The SusChem News Blog is now hosted on the SusChem website in the News Room. You will be redirected there in 10 seconds
.

Monday 23 December 2013

SusChem looks forward to 2014

Dr Klaus Sommer (pictured below), Chairman of the SusChem Board, talked to SusChem News reflecting on another year of achievement for SusChem during 2013 and looking forward to the challenges for 2104.

SusChem News: "What have been your main highlights of the year for SusChem?"

Klaus Sommer: “Just before the holiday season, on December 11, the Commission published the Horizon 2020 calls, these were close to the drafts on which SusChem has worked since this summer and which were the subject of our pre-brokerage event on October 23. This pre-brokerage event was very successful with a great attendance and a number of interesting proposals generated.”

“Our analysis of the Horizon 2020 work programmes has shown that many of the SusChem proposals are already being considered in the ‘Industrial Technologies’ or ‘Societal Challenges’ areas. This is the result of all the hard work accomplished on many fronts following the revised SusChem strategy and based on an active participation in European Innovation Partnerships (Water, Raw Materials, Smart-Cities and Communities), strong support to Public Private Partnerships initiatives (particularly the SPIRE cPPP and the Bio-Based Industries JTI), participation in Task Forces and the High level Group on Key Enabling Technologies and the revision of our Materials Technologies agenda.”


SusChem News: “What has been the effect of this huge effort on SusChem’s profile?”

Klaus Sommer: “All this hard work has allowed us to boost SusChem’s visibility and influence, have a true dialogue with the EU and with all our stakeholders and finally play our role as a recognised ‘ETP 2020’ Technology Platform.”

“I would like to thank all the SusChem stakeholders for the support they have provided to make this happen either by direct involvement or by providing the required expert resources from their organisations. I personally would like to thank our colleagues at Cefic who support SusChem, in particular Jacques Komornicki, for their great commitment and support. Without them, it all would not work out.”


SusChem News: “Where do you see the main focus for SusChem in 2014?”

Klaus Sommer: “Looking forward, it is very important that we confirm our engagement by participating actively in the first round of calls of Horizon 2020. For this SusChem is organizing a ‘true’ brokerage event on January 31 where project ideas can be confirmed and consortia started - first deadlines for project submission are as soon as mid-March 2014. And the new Grant-it on-line facility is also available for free to all SusChem registered members. We urge you to mobilize your respective organisations to actively participate.”

SusChem News: “How else can the SusChem community contribute to the platform’s activities in 2014?”

Klaus Sommer: “Another important effort, which is part of our core strategy, is to have the SusChem National Technology Platforms play a more active role in mobilising our stakeholders at the national level; some clear progress has been made in 2013 with the publication of our new rules, the creation of a twelfth National Platform in Switzerland and an active brokerage activity by some NTPs. In the next steps we will further involve the National Platforms in our discussions and actions. I encourage SusChem members to support the SusChem platforms in their respective countries.”

“A further short-term action for 2014 is to publish a new Strategic Research Agenda based on our revised strategy; strong support from the board and stakeholders will be needed to make it a high quality document and a cornerstone of our communication activities for the future.”

“Finally, as you will know, Horizon 2020 contains many more innovation activities than previous programmes and our chances of obtaining successful project awards will depend on the quality and preparation of the evaluators of project proposals. The Commission has recently issued an appeal for such experts – and this is an opportunity for experts in your organisations can become expert evaluators.”

More information
More information on the requirements for expert evaluators can be found here. And the registration site for experts is available here.

SusChem News wishes all members of the SusChem community an excellent holiday break and looks forward working with you during another successful year for SusChem in 2014.

See you at the SusChem brokerage event on 31 January!

Saturday 21 December 2013

SPIRE ready to inspire in 2014

2013 has been a great year for the Sustainable Process Industry through Resource and energy Efficiency (SPIRE) public-private-partnership (PPP) initiative. Three year’s of hard work culminated in the official launch of the SPIRE PPP on 17 December. To mark the event a new video has been produced (see below) and, to get ready for 2014, the SPIRE website has been refreshed.



In an end of year message to the SPIRE community Dr Klaus Sommer, the President of A.SPIRE aisbl, thanked SPIRE members and supporters for their “full-hearted support over these years and for believing in our initiative and what it can achieve not only for our industries but also for the entire European economy.”

Dr Sommer continued by praising the A.SPIRE office personnel, in particular A.SPIRE executive director Loredana Ghinea, for their “tireless efforts and their great leadership in pulling our proposal unscathed through the process. Great job!”

