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

The next EU LIFE Information and Networking day will be online, as a precaution, due to Coronavirus

19.03.2020. The European Commission is organising a Virtual Information Day on the LIFE 2020 call for project proposals. Due to the outbreak of coronavirus, as a precautionary measure, this event will now be a virtual conference, on 30 April 2020.

The event is open to potential applicants submitting project proposals on green technology, nature protection and climate action.

Centro Ibérico para la Investigación y Lucha contra Incendios Forestales (CILIFO) will be present, through the Finnova Foundation, at the next LIFE event as a project proposal on green technology, nature protection and climate action.

According to information on the website, the information session on the 2020 LIFE call will cover significant changes in the programme compared to previous years.

Main topics: Environmental technologies and solutions including water, waste, air quality, soil, forest, health, climate change adaptation; climate change mitigation; nature conservation and biodiversity; climate and environmental governance and information initiatives.

To participate in the event: https://www.sli.do/

The 3rd Coria Business Market gathers business owners and entrepreneurs in Seville

The 3rd Coria Business Market took place in the county Marismas del Guadalquivir in the metropolitan area of Seville. The main target of this event was informing business owners and entrepreneurs about the funding available in the European Union through venture capital investment models. In addition, getting to know how to get useful information for strategy in the frame of entrepreneurship and commercial networking.

Juanma Revuelta, CEO of Finnova Foundation, participated during the conference: “Opportunities in Europe for the development of territories and entrepreneurial drive”. He explained the projects in which the foundation participates, such as the Firefighting Open Innovation Lab in the field of forest fires and forest management, where they support entrepreneurial initiatives. Another one is the “Centro Ibérico para la Investigación y Lucha contra Incendios Forestales” (Iberian Centre for investigation and fight against forest fires), CILIFO for short, has a 24,6-million-euro total budget. 75% from this budget is financed by a cooperation program between Spain and Portugal called NAPOCTEP (Programa de Cooperación Transfronteriza Interreg VA España-Portugal – Interreg POCTEP (2014-2020). It is a transboundary project that aims to transform the Napoleonic heritage in a touristic quality product, that is also sustainable and that can create wealth and jobs in regions like Castilla y León in Spain and others in Portugal, that is under the threat of losing population and aging. Another project is the Startup Europe Awards, an opened innovative instrument that enables enterprises to identify talent start-ups that can tackle current challenges in different fields. It is also an instrument of social awareness through Media Startup Alliance, which also counts with European media participation.

Finally, Juan Manuel Revuelta clarified how does Finnova work and the projects in which he collaborates, as well as the ones he has developed. During the forum, he also described: “what we do in Finnova Foundation is try to ease and extract access to European funds for the development of territories. This is how we help startups develop together with local governments.” He also highlighted that currently “there are 15 million euros of European funding that has not been spent”, but administrations, provincial councils and mayors of Spain still have time to reschedule these funds and use them before 2023.

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.