Making sustainable fuels, chemicals and materials solely from renewable energy, water and abundantly available resources is a promising pathway for climate change mitigation. Join us for an exciting exchange at the crossroads of R&I, policy and investment around CCU, power-to-X and solar-to-X technologies!
On 12 December 2023, the European Innovation Council published a €24m Challenge dedicated to solar-to-X technologies. We take this open call as an occasion to organise a two-day event around innovations providing fossil-free products for diverse sectors, such as renewable hydrogen, sustainable aviation fuels or green fertilizers.
Discussions will span the whole innovation chain: latest results from excellent academic research, ways to scale up innovative solar-to-X technologies, demonstrations of mature solutions on their way to commercialisation and their integration into the existing energy system.
What you can expect
- Gain a comprehensive overview of the current state-of-play of solar-to-x technologies
- Pitch your project or present your results in diverse working groups
- Exchange with leading academics, visionary entrepreneurs, industrial leaders, policymakers, and investors
- Discuss ways to move from technology readiness levels to manufacturing readiness levels
- Explore viable business models for solar-to-x technologies
- Contribute to the development of a holistic techno-sustainability methodology
- Find partners for future projects and enjoy ample opportunities to network
What we want to achieve
- Match R&I realities with societal needs
- Gain a clear understanding of the potential sustainability impact of solar fuel innovation
- Establish a merit-order-of-applications for solar-to-x technologies to guide decision-makers
- Guide innovation at an early stage towards the most sustainable configurations that meet societal needs
Topics covered
- From a societal need to technological innovation: policy, industrialisation and investors session
- Solar-to-X devices: where are we now?
- The devices of tomorrow: with biotechnology, autonomous operation and computational materials science to fully sustainable devices
- Transition of technology to (social) innovation: techno-sustainability assessment, social challenges and opportunities and market considerations
- Standards, common metrics, fair benchmarking: key enablers for upscaling technology
Next to plenaries and panel discussions, the programme will include workshops in parallel sessions, some of which provide the opportunity to pitch project results:
- From Technology to Innovation, from TRL to MRL
- Social challenges and opportunities
- Techno-sustainability assessment: Practical use cases – are the necessary KPIs met to go to the next stage?
- How to make a business out of it? EIC Innovation training session
- EIC insights: Ask-me-anything by EIC project officers
- How to rent a CEO? EIB Executives in residence programme
Showcasing European innovation
The conference will offer the opportunity to present your innovation, either in form of a project pitch or by exhibiting a demonstrator (tangible, no poster). Please indicate during registration if you would like to show us what you got.
Time and space for both are limited. We therefore reserve the right to select pitches and demonstrators to ensure a wide coverage in terms of topics and presenters.
Keywords
Solar-to-X technologies • Green hydrogen • Renewable fuels and chemicals • CCU • Artificial photosynthesis • Recycled carbon fuels • Green fertilizers • Sustainable protein production
Practical information
Date and time: Tuesday-Wednesday, 4-5 June 2024
Location: EnergyVille, Thor Central, Thor Park 8000, 3600 Genk, Belgium
Organisers: European Innovation Council*, EnergyVille, imec, EuroTech Universities Alliance, EU projects CATART, CONDOR, FlowPhotoChem, and the EU SUNERGY initiative**
Registration: Is required; please find a registration form on the EnergyVille website.
Audience
This conference is open to all.
Further information
For further information, please see the EnergyVille website or contact Anita Schneider (contact details below).
* The views expressed in this event are the responsibility of the organisers and do not necessarily reflect the views of the European Commission nor of the European Innovation Council and SMEs Executive Agency. The identification of an area in this event does not imply that the organisers or the European Commission or the European Innovation Council and SMEs Executive Agency agree with it. The European Commission or the European Innovation Council and SMEs Executive Agency are not liable for any consequence stemming from the reuse of content of this event.
** CATART has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon Europe research and innovation programme under grant agreement no. 101046836. CONDOR has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under grant agreement no. 101006839. FlowPhotoChem has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under grant agreement no. 862453. The EU SUNERGY Initiative is supported via the SUNER-C Coordination and Support Action, funded by the EU framework programme Horizon Europe under grant agreement no. 101058481.
