Newsletters   Subscription   Contributions     Newsletter issue n° 19 - February 2010

EDITORIAL NOTES

The FP6 ORFEUS project activities in buried infrastructure location and maintenance   

They are constantly irritating, expensive, pollution and congestion generating and affect us all: holes in our roads.  Because of our dependence on buried infrastructure to provide the essentials of modern civilisation, they are also unavoidable as we seek to maintain and improve the range and reliability of the services we all enjoy. Reducing the frequency, size and number of holes necessarily depends upon improved maintenance techniques, such as condition monitoring and leak location.  Sometimes excavating a hole or a trench is unavoidable, but horizontal directional drilling (whereby pipes and cables may be laid without digging a trench) is an increasingly used solution.  Whether trenching or trenchless methods are used, it is essential that the location of existing infrastructure is established prior to and, preferably, during any invasive activity both for efficiency and safety reasons. Many potential location methods have been investigated, over a time period stretching back to 1904, using techniques as diverse as electromagnetic induction, magnetic field measurement, seismic and sound pressure waves, and ground probing radar. Of these methods, inductive techniques are probably the most widely used, but ground probing radar is important because of its ability to locate metallic and non metallic objects in a non-invasive manner.

Present state-of-the-art ground probing radars rely upon pulse techniques first used by Hulsenbeck in 1926, then refined for use in the 1960s during the Vietnam war.  Since then, the underlying technology, although improved in performance somewhat, has not changed significantly. It relies upon transistors operating in avalanche mode, a random process with uncertainties in timing and amplitude, to generate the transmitted pulses, and wide-band sampling receivers, susceptible to noise, to capture the returning energy. This process sets an upper limit on the dynamic range of the system, and hence the ability of the radar system to penetrate the ground in difficult conditions.

Within FP6, the related issues of plant location and condition are being addressed by a project that seeks to promote advances in the science of ground probing radar. The ORFEUS: Optimised Radar to Finder Every Utility in the Street project uses stepped frequency transmitters and high dynamic range narrow band receivers coupled to novel antennas to address the performance limitation of surface scanning radars imposed by pulse techniques.  It also seeks to improve the utilisation of horizontal directional drilling by implementing collision avoidance radar (based upon conventional pulse technology) with sideways and look-ahead capabilities to detect objects in the vicinity of the drill head.  Both are supported by a soils measurement programme to provide essential design information. A prototype surface radar has been produced which has undergone a series of field trials in a number of European countries, and has demonstrated a 20% improvement in depth penetration compared to systems based upon current state-of-the-art pulsed radars.  A prototype bore-head radar has also undergone a more limited set of trials to prove performance and functionality under operational conditions, and has demonstrated the practical feasibility of real-time obstacle detection.  These two achievements have fulfilled the most important objectives of ORFEUS, which is scheduled to be complete by the end of April 2010.

by Howard F. Scott, Coordinator the FP6 ORFEUS project
OSYS Technology Limited, Newcastle, United Kingdom

OPEN CALLS

Recently there is no open call in the field of environmental technologies research under the umbrella of the FP7, but there is an open call on Metrology for Environment under the joint European Metrology Research Programme:

Call for proposals under the work programme of the joint European Metrology Research Programme (EMRP). Official Journal, 2010/C 35/08

Notice is given of the launch of a call for proposals for topic areas and followed by a call for proposals for related projects and associated researcher grants under the work programme of the European Metrology Research Programme. Proposals are invited for the following EMRP Call 2010 within the following research areas: (i) Metrology for Industry, and (ii) Metrology for Environment. The indicative call budget per research area is EUR 41,28 million. Closing dates are 28 March 2010 for proposals for potential research topics and 11 October 2010 for proposals for projects and associated researcher grants. Further information and Call documentation is published on the http://www.emrponline.eu website, and the call is published in the Official Journal http://eur-lex.europa.eu/LexUriServ/LexUriServ.do?uri=OJ:C:2010:035:0008:0008:EN:PDF.

Latest CALLS

For the latest FP7-ENV-2010 Environment (including climate change) Call (Date of publication: 30 July 2009; Reference: OJ C177 of 30 July 2009; Deadline: 05 January 2010 at 17:00:00) under the Activity 6.3. Environmental Technologies there are 89 proposal received in total, of which:

Sub-activity 6.3.1. Environmental technologies for... (indicative budget EUR 39 500 000)

ENV.2010.3.1.1-1 Technologies and systems for urban water cycle services                                                                                        6
ENV.2010.3.1.1-2 Innovative system solutions for municipal sludge treatment and management                                                     14
ENV.2010.3.1.3-1 Innovative technologies and eco design recommendations for reuse and recycling of C&D...                                15
ENV.2010.3.1.3-2 Innovative technologies and system solutions for municipal solid waste management...                                         6
ENV.2010.3.1.4-1 Integrated Pollution Prevention and Control of industrial emissions in the Mediterranean region                            4
ENV.2010.3.1.5-1 Resource efficient and urban friendly construction sites                                                                                            3
ENV.2010.3.1.5-2 Environmental technologies for brown-field regeneration                                                                                         5
ENV.2010.3.1.7-1 Technologies for automated monitoring of air pollution in cities                                                                                2
ENV.2010.3.1.8-1 Development of technologies for long-term carbon sequestration                                                                            5

