Thinkforest webinar: Science Insights to the European Green Deal and Forests-

28/04/2020. Insights to the European Green Deal and Forests-webinar.

Organised by the European Forest Institute (EFI), this webinar aims to discuss the following questions:

  • What are the main objectives of the EU Green Agreement and how do they relate to the forest sector?
  • How does the forest sector in general view the Green Deal?
  • What are the strengths and weaknesses of the proposed Green Deal with respect to the forestry sector from the perspectives of ecological, economic and social sustainability?
  • How could the Green Deal be developed to better exploit the capacity of the EU sector to contribute to the main objectives of the Agreement?

ThinkForest is a high-level science policy forum that brings together policy makers, the scientific community and stakeholders to build bridges on pan-European forest and bio-economic issues.

Date: Wednesday, 20 May 2020

Time: 10:00 – 12:30 CEST

Location: Webinar
Register here
The webinar will be conducted using Zoom.us. A link to the webinar will be sent to you by e-mail the night before the webinar, May 19.

Download the program at the following link

More information on the following website

 

Call: EIC Fast Track to Innovation (FTI)

23/04/2020. Projects that also help to prevent or combat epidemics such as Covid19 are particularly welcome.

OBJECTIVE:
Fast Track to Innovation finances «Bottom-Up» projects whose innovation activities are close to the market, regardless of their technological area and/or application. It is a financing tool designed to promote interdisciplinary cooperation between companies from different sectors and countries. The objectives of this initiative are to stimulate the participation of new companies in European public funding programmes and to increase private sector investment in R&D&I.

DETAILS:
Proposals for funding must be submitted as a consortium including between three and five legal entities established in at least three EU member countries or associated countries. In each consortium at least 60% of the budget must be allocated to industry participants, or the consortium must include at least two industry participants who are in a consortium with three or four partners. Another option is to have three industry participants in a consortium with five partners.

BENEFICIARIES:
This is a call open to any area, sector or theme with pillars of industrial leadership and social challenges (industries, universities, research centres, industrial associations, incubators, public sector) whose projects can be interdisciplinary and preferably oriented towards generating an impact on sustainability, climate change or any of the transversal objectives of Horizon 2020.

BUDGET: The maximum budget amounts to 3 million euros per proposal (funding rate of 70% for for-profit entities and 100% for non-profit entities).

DEADLINE: The deadline for submitting projects is 5 p.m. on 9 June 2020. (Brussels).

Contact: Adrian Noheda: adrian.noheda@finnova.eu

LIFE aid for Environment and resource efficiency traditional projects

08/04/2020. The Environment and Climate Action Programme (LIFE) is the European Union’s financial instrument dedicated to the environment for the period 2014-2020. Its overall objective is to contribute to sustainable development and the achievement of the objectives of the Europe 2020 strategy and the EU’s environment and climate strategies. One of the sub-programmes of LIFE is the Environment, which represents 75% of the total funding.

LIFE co-finances up to 55% of projects in the priority area of Environment and Resource Efficiency (the Environment Sub-Programme) especially in the areas of air, chemicals, green and circular economy, industrial accidents, marine and coastal management, noise, soil, waste, water and urban environment. The programme provides grants for pilot and demonstration projects to develop, test and demonstrate policy or management approaches. It also covers the development and demonstration of innovative technologies, the implementation, monitoring and evaluation of EU environmental policy and law, as well as best practices and solutions. In particular, the European Commission seeks new technologies and solutions that are ready to be applied under near-market conditions, on an industrial or commercial scale, for the duration of the project.

In the framework of the LIFE Programme and the 2020 call, there are interesting opportunities to give continuity to several actions of the Iberian Centre for Research and Fight against Forest Fires (CILIFO). The project could obtain alternative sources of funding for some lines of study, research and dissemination being carried out by the project’s different Working Groups. Furthermore, a proposal promoted by CILIFO within the framework of the LIFE Programme could exploit the good practices of CILIFO and the results obtained by the CILIFO Working Groups.

The CILIFO project, which is a European project focused on the prevention and extinction of forest fires, as well as on the adaptation and mitigation of climate change, is led by the Andalusian Regional Government (Spain). CILIFO has the first accelerator/incubator specialized in the prevention and extinction of forest fires and co-founded by an Interreg programme in Europe, «Firefighting Open Innovation Lab – CILIFO», which can contribute with innovative solutions. This Open Innovation Lab welcomes entities (entrepreneurs, spin-offs, start-ups, SMEs…) working in the field of climate change adaptation and mitigation, including forest fire prevention and extinction.

Target: the programme is aimed at consortia between public and private organisations at local level, councils, town halls, universities, public or private companies (including SMEs) and associations. Startups and entrepreneurs can also apply for the aid, as innovation in low-cost technologies for easy application in different areas is particularly encouraged.