Great expectations
The first calls for SPIRE projects in Horizon 2020 were published on December 11. But already there had been an impressive first round of expressions of interest, especially through the first SPIRE brokerage event in October, as well at the PPP infodays on 16 December. “A lot of expectations have been raised;” said Dr. Sommer. “It is now in our hands to match them and make this PPP happen.”

He urged the SPIRE community to continue and build engagement towards designing good project proposals that have highest chances to get funded. Dr Sommer highlighted some points that people should take advantage of when designing proposals and consortia:

  • the guiding objectives and principles of the SPIRE roadmap
  • the diversity of the SPIRE community and 
  • the facilitator role of the A.SPIRE office

He also highlighted the criteria that have made the SPIRE initiative unique:

  • cross-sectorial aspects, synergies and opportunities 
  • the sustainable nature of the projects demonstrated with appropriate methodologies and tools 
  • impact across sectors and throughout the value chain, including through new business models 
  • the potential to enhance skills for innovation in the process industry through improved exploitation of innovation output from projects

These have been to have translated into the spirit of the SPIRE calls.

Expert evaluation
In addition Dr Sommer called on members of SPIRE to get involved with the expert evaluation of Horizon 2020 projects. “Given that we are exploring new territories with a more innovation-focused PPP than before,” he said “Our chances towards successful projects awards depend on the quality and preparation of the evaluators.”

Both SPIRE and SusChem are encouraging companies to take the opportunity to become expert evaluators. More information on the requirements for expert evaluators can be found here, and the registration page for Horizon 2020 experts is here.

Finally on behalf of SPIRE’s Board of Directors, the A.SPIRE office he wished all SPIRE members and supporters: “A very happy holidays, good rest and a happy and healthy New Year 2014 that will be hopefully SPIRE-busy and certainly inSPIREing.”

Thursday 19 December 2013

SusChem Horizon 2020 Brokerage Workshop 2014


SusChem is already off the starting blocks to help make the most of Horizon 2020 for its stakeholders and the sustainable chemistry community in Europe. With the first calls for Horizon 2020 published last week and the Cefic-SusChem Grant-It website launched earlier this week, today (19 December) the draft agenda for the SusChem Brokerage and Project Submission Workshop has been published.

The SusChem Brokerage and Project Submission Workshop will take place on 31 January and follows up on the SusChem Pre-Brokerage workshop in October.

The event will again take place at the Sheraton Brussels Hotel, Place Rogier 3 in Brussels. Registration for the event is now open and can be accessed here. The workshop itself is free to attend and if you register now you can book rooms at the Sheraton Brussels Hotel at discounted rates. The offer of discounted rooms is valid until 30 December 2013. To book a room at a special rate, please click here.

The event will kick off with an overview of Horizon 2020 calls by Soren Bowadt of the European Commission. This will be followed by presentations from project consortia looking for partners with specific skills or experience. After coffee there is the opportunity for new project ideas to be presented.

Just before lunch a session on tips for boosting the success of projects submitted to Horizon 2020 is foreseen and in the afternoon there will be "speed dating sessions" and consortia meetings. An informal project poster session and networking is also planned for the afternoon.

At this event, you will be able to finalise your projects for upcoming and future calls with the support of SusChem’s Innovation Managers and EU funding experts. They will help you add the finishing touches to your proposals, complete your consortia with appropriate partners, and advise you on how to have the best chance to get your projects accepted.

Proposals via Grant-it
The workshop will be a great occasion to present your project proposals. The best way to prepare for the event is to use the new interactive Cefic-SusChem portal GRANT-IT. The portal should also be your gateway to information on all SusChem-relevant calls under Horizon 2020 and other EU and national funding schemes such as LIFE+ and COSME.

To submit your proposal you will need to log-in to the site using your SusChem username and password. Then click on "Propose a project” from the homepage. From there, you will be able to complete the submission form.

We look forward to seeing you there! For more information, please contact the SusChem secretariat.

Tuesday 17 December 2013

European Commission and Process Industry sign seven year innovation partnership

Today (17 December 2013) the Sustainable Process Industry Public-Private Partnership (SPIRE PPP) was officially launched with the signature of a contractual agreement between the European Commission and the A.SPIRE association in a ceremony in Brussels.

Commenting on the signing, Executive Director of A.SPIRE Loredana Ghinea said: “This seven-year initiative is a momentous achievement for Europe’s process Industry and a major boost for the sectors’ global competitiveness and future sustainability.”