Sub-activity 6.3.2. Protection, conservation and enhancement of cultural heritage... (indicative budget EUR 3 500 000) 

ENV.2010.3.2.1-1 Non-destructive diagnosis technologies for the safe conservation of movable cultural assets                              18

Sub-activity 6.3.3. Technology assessment, verification and testing (indicative budget EUR 4 500 000) 

ENV.2010.3.3.1-1 Reduction of the use of animals in eco-toxicological safety testing                                                                          2
ENV.2010.3.3.2-1 Boosting LCA use in SMEs: development of sectoral methods and tools                                                                 9

Evaluator Experts were appointed in January 2010. The remote evaluation has been performed in February followed by in site evaluation and consensus meetings in Brussels in the 1st and the 2nd week in March. Initial information letters and Evaluation Summary Reports are scheduled to be sent to the Coordinators in April 2010. Highly ranked proposals will be invited to start negotiations in May, and all the granted projects will be contracted before the end of the year 2010, likely. Letter to unsuccessful applicants will be delivered in October 2010.

The latest FP7-Africa-2010 Call is implemented jointly by the (i) Theme 1 -  Health, the (ii) Theme 2 - Food, Agriculture, Fisheries and Biotechnology, and (iii) Theme 6 - Environment (including Climate Change). For the Africa call (Call Reference: OJ C177 of 30 July 2009; Deadline: 14 January 2010 at 17:00:00; Provisional budget: € 63 000 000) there 188 proposals were submitted in total, of which 12 were non-eligible. The 176 eligible proposal cover all the 15 topics:

Theme 6: ENVIRONMENT (INCLUDING CLIMATE CHANGE) indicative budget EUR 17 500 000 

ENV.2010.1.2.1-1: The effect of environmental change on the occurrence and distribution…                                                             5
ENV.2010.1.3.3-1: Early warning and forecasting systems to predict climate related drought…                                                        9
ENV.2010.2.1.1-1: Integrated management of water and natural resources in Africa                                                                      35
ENV.2010.3.1.1-3: Decentralised water supply and sanitation technologies and systems for…                                                       24
ENV.2010.3.1.1-4: Water harvesting technologies in Africa                                                                                                                9

Theme 1: HEALTH (indicative budget EUR 39 000 000)

HEALTH.2010.2.3.2-4: Controlling malaria by hitting the vector: New or improved…                                                                          3
HEALTH.2010.2.4.1-4: Infectious agents and cancer in Africa                                                                                                           17
HEALTH.2010.3.4-1: Develop and assess key interventions and policies to address…                                                                     13
HEALTH.2010.3.4-2: Feasibility and community effectiveness of innovative intervention…                                                               18
HEALTH.2010.3.4-3: Building sustainable capacity for research for health in Africa                                                                          26
HEALTH.2010.3.4-4: Assessment of migrants' health, disease patterns and impact on health systems                                            2

Theme 2: FOOD, AGRICULTURE, AND FISHERIES, AND BIOTECHNOLOGY (indicative budget EUR 6 500 000)

KBBE.-2010.1.-2-03: Sustainable water resources management (WRM) and soil fertility…                                                                8
KBBE.2010.2.2-03: Identifying research needs on malnutrition in Africa – (Mandatory Africa)                                                           3
KBBE.2010.3.5-02: Coping with water scarcity in developing countries: Role of biotechnology…                                                      2
KBBE.2010.4-02: Networking of non-governmental organisations involved in agricultural research…                                               2 

The remote evaluation has been performed in February followed by in site evaluation and consensus meetings in Brussels in the 1st and the 2nd week in March. Initial information letters and Evaluation Summary Reports are scheduled to be sent to the Coordinators in April 2010. Highly ranked proposals will be invited to start negotiations in May, and all the granted projects will be contracted before the end of the year 2010, likely. Letter to unsuccessful applicants will be delivered in October 2010.

EUROPEAN INITIATIVES

President José Manuel Barroso proposes a partnership for progress and ambition to the European Parliament

President Barroso has sent his political guidelines for the mandate of the next European Commission to the President of the European Parliament. The document sets out the objectives and ideas that President Barroso believes should inspire a political partnership between the Commission and the Parliament for the next five years. Among others President Barroso initiates a research and innovation revolution for a knowledge society: 

"The next Commission must take EU Research policy to a new level and make it one of the motors of our sustainable development. The United States draws great benefit from its continental scale in research, from a long tradition of close university-business co-operation and from the ease of movement enjoyed by researchers within and to the US. In contrast, despite its excellence, the European research effort remains fragmented. We need to stretch ourselves to achieve world excellence and to find new ways of combining our resources to make a reality of the European Research Area. I would envisage refocusing on key areas to secure: 

- world excellence in basic research. Our future agenda for science driven frontier research, should be set by the scientific community, principally working through the European Research Council;
- more industry-driven applied R&D, in areas ranging from nanotechnologies to space, to bring new, leading edge products and clean technologies to markets and to boost the competitiveness of EU industry;
- new opportunities for researchers, extending exchange programmes like Marie Curie, and attracting world class researchers to the EU;
- a bigger focus on spreading R&D capacities to the regions.

