Thematic Session - BIOECONOMY. Neeta Sharma ENEA RESEARCH CENTRE, ITALY

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1 Thematic Session - BIOECONOMY Neeta Sharma ENEA RESEARCH CENTRE, ITALY

2 ENEA Italian National Agency for New Technologies, Energy and Sustainable Economic Development ENEA s activities are targeted to research, innovation technology and advanced services in the fields of energy and sustainable economic development.

3 Experience on existing Indo EU Collaboration under the EU FP7 Program, theroleofkeystakeholdersforcooperationinrtdprograms,thatwill provide input to the Roadmap for cooperation with concrete SRA for mutual benefits Strengthening Networking on Biomass Research and Biowaste Conversion Biotechnology for Europe India Integration

4 India EU & Member States Partnership for a Strategic Roadmap in Research and Innovation, Nov. 2010, New Delhi, India

5 Thematic focus of one of the concurrent sessions The new Partnering Initiative on Biomass/biowastes, agricultural production and bio energy The aim of the session: discuss the state of the art identify main S&T trends, opportunities of cooperation explore potential contribute to build an EU India Partnering Initiative,as a pilot model for broad and systematic collaboration between European and India R&D programmes in these areas.

6 RESULTS: The activities of the session paved the way towards the Partnering Initiative with India on Bio mass, Bio energy and Biowaste, the call launched by the DG RTD with the India Department of Biotechnology (DBT) in the Commission 7 th Work Program, the conference provided an excellent platform, facilitated the implementation and monitoring the coord action. The meeting an inspiring start where Initial steps SAHYOG: To make Consortium Start working together on the discussion of primary scheme

7 FACT SHEET SAHYOG Type of funding scheme: Coordination Action Topic Code: FP7 KBBE : EU India Partnering Initiative on biomass production and biowaste conversion through biotechnological approaches Mandatory India Call: FP7 KBBE Project duration: 3years(December 2011 November 2014) 13partners in the SAHYOG consortium Website: europa india.eu/

8 PROJECT CONSORTIUM 1. Italian National Agency for New Technologies, Energy and sustainable Economic Development (ENEA), Italy 2. Ministry of Economic Affairs, Agriculture and Innovation (NL Agency), Holland 3. Deutsches Zentrum Fuer Luft Und Raumfahrt Ev (DLR), Germany 4. Wageningen University & Research Centre Food & Biobased Research (WUR) 5. Vlaamse Instelling voor Technologisch Onderzoek (VITO), Belgium 6. Wirtschaft Und Infrastruktur GMBH & Co Planungs KG (WIP), Germany 7. National Technical University of Athens (NTUA), Greece 8. The Energy and Resources Institute (TERI) 9. Council for Scientific & Industrial Research (CSIR/IICT) 10.GB Pant University of Agriculture & Technology (GBPUAT), Pantnagar 11. Tezpur University (TU), Assam 12. Appropriate Rural Technology Institute (ARTI), Pune 13. Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU), New Delhi (selection based on the geographical criteria to bring together the existing information) Sub contractor EPSO European Plant Science Organisation

9 The main aim of India Partnering Initiative is to bridge systematically the on going research activities from the two counterpart programs and increase synergies, for optimized efficacy and advancement of RTD with mutual benefit. Activities: The SAHYOG plans a major coordination approach, split into 5 work packages. Each WP have one leader from both the EU and India (to enhance India s participation and integration).

10 PROJECT HIGHLIGHTS Bringing together the leading organisations in the field of biomass production and bio waste conversion research, carried out on one side by the European research programmes (EU Framework Programmes and EU Member State s national programmes) as well as by related research programmes coordinated by Indian national institutions. An inventory of the biomass and bio waste potentials and existing research projects is planned to be prepared and analysed during the activity. These inventories will be the basis for the joint Strategic Research Agenda. Broad networking of respective scientific communities, twinning of large sets of research projects, short term exchange visits of researchers A roadmap will be prepared through consultation with stakeholders at the governmental, research and industrial level that will present a concerted planning of future research initiatives in this area.

11 SAHYOG Expert s meeting The International meeting between SAHYOG partners and experts from Europe and India on EU India Cooperation on Biomass Production and Biowaste Conversion. Bruges, Belgium 10 May, 2012

12 WP2 INVENTORIES Objective: to bring together the available databases existing both in EU & India, leading to a detailed inventorisation of resources & scientific interventions and understanding the current bottlenecks. Elaboration of the following two inventories: Biomass & Biowastes Existing Research Projects & Programs Indispensible tool for all work to be performed to prepare the Roadmap for the SRA that will be used as main cooperation tool to fill in the gaps for biotechnology interventions

13 Interaction and integration between SAHYOG and other projects for the information exchange and to discuss approaches used in the projects for inventories. Crops2Industry ALCUE Star Colibri BIOCORE To bring various activities in other relevant projects in a coherent package to provide added value and impact and to further create the synergies at multilateral level.

14 The main industries involved in the zero or no waste biorefineries development are: Agro industry Forest based industry Energy & biofuels industry Chemical industry The companies that participated in the SAHYOG meeting represented a good geographical spread plus good coveage of sizes

15 Objective: to create arena, where Experts from European and Indian research communities, representatives of the industries, logistics, from other biomass projects and existing international biomass networks could meet to get important fine tuning comments, additions or edits to make inventories. methodology, degree of details and units for assessing quantities, chemical composition (mass, carbon, energy) identify missing links streamline the inventorisation process in India and Europe Industrial relevance and expectation (what main information while investing in biobased econony) Others: to define further possible collaborartion of SAHYOG with other projects, networks etc.