Procedure: the Environment Subprogramme is divided into two stages: first a 10-page «concept note» is presented. You can modify a concept note submitted as many times as you wish until the call for project proposals is closed. Then, if the concept reaches the second stage, it will be necessary to send the complete project proposal based on the comments of the LIFE programme. The average budget per project is EUR 1 to 2 million.

Deadline for concept notes for traditional environment and resource efficiency projects: 14 July 2020.

Project example: HyperIN
Hyper [IN] is a revolutionary thermal and acoustic insulation material with permanent fire resistance. It is an internationally patented material that is biodegradable, insulating and fireproof, manufactured mainly from recyclable materials, which is mainly applied in the construction sector. A characteristic of this product is that a large part of its components are obtained from recycled products following the principles of the circular economy. This project is characterized by applying the principles of the circular economy, since it is composed of recycled materials that are reused (such as rice straw), with the aim of providing solutions to various environmental problems using 100% recycled and natural materials.

Responding to the COVID-19 pandemic: Due to the COVID-19 health crisis, projects dedicated to the management of the COVID-19 pandemic have taken on special relevance for the European Commission, encouraging research into systems of contagion and control of pandemics. It is not only researching new drugs or vaccines that may be of special interest in the fight against the coronavirus but also looking for projects that have unique viability in this field so important at present.

EU applicants are encouraged to reflect on what elements of their project can help prevent, mitigate, manage the current crisis or recover from a similar health crisis in the future. The aim is that any project that has some element, however small, that can collaborate or add to a much larger and more coordinated response in the fight against the pandemic, can be investigated from a health approach in order to readopt it and turn it into a response that, coming from different projects, can become a solution greater than the sum of its parts.

For more information contact the Coordinator of the CILIFO project at the Finnova Foundation, José Manuel Requena (jrequena@finnova.eu) or visit the website

 

DOWNLOAD HERE THE GUIDE TO THE LIFE CALL FOR ENVIRONMENT AND CLIMATE ACTION PROJECTS

CILIFO_Guideline_Finnova_LIFE_en_v1

CILIFO en la EU Sustainable Energy Week (EUSEW) 2020

25.03.2020. La Semana de la Energía Sostenible de la UE (EUSEW) 2020 tendrá lugar en Bruselas del 22 al 26 de junio de 2020. La “Policy Conference” es la mayor conferencia europea dedicada a las energías renovables y el uso eficiente de la energía en Europa.

Las sesiones organizadas por la Comisión Europea y las partes interesadas se centran en cuestiones de energía sostenible, debaten nuevos desarrollos de políticas, mejores prácticas e ideas de energía sostenible.

Energy Days son actividades y eventos organizados por organizaciones locales públicas y privadas de toda Europa para promover la energía limpia y la eficiencia energética. Son un componente clave de la Semana de la Energía Sostenible de la UE.

Dentro de las tareas de comunicación, internacionalización, explotación de resultados, capitalización y captación de tecnologías, emprendedores, start-ups y pymes para que participen en el “Firefighting Open Innovation Lab – Cilifo”, y poder hacer el catálogo de tecnologías innovadoras, la Fundación Finnova (beneficiaria del proyecto) solicitará la participación en la Energy Week 2020 mediante la organización de un Energy Day.

Organizar un Energy Days brinda la oportunidad de compartir el proyecto y sus ideas y debatir soluciones con la comunidad, con los que toman las decisiones y con el público en general; y mostrar cómo CILIFO está desempeñando un papel activo en el logro de los objetivos energéticos y climáticos de la UE.

Al registrar su evento como Energy Day, el proyecto CILIFO y su aceleradora, el Firefighting Open Innovatio Lab, se convierten en parte de la Semana de la Energía Sostenible de la UE, ya que se obtendrá visibilidad en toda la UE al convocar un evento en el sitio web de EUSEW y usar materiales con la marca EUSEW del kit de herramientas del organizador del Energy Day.

Cualquier beneficiario del proyecto interesado en hacer eventos deslocalizados, acciones formativas, de networking o comunicativas del proyecto CILIFO, puede participar y organizar su propio Energy Day.

Contacto: beatriz.martinez@finnova.eu

EIC Accelerator call for green companies – Green Deal

This specific EIC Accelerator call contributes to the implementation of the Green Deal objectives. It aims to encourage impact investment by supporting the development and market implementation of innovations that can put our socioeconomic systems on a more sustainable path. Projects must support the implementation of the Green Deal by contributing significantly (and proposals must quantitatively estimate that contribution) to at least one of the following sustainability objectives:

  1. Clean energy
  2. A sustainable industry
  3. Build and Renovate
  4. Sustainable mobility
  5. Biodiversity
  6. From the farm to the table
  7. Removing contamination

It is a call for proposals from 0.5 to 2.5M euros and is aimed at SMEs, start-ups, spin-offs established in European Union member countries or associated countries.