We will also need to put much greater emphasis on innovation as a cross cutting way of equipping all sectors of our economy to be more competitive so that they face the future with confidence. Innovation is not just about product development: it is about how our society changes and improves. Innovation is about the way we do business, the way we work, the options we choose as consumers and citizens. The next Commission will work to bring together the power of public procurement, a new strategy on intellectual property rights and Community funds and instruments to promote innovation. For example, it will continue to develop its "lead markets" concept, where public authorities facilitate industry-led innovation by creating the conditions for a successful market uptake of innovative products and services in a focused way in areas such as e-health, internal security, eco-innovation and eco-construction." 

Furthermore, President Barroso highlighted elsewhere the importance of environmental-friendly technologies: "We have already begun to show that the EU can create new jobs and new industries through low carbon technologies. First-mover advantages can be gained by exploiting the potential of EU environmentally-friendly industries, services and technology through fostering their uptake by enterprises, especially SMEs, and designing the appropriate regulatory environment. An industrial base which is modernised to use and produce environmental-friendly technologies and which exploits the potential for energy efficiency is the key to sustainable growth in Europe." 

The full text of the "Political guidelines for the next Commission" can be downloaded from the http://ec.europa.eu/commission_barroso/president/pdf/press_20090903_EN.pdf homepage. 

Mrs. Máire Geoghegan-Quinn, new Commissioner for Research, Innovation and Science 

Mrs. Máire Geoghegan-Quinn has been appointed as European Commissioner for Research, Innovation and Science by President Barroso. She is Irish, was born September 5, 1950 in Carna, Galway, Ireland. She is married having 2 children. Since March 2000 she served as a Member of the European Court of Auditors in Luxembourg. During her political career she took the responsibilities for several portfolios of the Irish governments: (i) Minister of State for Commerce 1977-1979; (ii) Minister for the Gaeltacht  1979–1981; (iii) Minister of State for Education 1982; (iv) Minister for European Affairs 1987-1991 (co-ordinating Ireland’s EU Presidency in 1990); (v) Minister for Tourism, Transport and Communications 1992; (vi) Minister for Justice 1993-1994. She was Member of the Irish Parliament in 1975–1977; 1981–1982; 1982–1987; 1991-1992 and 1994-1997.

In the mission letter President Barroso set her main priority as to take a decisive step forward in building the European Research Area (ERA). Specific actions which will contribute to this include strengthening intra-EU co-operation, pooling human and financial resources across the EU, and promoting the fifth freedom - the free movement of knowledge, ideas and researchers. Inter alia, she is requested (i) to take the lead in making the "Fifth Freedom" a reality. The European Research Area should provide attractive conditions and effective governance for carrying out research in Europe. It should also ensure the free circulation of researchers, knowledge, ideas and technology across the EU; (ii) to lead a cross-cutting approach to innovation; (iii) to coordinate EU and national research activities, because it is a key issue working towards specialisation, based on recognised strengths and excellence, and to improve coordination between EU and national/regional activities to exploit the advantages of scale offered by the EU; (iv) to prepare the future policy framework for EU R&D policy, in particular the future Framework Programme (FP8); (v) to increase the efficiency of the EU support to scientific research, by rationalising and simplifying the existing financing mechanisms and adapting the current institutional and regulatory framework. To help her fulfil these responsibilities she has DG Research, and the Joint Research Centre under her authority, as well as the following European agencies: European Research Council Executive Agency (ERC), Research Executive Agency (REA) and the a number of joint undertakings, but the management of the Marie Curie programme will be transferred to DG Education and Culture in order to ensure consistency with other portfolios. The full text of the mission letter to the Commissioner designate can be downloaded from the http://ec.europa.eu/commission_designate_2009-2014/mission_letters/pdf/geoghegan_research_en.pdf homepage. After voted by the European Parliament at its plenary meeting in Strasbourg on 9th February 2010 the new Commission organised its first meeting on 11 February in Brussels.

COMING EVENTS

Workshop of the WSSTP Task Force on Climate Change and Pilot on Extreme Hydroclimatic Events. CETaqua, Agbar Foundation, Barcelona, Spain from April 8-9, 2010

The Board of WSSTP identified the need of the creation of a Task Force on Climate Change issues, aimed at developing a position for the Platform on dealing with this topic. In addition, the recommendations of this Task Force should assist the EU Commission when structuring the future Call for Projects in the water domain dealing with this topic. This Task Force is led by Dr Carlos Campos, Research & Technology VP of the Agbar Group. The results of this Task Force are to be reported to the Board of the Platform.