The SPIRE Partnership is based on Article 19 of the EU Research and Innovation Framework Programme (Horizon 2020) Regulation and has been established through a contractual arrangement between the European Commission and A.SPIRE aisbl.


The agreement was signed on behalf of SPIRE by SusChem chairman Dr. Klaus Sommer (above) and Lionel Platteu of the European Engineering Industries Association (Eu-nited, left) in the presence of Commission Vice-President Neelie Kroes and from Commissioner Maire Geoghegan-Quinn's cabinet Waldemar Kutt.

The agreement will be implemented through the Horizon 2020 work programme calls and is backed by approximately €1 billion in funding commitment from the European Commission (EC) that will be matched by the process Industry. The first calls were announced on 11 December at the launch of Horizon 2020

Boost to Europe’s industrial strength
For the first time in history eight world-leading European industrial sectors (cement, ceramics, chemicals, engineering, minerals, non-ferrous metals, steel and water) have joined forces to form an innovation partnership with the European Commission and jointly commit to implement a seven-year strategic research and innovation agenda to tackle three fundamental European challenges:
  • the urgent need to create growth and increase the competitiveness of Europe in a global market;
  • the need to rejuvenate the European process industry that is the roots of the European economy in terms of turnover, employment and generation of technologies for all industrial sectors;
  • the imperative to increase resource and energy efficiency and reduce the environmental impact of industrial activities.
Klaus Sommer, president of the A.SPIRE aisbl representing the private partners, said: “SPIRE is an ambitious PPP that takes the best of eight process industries and aims at integrating, demonstrating and validating systems and technologies across sectors. This unique co-operation will enable massive leveraging of costs and faster implementation of technologies through closer connection and integration of innovations in industry and their value chains.”

SPIRE’s offer
SPIRE will achieve its goals by investing in breakthrough technologies that will reduce resources and energy used in processes as well as industrial emissions and waste; will reuse resources and materials from end-of-life products to provide raw materials for new products; will replace current feedstock by integrating renewables or waste (e.g. biomass and CO2); and will reinvent processes, equipment and business models.

With sectors such as chemicals, steel and cement, that have significant production operations throughout Europe, the SPIRE innovation and retrofitting potential (in line with further specialisation of the sectors such as high-tech steel and specialty chemicals and combined with stricter environmental standards) is an enormous leverage base, in some cases (e.g. new process control) offering double digit replication potential.

Ghinea concluded: “We appreciate the commitment expressed by the European Union to the process industry in recognition of its vital role and potential within the European economy. The commitment and dedication of SPIRE’s private partners have been demonstrated through the articulation of a synergistic strategic roadmap; it is now high time to demonstrate that we can also make it happen.”

The realization of SPIRE is essential as it will help the European process industries to be more - stronger, smarter, and swifter - for a more competitive and more sustainable Europe.

You can view the SPIRE press release on this news here and the Cefic news release can be accessed here.

PPP Info day
More than 800 participants attended the Information days on the Horizon 2020 Public-Private Partnerships (PPPs) on 16 and 17 December.

Due to the high interest, the event was also web streamed and recordings of the sessions can be downloaded together with all the presentation from the plenary and parallel sessions here.

In addition all the project idea presentations from the brokerage sessions are to be published on the websites of the Industry Associations. The project presentations can be accessed here.

About SPIRE
The Sustainable Process Industry through Resource and energy Efficiency (SPIRE) is a contractual Public-Private Partnership (PPP) dedicated to innovation in resource and energy efficiency and enabled by the process industries. For more information visit the SPIRE website or contact Evelina Paunksnyte in the SPIRE secretariat.

SusChem presents Grant-It: your fast-track access to EU funding

Today (17 December 2013) SusChem is proud to announce the launch of Grant-it: your fast-track access to EU funding information. The site offers SusChem stakeholders access to a wealth of information on Horizon 2020 call information with an emphasis on SusChem priorities.

It is vital that European chemistry-based industry and research institutions respond positively to the opportunity and challenge presented by Horizon 2020. At the launch of Horizon 2020 on 11 December Commissioner Geoghegan-Quinn stated: "Today we're firing the starting gun: only the quickest out of blocks and the fittest will succeed."

And Cefic and SusChem are here to help you to accelerate out of the blocks and succeed in Horizon 2020. During FP7 SusChem initiated and inspired sustainable chemistry projects with total funding in excess of € 1 billion.