Type of aid: Non-refundable grant

Equipment available: 303.000.000 €

For more information: contact Finnova Foundation (adrian.noheda@finnova.eu)

Wex Global 2020 provides innovative ideas for a more sustainable world

The Wex Global Water & Energy Exchance was held at the Palace Hotel in Valencia last Tuesday, March 3rd, 2020. The General Director of the Finnova Foundation, Juan Manuel Revuelta, took part in this congress to present the work that the foundation is promoting from the project («Firefighting Open Innovation Lab Cilifo»).

This congress is one of the international reference events in the water and energy sectors that allows the creation of contacts and relationships with other business people. The objective of Wex Global is to provide innovative solutions to the challenges and needs of companies in the integral water cycle.

In addition, this event allowed for the enrichment of the «Catalogue of Innovative Technologies» shared by the Iberian Centre for Research and Fight against Forest Fires (CILIFO) in its forest fire prevention and extinguishing activities. In this type of event, CILIFO is presented with a consortium image and where all partners are represented through the communication materials that have been designed in CILIFO.

The Social Prevention technicians of Infoca prepare CILIFO’s awareness-raising activity launching

10.02.2020. The coordinator of the Awareness Raising Activity of the CILIFO project convened the social prevention technicians of Infoca last Friday 7th of February.

CEDEFO in Carcabuey (Córdoba) welcomed last Friday, 7th of February, the social prevention technicians of Infoca, called by the coordinator of the Awareness Activity of the CILIFO project, Antonio Maldonado. During the meeting, the launch of the actions proposed in the awareness activity was prepared, see informative materials, campaigns or events, among others, which will be informed in due course.

CILIFO (Iberian Centre for Research and Fight against Forest Fires) is a project approved by the Interreg POCTEP (2014-2020) Spain-Portugal Programme, which belongs to the Thematic Objective 5 of the Programme, which promotes adaptation to climate change in all sectors. It responds to the investment priority, with respect to the POCTEP Programme, 5B: Promotion of investment to address specific risks and guarantee adaptation to disasters and development of disaster management systems.

The Firefighting Open Innovation Lab as an example of innovation in entrepreneurship days for young people

05.02.2020. On February 4, 2020, a conference on Training, Employment and Young Entrepreneurship was organized at the Spanish Embassy in Brussels, by the Finnova Foundation.

The General Director of the Finnova Foundation, a beneficiary of the CILIFO project (Iberian Center for Research and Fight against Forest Fires), Juan Manuel Revuelta, participated in a day founded by the organization on Training, Employment and Young Entrepreneurship, on February 4th, 2020. The event, which took place in the LAB Space of the Spanish Embassy in Brussels, was held with the aim of bringing the private programs that support young people to new generations so that they can get to know first-hand the work that is being done from the different organizations. Finnova Foundation organized the event, aimed at Spanish youngsters residing in Belgium, in collaboration with the Spanish Embassy and the support of the Spanish Chamber.

The Iberian Center for Research and Fight against Forest Fires was one of the projects of entrepreneurship, self-employment and return of talent, presented as an example of job creation by the director of Finnova. CILIFO is a project approved by the Interreg POCTEP Program (2014-2020) Spain-Portugal, which belongs to the Thematic Objective 5 of the Program, which promotes adaptation to climate change in all sectors. In addition, it responds to the investment priority, with respect to the POCTEP Program, 5B: Promotion of investment to address specific risks and the guarantee of adaptation to disasters and development of catastrophe management systems. One of the objectives of the CILIFO project is the promotion of the creation of durable and quality employment in the area and the reduction of the economic cost of fires creating a rural economy linked to the landscape.

In addition, the Firefighting Open Innovation Lab was presented, it is an accelerator managed by Finnova Foundation, based in Seville, which has the vocation of promoting a network of incubators, under a private-public partnership scheme, worldwide, to capture innovation and technology that pursues the fight against forest fires and the mitigation and adaptation to climate change.

Currently, youth unemployment has reached more than worrying levels. The European Union and the governments of the different member countries have implemented measures to try to solve the problem through entities such as the European Social Fund and the European Commission. In addition, many autonomous and municipal governments such as the local deputies have carried out actions that can be an example of good practices to combat youth unemployment. The European Union is committed to creating more and better jobs and contributing to a more inclusive society. These objectives constitute the core of the Europe 2030 strategy, which seeks to generate smart, sustainable and inclusive growth in the EU. In addition to the measures promoted by European institutions or by regional and municipal governments, there are also private programs, promoted by different organizations that aim to support young people and the fight against unemployment through entrepreneurship.