Hydroclimatic extremes is one of the six Pilot Programmes established under the WssTP. Research and development to address the management of hydro-climatic extremes encompasses both scientific challenges in hydrology and climate science and practical and operational aspects related to monitoring, planning, mitigation and finally adaptation to climate change. The Pilot Programme is led by Prof Alan Jenkins, Water Director at the Centre for Ecology & Hydrology in the UK and Prof. Cees van de Guchte, Deltares, The Netherlands.

The objectives of this meeting are to: (i) Review the most recent initiatives on climate change at the National and International levels; (ii) Validate the TF-CC Report for the Board ”Climate Change and the water sector: impacts and R&D needs”; (iii) Discuss and identify what are the priorities in the R&D needs detected in the previous report; (iv) Review recent initiatives on hydroclimatic extremes (focussing on droughts) at national and international levels; (v) Identify and articulate the priority research challenges that need to be addressed and (vi) Review the case studies within the pilot programme. This Task Force will not develop a strategic Research Agenda for Climate Change issues. It is aimed at consolidating current information, identify gaps in our current agenda, and assist leaders in defining priorities. For detailed agenda, logistics and registration please visit the Workshop's homepage: http://www.wsstp.eu/files/WSSTPX0001/Pilot/Climat ChangeTF/100408_Agenda Workshop_TFCC_PP6_v4.pdf.

IWA Conference on Sustainable Solutions for Small Water and Wastewater Treatment Systems (S2Small2010). Girona, Catalonia, Spain, 19-22 April 2010.

The S2Small2010 Conference will be organised under the auspices of IWA Specialist Groups Small Water and Wastewater Systems (Small) and Resources-Oriented Sanitation (EcoSan). The Small Systems Conference was held in Exeter (UK, 2000), then in Istanbul (Turkey, 2002), followed by Perth (Australia, 2004), Mexico DF (Mexico, 2006) and Coimbatore (India, 2008). Now the international IWA SG conference on Small Systems comes back to Europe as a joint conference with the IWA SG on Resources-Oriented Sanitation (EcoSan). Thus, the Girona conference is being presented as a joint conference of the 9th IWA Specialised Group conference on “Small Water and Wastewater Systems” and the 2nd IWA Specialised Group conference on “Resources-Oriented Sanitation” (EcoSan). The main objective of the conference is to jointly discuss recent aspects related to sustainable solutions for small water and wastewater systems (SWWS) within a framework of sharing experiences from the scientific, engineering, operation and governance points of view within an international scope. The main focus of the conference will be those explained in the proposed themes. Joint discussion of several of them will be highly welcome, especially those involving a sustainable point of view of the treatment in the area of technological applications for both developing and industrialised countries. The conference will generate a set of proceedings that include the abstracts of oral and poster presentations. The state-of-the-art for current uses and novel processes for further development and future application will be presented at S2Small2010. For further information and registration please contact the Conference homepage: http://s2small2010.udg.edu/iwa/ 

3rd International Conference on EcoEfficiency and DeGrowth for DeCoupling. Egmond aan Zee, The Netherlands, 9 - 11 June 2010 

Increasing affluence and population growth will destroy the environment, will hit the poor, and will hit next generations, unless broad and unprecedented improvements in eco-efficiency are realised, leading to decoupling of economic growth from environmental impact. Decelerated growth, by de-growth for the richest, will be one essential ingredient. The time frames involved start now. Fundamentally new technologies in production and consumption will however require decades for their full scale introduction, and we don’t know them yet. How can we guide the right developments, based on best current knowledge, and how can we create the incentives for this key issue in long term sustainability? The conference will set the stage on day one, with keynote speakers from all continents covering targets and strategies. On day two participants will look into specific options in core domains of sustainable development. On day three participants will go into the intricacies of analysis and the schools involved. Presentations on challenging research are welcome by submitting abstracts before 15 March 2010. A selection of presentations will be invited to submit a full paper for a special section on eco-efficiency in the Journal of Industrial Ecology, following usual review procedures. For more information on the conference as well as to send your abstract, to make a registration, and to see details on venue, courses and social events please visit the conference homepage at http://www.eco-efficiency-conf.org.

The 2nd European Conference on Sludge Management: Dewatering, drying, thermal valorisation and climate change (ECSM 2010). Danubius Hotel Aréna, Budapest, Hungary, 9-10 September 2010 

This international scientific conference aims to bring together researchers and engineers from European universities, R&D laboratories, water agencies, governmental delegates, private companies involved in the management of sewage sludge. As the environmental regulations became stricter, the production of sewage sludge increased continuously in the last decade. This growth is particularly important in those countries, which joined the EU in the last two rounds of accession. The new member states in Central and Eastern Europe have set out their National Strategies on Waste Water Treatment for 2010-2020 on the development of waste water treatment facilities to meet the European requirements on waste water treatment. These requirements raise problems in this region. As the disposal of waste without pre-treatment is prohibited the importance of energy recovery and spreading on land have increased. During the sewage sludge treatment it is important to take into considerations the effects on climate change. One of the objectives of the conference is to raise awareness of the best technologies for minimizing GHG emissions related to sludge management. Important deadlines: (i) 31 March 2010: Submission of abstracts; (ii) 3 May 2010: Notification of acceptance; (iii) 1 June 2010: Submission of full articles. Selected papers will be published in international journals.  The flyer can be downloaded from the http://ecsm2010.kszgysz.hu/ecsm2010.pdf website.

