforming wood value chains
In The News
Glasgow City Region pioneering forest economy innovation to drive climate acti...

Scotland’s largest city region is actively tackling climate change...

Glasgow City Region pioneering forest economy innovation to drive climate action
In The News
Forging sustainable timber construction in Europe

EIT Climate-KIC and Built by Nature, announce an initiative...

Forging sustainable timber construction in Europe
In The News
EIT Climate-KIC launches new Circularity Thinking training programme

EIT Climate-KIC is launching Circularity Thinking courses to tackle...

EIT Climate-KIC launches new Circularity Thinking training programme