Causes Towards the creation of a high-tech building industry. Turning energy efficiency into a sustainable business
Maria da Graça Carvalho hosted a conference on the Energy Efficient Buildings. The event was organised by the Energy Efficiency Buildings Association (E2BA) at the European Parliament and brought together three Directorates-General of the European Commission, DG Research and Innovation, DG Connect and DG Energy. There was a strong participation of large industry, SMEs, academia, research centers, Regions representatives and a vast range of stakeholders in the construction sector.
The new Research and Innovation Roadmap Towards the creation of a high-tech building industry. Turning energy efficiency into a sustainable business, setting up the priorities in the built environment for the period 2014-2020, was presented by Stefano Carosio, responsible R&D for D'Appolonia (Rina Group) and Co-chairman of the Ad-hoc Industrial Advisory Group of the EeB PPP. Develop, integrate, demonstrate and validate breakthrough technologies along three multi-disciplinary and cross-sectoral research and demonstration lines are the specific objectives of the Roadmap to create impact, in line with Horizon 2020.
Four success stories out of more than 100 projects supported by the European Commission in ICT, Energy, Environment and NMP domains were presented by Luc Bourdeau, ENBRI Vice-President and Secretary General of E2BA. Starting from a Building Renovation Concepts which goes beyond a 75% reduction in space heat energy demand and Cultural Heritage Solutions with a potential of 180 MT CO2 reduction, moving to Design and Management Tools and the Integration at District Level with development of new products and solutions.
The relevance of addressing Energy efficient Buildings and the role of the PPP tool in Research and Innovation was further emphasized by short statements from the representatives of different services of the European Commission, namely Mr. Von Bose, EC Director of Industrial Technologies, Mr. Timmers, EC Director of Sustainable and Secure Society, Mr. Hodson, Head of Unit of Energy Efficiency, and Mr. Tilche, Acting Director of Climate change and natural hazards. Maria da Graça Carvalho supported the PPP tool during her intervention, considering "PPPs as a very useful instrument that allows boosting innovation and research at European level through the crucial involvement of key stakeholders".
Positive interventions on how the research and innovation potential of a high-tech building industry will help to accelerate the development of the economy in Europe were made during the open debate from participants across the European Parliament, the European Commission, businesses and Regions representatives.
"Innovation has to be taken into Europe's built environment, including cultural heritage, in order to boost market uptake, engaging consumers and encouraging SMEs to a business to market", said MEP Carvalho in her closing remarks.
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Presentation on "PPP EeB within H2020: the research and innovation roadmap and industry commitment"
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