PAST EVENTS

International Workshop on Disaster Risk Reduction - Dialogue between scientists and stakeholders. MADOU Building of the European Commission, Brussels, Belgium, 29-30 October 2009

The main organizers of the workshop were European Commission (EC) Directorate General for Research and the United Nations International Strategy for Disaster Reduction Secretariat - Europe (UNISDR). Target audience of the workshop were the policy directorates, stakeholders, national platforms, re-insurance groups as well as scientists and researchers of the special fields. The objectives of this workshop were: (i) to enable a better dialogue and exchange between the scientific community working in the field of EC funded research projects on natural hazards and different policy and users communities (e.g. policy directorates, stakeholders, representatives from UNISDR, National Platforms, civil protection, etc); (ii) to present concrete achievements and research results that are of interest to managers and policy makers; (iii) to reflect on past and ongoing research as well as to prioritize future challenges and needs; (iv) to strengthen collaboration between UNISDR and DG Research in supporting National Platforms and other actors towards DRR Research and Implementation of results in the Europe region. Presentations of the workshop are available at the http://www.preventionweb.net/english/professional/trainings-events/events/v.php?id=10785 website. General information on natural hazards and link to EU funded research projects are available at the http://ec.europa.eu/research/environment/index_en.cfm?pg=hazards homepage.

PUBLICATIONS and AVAILABLE DOCUMENTS

New Journal of Water and Climate by IWA Publishing, ISSN: 2040-2244

IWA Publishing launches the new quarterly Journal of Water and Climate in 2010. The Journal of Water and Climate is a peer-reviewed journal publishing research and practitioner papers on all aspects of water science, technology, management and innovation in response to climate change. Editors are Geoffrey Schladow (University of California, Davis, USA), Charles Ainger (The University of Cambridge, UK), Justin Brookes (The University of Adelaide, Australia), Carol Howe (UNESCO-IHE, The Netherlands) and John W. Norton, Jr. (MWH Americas, USA).  For more details on the journal as well as information on how to submit a paper or register as a reviewer visit the website of the Journal. Announcements, Call for Papers, Guidelines for Authors and subscription information are also available at the www.iwaponline.com/jwc. 

Preserving our heritage, Improving our environment edited by Michel Chapuis, Adéle Lydon and Astrid Brandt-Grau. European Commission, OPOCE, Luxembourg. Vol. I. pp 33, ISBN 978927909027-1 and Vol. II. pp 248, ISBN 978927909029-5 

This publication consists of two volumes which illustrate the overall extent and extreme diversity of research in the tangible cultural heritage field as well as the inextricable links between the cultural heritage's preservation and the environment's protection. The first volume gives the reader a panoramic overview of the EC supported research in the tangible cultural heritage field, how it came into existence and how it has evolved progressively over the last 20 years. The second volume, on the other hand, provides the user with short descriptions of around 100 EC funded projects which were implemented between the year 2000 and 2008, mainly in the context of the 5th and 6th Framework Programmes (FP5 & FP6). In its 8 chapters, the book presents cutting-edge research projects aiming at the preservation and restoration of Europe’s vast patrimony, notably historic buildings, monuments and artwork, the analysis of their materials and constituents, as well as the impact of their environment, by means of advanced technologies and non destructive methods. The last chapters illustrate the links between EC research and specific preservation programmes such as the EC international research cooperation with the Mediterranean countries, the Culture 2000 programme implemented by the EC DG Education and Culture during the same period of time, as well as COST Actions in this area. In the context of current implementation of FP7, and through the EC support of the Research Environment Theme and its Sub-activity "Environmental Technologies", we hope this publication will be useful especially for scientists, the owners and managers of cultural heritage assets, as well as for restorers, conservators, architects, SMEs and industry, and not least for the ultimate beneficiaries of this research, the citizens. Both the Vol. I and Vol. II can be downloaded fro the http://ec.europa.eu/research/environment/index_en.cfm?pg=cultural homepage. 

Life cycle assessment and sustainability analysis of products, materials and technologies. Toward a scientific framework for sustainability life cycle analysis by Reinout Heijungs, Gjalt Huppes and Jeroen B. Guinée. Polymer Degradation and Stability, Volume 95, Issue 3, March 2010, Pages 422-428

There are many approaches to study the environmental and sustainability aspects of production and consumption. Some of these reside at the level of concepts, e.g., industrial ecology, design for environment, and cleaner production. Other approaches are based on the use of quantitative models, e.g., life cycle assessment, material flow accounting and strategic environmental assessment. This paper focuses on the development of a framework that is able to incorporate different models for environmental analysis, with the option of a broader scope that also includes economic and social aspects, thus covering the three pillars of sustainability. This framework builds on the ISO-framework for life cycle assessment, but takes a broader view, and allows us to move from micro questions on specific products, via meso questions on life styles up to macro questions in which the entire societal structure is part of the analysis. This paper is based on work done for the EU FP6 CALCAS (037075): Co-ordination Action for innovation in Life Cycle Analysis for Sustainability research project, and can be browsed through ScienceDirect at http://www.sciencedirect.com/. The CALCAS project successfully ended in August 2009, its final results are available on the project's website: http://www.calcasproject.net/.

