On 28 June 2016, JIIP and Knowledge4Innovation (K4I) jointly organised a Dinner Debate in the European Parliament on the topics Circular Economy and Nature-based Solutions. The event was linked to the RECREATE project (www.recreate-net.eu) which is coordinated by JIIP. It was officially hosted by MEP Pavel Telicka (ITRE rapporteur on the circular economy package) and featured the following additional speakers: Jack Metthey (Director at DG RTD), Raimund Bleischwitz (Deputy Director at UCL ISR), Peter Wolfs (Director Bioeconomy at TNO), Egbert Lox (Senior VP at UMICORE) and René van Sloten (Executive Director Industry at CEFIC) as well as JIIP Managing Director Robbert Fisher as moderator.
The more than 60 attendants saw a very vivid and interesting debate, which brought forward a number of important viewpoints and concrete recommendations. Amongst others, the following points were highlighted:
- The importance of public support for large-scale initiatives (demonstration projects etc.) was stressed by several speakers and participants, pointing out that industry sees this support as more important than actual funding as such.
- It was suggested to make “recyclability” of envisaged products a precondition for R&D funding. Linked to that, it was highlighted by various participants that while there are projects focused on recycling, crosscutting requirements would be much more effective.
- Various participants pointed out that there needs to be more of a level-playing field for bio-based products. There are a number of examples where bio-based products are not treated equally vis-à-vis traditional products, e.g. in terms of taxation.
- The substitution of critical raw materials, ideally by renewables, was emphasised as something crucial.
- Jack Matthey repeatedly mentioned the “Innovation Deals”, a new flexible instrument to give support (also through regulatory means) to potential break-through innovations.
JIIP would like to thank all attendants and hopes to see you again in the future.
Photo gallery: http://www.knowledge4innovation.eu/gallery/joint-k4i-recreate-dinner-debate-how-can-european-ri-policy-best-support-circular-economy