With the first Horizon 2020 calls now published, the latest SusChem tool for facilitating your participation in the programme has been launched. The Grant-it website is your one-stop access to funding opportunities from the European Commission and from selected national and regional governments in the field of sustainable chemistry.

What services does Grant-it offer?
The Grant-it service is your one-stop shop for SusChem relevant Horizon 2020 research and innovation project information.

On Grant-it you can:
  • Search for funding opportunities
  • Search for and identify project opportunities
  • Propose project ideas, and
  • Search for potential project partners
Who can access Grant-it?
Grant-it is a password protected free service offered to CEFIC and SusChem members to boost industry participation in research and innovation activities. 

SusChem members can log-in with their SusChem username and password. Cefic members can log-in with their click-in username and password.

Visit Grant-it today
If you need a reminder of your username and password or if you experience any problems using the new Grant-it website or if you have any suggestions for improvements to the site, please contact the SusChem secretariat.

And do not forget that following its very successful pre-brokerage event in October, SusChem has scheduled a further Brokerage event for 31 January in Brussels. Don’t miss out – register today!





Wednesday 11 December 2013

SPIRE PPP to launch on 17 December

Following today's (11 December) launch of the European Commission’s Horizon 2020 work programme for 2014 - 2015, that includes calls under the SPIRE PPP, this important European sustainable process industries initiative will be officially launched on Tuesday 17 December through the official signature of the Memorandum of Understanding between the European Commission and the A.SPIRE association.

The major commitment of the European Commission to EU industry-driven research and innovation in Horizon 2020 has been demonstrated through the support for eight Public-Private-Partnerships (PPPs) - the Sustainable Process Industry through Resource and Energy Efficiency (SPIRE) PPP being one among them.

The signing of the Memorandum of Understanding will take place during  the second day of the PPP Info Days workshop organised by the European Commission.

"Innovating within the process industry will constitute the basis and the driver for the sustainable re-industrialisation, rejuvenation and renewed competitiveness of the whole European economy," said A.SPIRE executive director Loredana Ghinea.

The first 2014-2015 Horizon 2020 Work Programme has now been published. It includes eight SPIRE PPP calls: four calls in 2014 with an overall indicative budget of €60.3m and four calls in 2015 with an indicative budget of €77m.

The deadlines for the submission of projects to these calls will be:
  • SPIRE calls in 2014 – 20 March 2014
  • SPIRE calls in 2015 – 9 December 2014
Horizon 2020
The Horizon 2020 programme was launched with the announcement of its first calls by Máire Geoghegan-Quinn, European Commissioner for Research, Innovation and Science. Horizon 2020 will be the largest European Union Research and Innovation programme so far with a budget of almost €80 billion for the period 2014 – 2020.

Horizon 2020 has an enhanced focus on innovation to ensure that more of Europe’s excellent research ideas are swiftly transferred into successful products and services in the global market. This offers a huge opportunity to boost jobs and growth and increase the competitiveness of the European Union. This market-driven approach will include creating partnerships with the private sector and Member States to bring together the resources needed.

More information
For more information on the Horizon 2020 programme read the Commission's press release and visit the
Horizon 2020 Work programme 2014-2015 site. For more information about SPIRE visit the website.

SusChem “ready to roll” for Horizon 2020

Today (11 December) the European Commission’s much anticipated Horizon 2020 programme was launched with the announcement its first calls by Máire Geoghegan-Quinn, European Commissioner for Research, Innovation and Science. Horizon 2020 will be the largest European Union Research and Innovation programme so far with a budget of almost €80 billion for the period 2014 – 2020.

Commenting on the launch Dr Gernot Klotz, Cefic executive director for research and innovation and SusChem board member, said: “The chemical industry welcomes Horizon 2020 and applauds this ambitious commitment to fund excellent science and innovation activities in Europe”.

Horizon 2020 has an enhanced focus on innovation to ensure that more of Europe’s excellent research ideas are swiftly transferred into successful products and services in the global market. “This offers a huge opportunity to boost jobs and growth and increase the competitiveness of the European Union” continued Klotz.


Launching the first calls for Horizon 2020 Commissioner Geoghegan-Quinn (above) said: "It's time to get down to business. Horizon 2020 funding is vital for the future of research and innovation in Europe, and will contribute to growth, jobs and a better quality of life. We have designed Horizon 2020 to produce results, and we have slashed red tape to make it easier to participate. So I am calling on researchers, universities, businesses including SMEs, and others to sign up!"

Details of the first calls can be found in this EC press release.