Second FP7 Monitoring Report (2008). European Commission, DG Research, 1st October 2009, pp 73

This Second FP7 Monitoring Report covers the Framework Programme implementation in the years 2007 and 2008. It is the second one based on the new FP7 monitoring system, designed as an internal management tool and based on a core set of performance indicators addressing a broad spectrum of implementation issues. The Second FP7 Monitoring Report allows for the first time for some comparative analysis over time in order to identify trends and developments in the two first years of FP7 implementation. The main outcomes of the Report are: (i) In the first two years of FP7 for 109 calls more than 25.000 proposals were received, involving almost 160.000 applicants. Out of these, about 5.500 proposals were finally retained, involving approximately 35.000 participants and requesting an overall Community funding of 10 billion euro; (ii) 21,6% of project contact persons for scientific aspects are women. For Marie Curie Actions, the percentage of female fellows is 35,4%; (iii) SMEs represent 15,5% of all participants in signed grant agreements; (iv) 136 countries are currently actively involved in FP7 activities. Among the "Third Countries", the ones with the highest participation are the Russian Federation, Brazil, India, China, and the USA; (v) 97,6% of the evaluators found the quality of the FP7 proposal evaluation they attended satisfactory to excellent; (vi) out of the 1170 requests for redress received, only 17 lead to a re-evaluation, whereas 294 ethics reviews were organised in 2008, with no project being stopped; (vii) time to grant is overall in a range between 10 and 11 months; (viii) a survey among National Contact Points (NCPs) resulted in good scores for information on FP7 calls, for proposal evaluation procedures, and for the procedures for ethics reviews; (ix) On simplification, the number of audit certificates has been substantially reduced in FP7 compared to FP6.

The next Annual Monitoring Report, covering the activities in 2009, will allow for even more comparative analysis over time in order to identify trends and developments in FP7 implementation. As the FP7 monitoring system is still in a pioneering phase, feedback from readers and users is most welcome to help us improve the next reports issued under the FP7 monitoring system. The report can be downloaded from the http://ec.europa.eu/research/reports/2009/pdf/second_fp7_monitoring_en.pdf website.

Microbial Ecology of Activated Sludge, edited by Robert Seviour and Per H Nielsen, IWA Publishing, ISBN: 9781843390329, pp 688

Written for both microbiologists and engineers, the book critically reviews our current understanding of the microbiology of activated sludge, the most commonly used process for treating both domestic and industrial wastes. The contributors are all internationally recognized as leading researchers in activated sludge microbiology, and all have made valuable contributions to our present understanding of the process. The book pays particular attention to how the application of molecular methods has changed our perceptions of the identity of the filamentous bacteria causing the operational disorders of bulking and foaming, and the bacteria responsible for nitrification and denitrification and phosphorus accumulation in nutrient removal processes. Special attention is given to how it is now becoming possible to relate the composition of the community of microbes present in activated sludge, and the "in situ" function of individual populations there, and how such information might be used to manage and control these systems better. Detailed descriptions of some of these molecular methods are provided to allow newcomers to this field of study an opportunity to apply them in their research. Comprehensive descriptions of organisms of interest and importance are also given, together with high quality photos of activated sludge microbes. Online purchase is possible through the http://www.iwapublishing.com/template.cfm?name=isbn1843390329# website

Environmental Technologies to Treat Nitrogen Pollution. Principles and Engineering. Edited by Francisco J. Cervantes, ISBN: 9781843392224, pp 432

This title belongs to Integrated Environmental Technology Series, the "Environmental Technologies to Treat Nitrogen Pollution" provides a thorough understanding of the principles and applications of environmental technologies to treat nitrogen contamination. The main focus is on water and wastewater treatment, with additional coverage of leachates and off-gasses. The book brings together an up-to-date compilation of the main physical, chemical and biological processes demanded for the removal of nitrogenous contaminants from water, wastewater, leachates and off-gasses. It includes a series of chapters providing a deep and broad knowledge of the principles and applications required for the treatment of nitrogen pollution. Each chapter has been prepared by recognized specialists across the range of different aspects involved in the removal of nitrogenous contaminants from industrial discharges. It is the first book to provide a complete review of all the different processes used for the global management of nitrogen pollution. It also contains updated information about strategies to achieve nitrogen recovery and reuse in different industrial sectors. Several case studies document the application of different environmental technologies to manage nitrogen pollution. This book will be of interest to lecturers and graduate students in the following subject areas: Environmental Engineering, Environmental Biotechnology, wastewater treatment plant design, water pollution control, contaminants recovery and reuse. The book will also be an attractive reference for environmental engineering consultants. Online booking is offered by the http://www.iwapublishing.com/template.cfm?name=isbn9781843392224&type=category#.