16 GENERAL IMPACT OF THE PROJECT The activity will help in the right planning for the economy based on sustainable development and identify solutions how the governments should promote the GREEN ECONOMY within their national borders and cooperate in their promotional efforts at a coordinated international level. The knowledge gained during the activity will lay the cornerstones for scaling up the EU India collaboration and provide the basis of novel applications in a sustainable bioeconomy of the future the so called Knowledge based bio economy (KBBE).

17 Biowastes in India Indian cities generate more than 100 million tons of solid waste per year and it comes in two forms: Dry garbage is burnt Wet garbage is usually taken to the nearest open area and dumped. (Since open burning happens at ground level, the resultant emissions enter the lower level breathing zone of the atmosphere, increasing direct exposure to humans. 800 million tons per year of agricultural waste having 2.5 times as much energy as imported petroleum. How to collect it? Who bears the cost? Mobilizing agri waste offering fair price to farmers to bring it to the processing factory at their own cost. (Currently, 100 factories in Maharashtra convert it into fuel briquettes) Solutions to find ways in which the enormous quantity of solid waste India currently disposes of on land could be reduced by recovering materials and energy in a cost effective and environmental friendly manner.

18 The industrial biotechnology sector s greatest challenge is developing a successful, flourishing biobased economy where renewable agricultural feedstocks are converted to higher value products including biofuels and renewable chemicals based on cascade approach leading to the priority food/feed,chemicals/materials, energy while conserving carbon and nutrients in the soil. The main obstacles : In EU more adequate estimation of the biomass potential is necessary In india only few estimates exist, descripencies in the available data Evaluation of biomass availability and future potential necessary to forecast markets development of high yielding biomass crops the lack of long term stability of regulations delay in issuing the implementation decrees owing to complex procedures for getting permits and gaining incentives Lack of public awareness and support for industrial biotech processes and products

19 SAHYOG Implementation experience The project started with a very successful kick off meeting in Brussel in January For SAHYOG implementation no difficulties were faced, most partners satisfied with the consortium mode of working Since Indian partners follow different financial guidelines according to the Indian govenment rules needs to be streamlined. Problem of visa Actually the Indian partners should get multiple entry visa for EU countries for the entire duration of the project to facilitate the travel. The budget reserved for travel for National and International conferences is distributed year wise needs to be more flexible. e.g. the budget in first year was Rs. 1 lakh but we had two meetings. Many of the partners could not attend the second meeting as the funds were exhausted, although there could be surplus funds in the second year, but the DBT has not given the go signal for utilization of these funds in the first year itself.

20 Other ideas on the SAHYOG implementation experience! One of the major problem in joint collaborative project is particularly when one of the component is being sponsored by one government and the other by the other government, the disparity in the policies regarding recruitment, salaries, allocation of budget etc. creates a big problem. One simple example is the disparity in the salaries of EU and India. Further in EU the manpower funding is based on person man months/man hour, while in India it is a lump sum salary for the year. Further in India the salary is paid only to the project staff and the rates are very low as compared to EU. This will be a major issue for the next round of Horizon 2020 funding as under that initiative all the Indian collaborators is expected to be funded by Indian government. to create better framework conditions to promote innovation in both counterparts

21 What are existing opportunities, the key stakeholders and their respective roles for cooperation stemming from Member States programmes, EU Framework Programme, Indian Funding programmes, National Research Councils, etc?. the nodal agency is Ministry of S & T, Department of S & T and Department of Biotechnology. The Department of S & T deals with the International Scientific and Technological Affairs including the negotiations and implementation of Scientific and Technological Cooperation Agreements and responsibility for scientific and technological aspects of activities of international organizations. The co-operations are sought under bilateral, multilateral or regional framework modes for facilitating and strengthening interactions among governments, academia, institutions and industries in areas of mutual interest.

22 Indo EU S & T Agreement Cooperation between India and EU was initiated with the signature of the EU India Science and Technology Cooperation Agreement on 23rd November This agreement was accomplished by the Directorate General for Research of European Commission and by the Department of Science and Technology of Indian Government. You get more information on EU India partnership in the weblink

23 The collaborations in selected areas of mutual interest with different countries including EU are materialized through various modes of cooperation like: Exploratory missions of scientific delegations; Exchange visits of scientists for collaborative work and information exchange; Joint workshops; Fellowships / training / study visits for Indian scientists abroad and foreign scientists in India; Development and implementation of joint R&D programmes, Joint projects and collaborative R&D programmes; Support to Indian scientists to access major international research facilities abroad; and Establishment of Joint Centers of Excellence.

24 Challenges and priorities for cooperation for bio-economy As per the recent policy document of DBT, the priorities are: perfecting technologies for establishing bioenergy plantations for different agro climatic zones with the involvement of local people, economically viable production of ethanol using different raw material and efficient, high yielding strains of microorganisms, biodiesel production for oil(s) and hydrocarbon using alternate feed stock especially lignocellulosics wastes and improved transesterification precess, production of hydrogen from algae and bacteria

25 SAHYOG Paving the way towards Roadmap for RDI Cooperation The concept that addresses a number of big challenges Highly encouraging progress with several highlights after only few months Potential for a move towards a new regime in which groups from around the world each contribute their expertise to meet the existing challenges An exciting opportunity of collaboration with India and a tangible sign of multilateral cooperations Many interesting and controversial suggestions remain at the level of notes since it is impossible to fully work out will hint towards possible future research!

26 Thanks for your kind attention! Neeta Sharma Acknowledgements to: all SAHYOG partners and the EU Commission & DST India for funding For more information visit our web-site