Chemistry is key
SusChem sees Horizon 2020 as a key turning point for research and innovation in Europe and as a major opportunity for sustainable chemistry. The funding available for all aspects of chemistry research and innovation activities in Horizon 2020 will be greater than for its predecessor programme FP7 (2007 – 2013), which in turn was greater than its predecessor FP6 (2004 – 2007).

The European Union has also demonstrated a major commitment to EU industry-driven research and innovation in Horizon 2020 through its support for significant Public-Private-Partnerships (PPPs). These include the Sustainable Process Industry through Resource and Energy Efficiency (SPIRE) PPP - a Cefic-SusChem flagship programme - and the Bio-Based Industries Joint Technology Initiative (JTI) - a SusChem-inspired proposal.

Sustainable chemistry is a key enabling technology to ensure competitiveness in Europe and a vital component of almost all value chains across the continent.

Stepping up
It is now vital that European chemistry-based industry and research institutions respond positively to this opportunity and challenge. In Horizon 2020 the portfolio of funding schemes has been simplified and the bureaucracy and other barriers to participation – especially for SMEs - have been significantly reduced.

At the launch Commissioner Geoghegan-Quinn stated: "Today we're firing the starting gun: only the quickest out of blocks and the fittest will succeed."

And Cefic and SusChem are here to help you to succeed in Horizon 2020. During FP7 SusChem initiated and inspired sustainable chemistry projects with total funding in excess of € 1 billion.

Following its very successful pre-brokerage event in October, SusChem has scheduled a further Brokerage event for 31 January in Brussels. Don’t miss out – register today!

A specially created Grant-it web portal – a virtual gateway to all European Union funds for the sustainable chemistry sector – will be launched to SusChem stakeholders and Cefic members next week.

The first relevant calls for Horizon 2020 are already being uploaded to this portal.

Programme details
While the main areas of SusChem interest in the early calls for Horizon 2020 can be found under the Leadership in enabling and industrial technologies (LEIT) programme, with particular focus in those calls in the nanotechnologies, advanced materials, advanced manufacturing and processing, biotechnology (NMP) programme, SusChem experts have analysed the full programme and identified SusChem relevant topics across the portfolio of calls for 2014 and 2015. These include calls in:


All reference documents for the Horizon 2020 calls and programmes can be found on the dedicated Horizon 2020 Participant Portal.

Wednesday 4 December 2013

Innovation Forum in Lithuania

From today (4 December) to 6 December the first Vilnius Innovation Forum 2013 “Innovation Drift” is taking place in Lithuania - and SusChem, SPIRE and the Bio-based Industries JTI will all be contributing. The Lithuanian capital is hosting this international event designed to create a high-level discussion platform on innovation, best practices and impact for European economic growth.

The Forum, which is part of the programme for Lithuania’s Presidency of the Council of the EU, is organized by the Ministry of Economy of the Republic of Lithuania in cooperation with the Agency for Science, Innovation and Technology.

In an extensive programme of keynote presentations, panel discussions and industry visits SusChem personalities and SusChem inspired chemical innovation will be well represented.

Innovative Europe
In the afternoon of 4 December SusChem board member Gernot Klotz will be taking part in a panel discussion on the strategic paths that industry sectors are developing to build an innovative Europe.

The panel will debate the practices of leading companies in employing innovation and creating an innovative environment for employees, customers and society. Panellists will review key technological innovations in Europe and discuss how they can enable small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), and larger business and industry interests to address fast-paced global economic growth and achieve improved performance.

Other panellists include representatives of Microsoft, Thermo Fischer Scientific and Lithuanian government and industry leaders.

SPIRE and BioBased Industries
Thursday 5 December will see an all-day conference session on Public Private Partnerships (PPPs) and, of course, the two SusChem Horizon 2020 initiatives – SPIRE and the Biobased Industries Consortium (BIC) – will be taking centre stage.

The BIC JTI session will include contributions from Barend Verachtert of DG Research and Innovation and Kare-Rijs Nielsen of Novozymes, while the SPIRE presentations will be led by A.SPIRE Executive Director Loredana Ghinea and include a contribution from Carmine Marzano from DG Research and Innovation.

SPIRE - PPPs Info Days
If you want to find out more information on SPIRE and the other PPPs in Horizon 2020 then there are still a few places available for the Horizon 2020 PPP Information Day that is taking place in Brussels on 16 to 17 December. Don’t delay register today!