4th Progress Report on SMEs participation in the 7th R&D Framework Programme. European Commission DG Research RTD.T.4, Brussels, 1 December 2009, pp 86

The aim of this report was to monitor the participation of SMEs in the Seventh Research Framework Programme (FP7). The Commission is required to pay special attention to the funding for SMEs under the Cooperation Programme, following the target in the Decision establishing FP7:" The aim will be to enable at least 15% of the funding available under the ‘Cooperation’ part of the programme to go to SMEs." This Report includes an analysis of SME participation rates across the themes of the COOPERATION Programme and of the EC contribution to SMEs in FP7 Grant Agreements (GAs) signed before 1 October 2009. The major outcome of this monitoring exercise is that within the COOPERATION programme as a whole 13.4 % (850 million Euro) of the budget has been granted to SMEs so far. Although the 15% target applies to the ten themes, it is clear that some programmes, such as NMP, lend themselves more easily to the participation of industry, including SMEs, than others (e.g. the Socio-economic Sciences and Humanities research programme). One should therefore not expect a uniform application of the 15% target throughout all the themes of the COOPERATION Programme. In order to achieve 15% of the budget allocated to SMEs at the end of the COOPERATION programme, 3.990 million Euro of the remaining budget (15.4%) would need to be allocated to SMEs. Beside the COOPERATION programme there are key figures on SME participation in the CAPACITIES and the PEOPLE Programmes as well as analysis and recommendations. For more information please visit the the relevant website, the full report is downloadable from the http://ec.europa.eu/research/sme-techweb/pdf/fp7_report_autumn_2009_full.pdf homepage.

Common Implementation Strategy for the Water Framework Directive (2000/60/EC), Guidance document No. 24: River Basin Management in a  Changing Climate. Technical Report - 2009 - 040, ISBN 978927914298-7, pp131

In the context of the WFD Common Implementation Strategy, an activity on Climate Change and Water was initiated in 2007 to produce guidance on how Member States should incorporate consideration of climate variability and change into the implementation of EU water policy. In 2008, the Water Directors discussed and agreed key policy messages on Climate Change and Water. These focused on the following topics: (i) EU water legislation and its ability to allow and support adaptation to climate change; (ii) The importance of integration with other policies; (iii) WFD and objective-setting under a changing climate; (iv) How adaptation is addressed in the 1st RBMPs and (v) The role of adaptation in the 2nd and 3rd river basin management cycles. This EU guidance builds upon these policy messages and is a mentioned as a priority action in the EC's White Paper on Adapting to Climate Change (2009). It has been discussed with a wide range of stakeholders and experts in the framework of the Common Implementation Strategy, and it reflects the important role of water managers in adapting to climate change. This guidance intends to give support to river basin managers in incorporating climate change in the next river basin management cycles. The Technical Report is downloadable at the http://www.vannportalen.no/Guidance_No_24_-_RBM_in_a_changing_climate_MljJw.pdf.file

Turning knowledge into profit – Success stories from FP6 co-operative research projects. Research results for SMEs-VI. OPOCE, The Publication Office, Luxembourg.

ISBN: 978-92-79-05202-6, ISSN: 1018-5593, pp 46

Research can help small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) to develop new products and services or improve existing ones, yet few SMEs have the funds or manpower to carry out research themselves. The European Union is encouraging SMEs to participate in the Framework Programme for Research to help them meet their research needs. Projects financed under this research outsourcing scheme provide the SMEs involved with an excellent opportunity to improve their competitiveness by developing innovative products and services that put them at the cutting edge of their respective sectors. This folder features the results of 20 successful projects from the Co-operative Research scheme for SMEs that were funded by the EU under the Sixth Framework Programme (FP6), which ran from 2002 to 2006. They cover fields as diverse as energy, agriculture, communications, the environment, medicine and music. In addition to new products and increased sales, the SMEs involved in these projects report that participating in an EU-funded research project enhanced their reputation, opened up new markets and provided them with strong links with both research institutes and companies across Europe. Many of them have been well and truly bitten by the research bug and are now engaged in further research projects, thus ensuring their company's competitiveness well into the future. Paper edition can be ordered at the homepage of the EU Bookshop on-line, and digital version can be downloaded from: http://bookshop.europa.eu/eubookshop/download.action?fileName=KINA23479ENC_002.pdf&eubphfUid=10118281&catalogNbr=KI-NA-23479-EN-C, free of charge both.

