Finnova Foundation organises a LIFE 2021-2027 Networking and Q&A Open Day
This online event will take place on Wednesday 28 July
It is made up of several networking panels in order to create and to foster synergies among potential partners
This event aims to provide help for all those entrepreneurs, start-ups, and public and private entities having initiatives to become eligible projects under LIFE
Brussels 26-07-2021. On Wednesday 28 July, Finnova Foundation will hold an online networking and Q&A event about the recent LIFE call. The main goal is to break down into seven thematic panels all novelties about the recent LIFE Programme 2021-2027 call and to answer all questions which may arise. Every panel will feature experts on each specific domain.
Finnova Foundation has extensive expertise in drafting, implementing and managing European projects. In fact, it has had more than 30 LIFE projects approved, and it is determined to foster innovation and to generate new ideas regarding the environment. Therefore, Finnova organises this intensive open day to supplement the Info-Day organised by the Ministerio de Transición Ecológica y Reto Demográfico (Spanish Department for Green Transition and Demographic Challenge) and the European Commission’s European Climate, Infrastructure and Environment Executive Agency (CINEA) on July 27.
The LIFE Programme, launched in 1992, is the only EU fund entirely dedicated to environmental, nature-conservancy and climate objectives. To date, more than 900 projects have been approved in Spain – 5,400 projects in total across the EU. With regard to funding, the EU has granted a total amount of €781 million to projects which have been implemented in Spain – the total amount of funds amounts to €9 billion for projects implemented in all EU countries.
Finnova will organise this intensive networking and Q&A open day on Wednesday 28 July, from 09:00 to 18:00 (CEST). This event is broken down into seven thematic panels. See the schedule below.
Panel 1 (09:00) will address the “Next Cities Generation: Waste, Circular Economy and Water” challenge, and it will be chaired by the Congreso Greencities[1]. Juan Manuel Revuelta, CEO of Finnova, and Juan Viesca, EU Funds Director at Finnova, will answer all questions about the green transition cities must undertake presently and in the future. The panel will conclude by showcasing a best practice example – LIFE ECOdigestion 2.0. Click here to register for this panel.
Panel 2 (10:00) will be chaired by Foro de Logística and it will tackle sustainable mobility. It will feature the best practice example “S-Moving”, a congress which will be held on site in FYCMA on 29 and 30 September. This panel will revolve around topics like sustainable and electric mobility, the use of 5G/6G to enhance citizens’ quality of life, and governance in the mobility domain. Click here to register for this panel.
The sustainable agri-food challenge will be the key topic of Panel 3 (11:00). It will be chaired by Balam Agriculture together with Smart Agrifood Summit. This panel will focus on issues related to the agri-food sector and the need to invest in research and innovation. On the other hand, the new Interreg HIBA (Hub Iberia Agrotech) project, which aims to create a multiregional ecosystem for the agrotech sector through Digital Innovation Hubs, will be introduced, and the HIBA Startup Europe Accelerathon will be launched. Click here to register for this panel.
Panel 4 (climate change) will start at noon and will be centered on climate change, more specifically on forest fire management. Inmaculada Vázquez, on behalf of Agencia de Medio Ambiente y Agua de Andalucía (AMAYA) from Junta de Andalucía, will head this panel and will talk about Interreg CILIFO, a best practice epitome of cross-border cooperation to prevent and to fight against forest fires. Questions will be answered by José Manuel Requena, Interreg CILIFO Project Coordinator at Finnova Foundation. Click here to register for this panel.
Panel 5 (“Real state, Sustainable Buildings and Bauhaus”) will feature association Proptech House. Slovak enterprise Sensoneo will be used to exemplify a best practice case in the proptech sector (it was awarded the Proptech Startup Europe Awards held in Paris in 2018). Sensoneo is a start-up which uses technology to enhance or to re-invent services and products in the real estate sector in order to adapt them to current needs and to societal demands in terms of sustainability. EU Project Drafting expert Íñigo Bilbao will answer all questions regarding LIFE and this particular domain. Click here to register for this panel.
The event will resume at 15:00 after a lunch break with a panel (Panel 5) devoted to sustainable energy. Enterprise Global Omnium, who will chair this panel, has coordinated and managed LIFE ECOdigestion 2.0. This project seeks to produce on-demand biogas with sewage sludge and agri-food waste. Questions on sustainable energy will be answered by Juan Manuel Revuelta and Juliana Herrero, a sustainable energy engineer. Click here to register for this panel.
Sustainable tourism could not be left behind in this event. That is why Panel 6 will focus on “Next Tourism Generation”. Suncruise Andalucía will take the floor first. Afterwards, Juan Manuel Revuelta and Íñigo Bilbao will reply to any questions attendees may have and they will discuss available options to adapt this sector to meet current sustainability standards. This panel will be wrapped up by the Asociación Española de Directores de Hotel (AEDH). Click here to register for this panel.
Last, before the closing address, there will be a one-hour session devoted to talking about CircularInnoBooster Fashion and Textile (F&T), a project under COSME programme with an initial duration of two years and a €1,128,000 budget. This project is being led by IED (Istituto Europeo di Design), and is supported by Finnova Foundation, Texfor, Circulab and The Circular Project with HumanNation. Its goal is to transform the highly pollutant fashion and textile industries through innovation and by fostering entrepreneurship to create business models based on the circular economy, thus turning SMEs and start-ups into sustainable and circular enterprises.
CircularInnoBooster’s accelerator, CirCoAX, will select 30 projects forming an international consortium and led by an SME (according to the definition provided by the European Commission). They will have to focus on creating a brand-new product, a process, a service or an innovative, sustainable and circular business model in the fashion and textile areas. They will directly receive up to 12,000 funding.
Representatives from all partners of the project will inform participants about the requirements potential applicants must meet in order to be selected. They will also explain the application process, deadlines, and they will also talk about the Nextextilegeneration challenge, which seeks to reach a more circular, greener, and fully SDG-orientated fashion industry. The call will be open up until Wednesday 13 October 2021 at 17:00 CET. Click here to register for the Info Day.
About Finnova Foundation
Finnova is a foundation which seeks to promote and to develop innovation and entrepreneurship across the EU. Its main HQs are located in Brussels, and it works in all EU countries thanks to collaborations and networks. Finnova’s experience in communicating and disseminating European projects is coupled with a solid expertise in creating enterprises and support programmes for businesses, such as accelerators, incubators and other events.
For more information, click on www.finnova.eu
About Startup Europe Awards
Startup Europe Awards is an initiative by DG CONNECT and has been implemented by Finnova Foundation since 2016. Startup Europe Awards are an open innovation mechanism aimed to identify disruptive start-ups and to promote private-public partnerships. They also seek to raise awareness on the importance of self-entrepreneurship as a driving force for job creation. In addition to promoting networks to meet the UN SDGs and the European Green Deal objectives, they also contribute to circular economy, sustainable tourism and fighting against climate change.
For more information, click on http://startupeuropeawards.eu/seua/
[1] The Congreso Greencities will be held at the Palacio de Ferias y Congresos de Málaga (FYCMA) on 29 and 30 September 2021.