Tuesday 3 December 2013

Regional partner for #useCO2 Project

The Smart CO2 Transformation (SCOT) project is supported under ‘Regions of Knowledge’ in FP7 to develop a Strategic European Research Agenda aimed at improving the technical and economic performance of emerging CO2 transformation technologies. The project was launched in October 2013 by four partner regions in France, the Netherlands, Belgium and the UK and it now requires the participation of an additional partner (regional authority or organization supported by a region). Could this be you? 

Reducing CO2 emissions, protecting the environment and our resources, while reducing consumption of scarce raw materials are some major challenges facing society. The EU has adopted ambitious goals to reduce greenhouse gas emissions to 80-95% below 1990 levels by 2050. So far, most attention from policy makers and others has been paid to Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS) technologies that aim to concentrate CO2 emitted from large industrial sites and store it in deep geological sites.

The SCOT project is complementary to this approach but focuses on an emerging research area with great economic growth potential: the recycling of CO2 through its transformation into valuable products via chemical or biological technologies – a topic close to SusChem and SPIRE’s research agendas and the subject of many SusChem tweets with the hashtag #useCO2 and previous SusChem blog articles.

In addition to significantly reducing net CO2 emissions, this approach brings the benefit of reducing the consumption of non-renewable resources and CO2 is no longer considered as a waste but as a significant resource.


SCOT is the first ever European regional initiative in the field of CO2 recycling. The consortium gathers four regions which are strongly committed and already well advanced in this emerging area of CO2 recycling. Through a stronger coordination of their individual efforts, the SCOT project aims to:

  • define a Strategic European Research Agenda aimed at improving the technico-economic performance of emerging CO2 transformation technologies and at developing new breakthrough solutions and market applications
  • attract additional EU clusters, regions and investors to participate in multi-disciplinary research programmes and other collaborative actions defined in a Joint Action Plan
  • propose structural policy measures to favour the transition to a new European society based on the paradigm of “CO2-as-a-resource”, and significantly improve the EU’s overall competitive position and environmental performance on the international scene. 
Partner profile
The SCOT consortium has a dedicated Work Package on internationalization and mentoring. And the new project partner will benefit from this aspect of the project. The mentoring activities will be divided into two separate sets of actions: developing research and clustering capacities in the mentored region, and reinforcing the clustering/networking capacities of more advanced regions through a mutual exchange of best practices

Such mentoring activities will be the ideal opportunity for the mentored region to:

  • reinforce its research and innovation capacities in the area of CO2 recycling, 
  • and to learn how to structure and operate an innovation-driven cluster. 

The deadline for submitting an application to join the project is 3 January 2014 and the selection will happen by 10 January.

Further information on participation can be found on this link and interested parties can find the details of the application process here. Alternatively contact Talia Brun at Axelera.

Monday 2 December 2013

EU Chemistry Employment Survey

Update February 2014. The deadline for input for the EU Employment Survey has been extended to 28 February. To access the questionnaire (now available only in English) click here.

For more details on the the survey see below.

In which European country do chemists and chemical engineers enjoy the highest salary? Where are the best prospects for employment? And which of the various chemical sub-disciplines offer the most jobs? Getting answers to these questions is the aim of the first European employment survey for chemists and chemical engineers. The deadline for contributing to the confidential survey is 31 December 2013.

The employment survey has been commissioned by the European Commission’s Joint Research Centre (JRC) to provide details about the current employment situation for chemists and chemical engineers across Europe and to understand future needs for post-secondary education in Europe.

The survey is open to all chemists and chemical engineers in Europe and is supported by Cefic, EuCheMS, the European Chemistry and Chemical Engineering Network (EC2E2N). The project is being coordinated and managed by the European Chemistry Thematic Network Association (ECTNA). And all chemist and chemical engineers in Europe are encouraged to take part in the survey. Chemists who are members of national societies affiliated to EuCheMS should have already received notification of the survey.

However, chemists and engineers from industry are often under represented in national chemical societies so it is important that the survey is accessible to them as well.

24 languages
The questionnaire was available in 24 European languages and all responses are saved anonymously. A valid email address is requested at the start of survey, but this is just a check to prevent misuse. The email is only stored (independently from your responses to the survey) if you want to receive the results of the survey directly when they are published in 2014.

The survey has six general pages (on Personal data, Education, Employment, on Job Training and Salary) all of which provide fields for free-text responses.

You can find the survey at www.chemsurvey.eu. National coordinators for the survey have been nominated and if you have any questions about the survey they should be your first port of call. They can be contacted via the Survey site.

The original deadline for completing the survey was 31 December 2013.