RTD RESULTS: USE, EXPLOITATION AND COMMUNICATION EXPERIENCES

FP6 EAQC-WISE (022603): European Analytical Quality Control in support of the Water Framework Directive via the Water Information System for Europe

The European Union (EU) has established the Water Framework Directive (WFD) in order to ensure the protection, improvement and sustainable use of aquatic ecosystems across Europe. The implementation of the WFD requires that monitoring comparability of monitoring data should be achieved at the level of the enlarged EU. Measurement data will represent the foundation of the water quality evaluation system, on the basis of which decisions will be taken on the measures required to achieve WFD environmental objectives. The EU-funded project ‘European Analytical Quality Control in support of the WFD via the Water Information System for Europe’ (EAQC-WISE) completed its activities and offers a Blue Print to establish a quality control (QC) system, which would for instance facilitate the provision of appropriate proficiency testing (PT) activities, reference material (RM) provision, research and training at the EU level. The Blue Print suggests to develop a sustainable pan-EU quality assurance and quality control (QA/QC) system for water, biota, sediment and related soil monitoring data. The recommendations have been derived from research carried out in the frame of the EAQC-WISE project. Detailed reports documenting the development and detailed reasoning behind these recommendations have been issued as the deliverables of this project. The recommendations have been discussed with numerous stakeholders, during the second project workshop in Brussels, June 2008, at meetings of the Chemical Monitoring Activity (CMA) and other occasions. Their feedback has been incorporated into the final report of the project. The intention is that decision makers operating in the WFD context, in the future use the document presented here and transform it into a Guidance document under the Common Implementation Strategy. In the final report recommendations are structured by topic (reference materials, proficiency testing, validated methods, research and standardisation and training). Furthermore, there are horizontal recommendations addressing the overall structure of the quality control system (communication, expert groups). Processes described in the recommendations are additionally visualized by graphical representation. Detailed information and deliverables of the project are available at the http://www.eaqc-wise.net/ homepage.

FP6 MODELKEY (511237) IP: Models for Assessing and Forecasting the Impact of Environmental Key Pollutants on Marine and Freshwater Ecosystems and Biodiversity 

The FP6 MODELKEY integrated project has ended successfully as reflected in its final Newsletter, which can be downloaded at the http://www.modelkey.org/index.php?en=5636 website. Its key findings support a set of recommendations for reaching the WFD‘s quality objectives. The EU Water Framework Directive (WFD) requires the achievement of good ecological and chemical status in European river basins. However, evidence is increasing that a majority of European water bodies will not achieve this goal. Nutrient emissions and related eutrophication together with hydromorphological alterations have been suggested as the major driving forces of this insufficient ecological status. MODELKEY provides strong evidence that toxic chemicals also affect the ecological status of European rivers. This was demonstrated in the case study rivers Elbe, Scheldt and Llobregat on different scales.

The Newsletter summarises key findings of MODELKEY and delivers its recommendations for WFD implementation, i.e. (i) provide evidence of toxic stress in aquatic ecosystems; (ii) provide evidence that impairment of ecological status results from impact of multiple stressors; (iii) suggest a tiered approach to assess impact of chemicals on ecological status; (iv) suggest a new approach for deriving candidate compounds for monitoring and prioritisation; (v) call for consideration of bioavailability and bioaccumulation in chemical status assessments; (vi) suggest improvements for WFD water quality monitoring programmes; (vii) provide new integrated tools for basin-scale risk assessment and decision making; (viii) developed a Decision Support System to support river basin management. These key results will be published in a series of integrated papers, for the scientific details please refer to publications listed on the MODELKEY website. Links can be found at the http://www.modelkey.org/index.php?en=6301 webpage as soon as available, and this page will be continuously updated with new publications resulting from MODELKEY.

FP6 SUSAN (016079): Sustainable and Safe Re-use of Municipal Sewage Sludge for Nutrient Recovery

In the SUSAN-project an environmentally friendly technology for sewage sludge treatment was developed and optimised aiming at nutrient recovery. The SUSAN-option is a two step thermal treatment. In a first step sewage sludge is mono-incinerated under energy recovery and destruction of organic pollutants. In a second thermo-chemical step heavy metals are removed and the valuable nutrient phosphorus is transferred into a form that is available for plants. This treatment step works at 850-1000°C. The thermo-chemically treated ashes contain approx. 20 % P2O5 in a bio-available form and are thus suitable raw materials for manufacturing marketable fertilisers such as P-, PK- or NPK-fertilisers. The nutrients phosphorus, calcium, magnesium and potassium that were present in sewage sludge are  transferred into the ash based fertilisers and thus can be recovered with this technology. Recovery of phosphorus is most important in this context as phosphorus is a non-renewable resource that can become scarce in the future. The P-resources of the European Union are negligible. Consequently, the EU depends on a world market that is dominated by a small number of exporting nations. Main phosphorus reserves are located in China, Morocco, South Africa and the United States of America. Dramatic increases of the prices for rock phosphate were observed in the years 2007 and 2008 with significant effects on the agronomic sector. However, those developments on the fertiliser market positively affect the evolution of recycling strategies such as the SUSAN management option for nutrient recovery. An economic operation of large-scale facilities treating sewage sludge ashes according to the SUSAN-technology is expected in the near future. A pilot plant for fertiliser production from sewage sludge ashes is currently in operation. The SUSAN-participant ASH DEC Umwelt AG will build up the first demonstration facility with an annual capacity of approx. 15,000 tons of ashes in the years 2009/2010. For further details please visit the homepage of the SUSAN project: http://www.susan.bam.de/

FP6 NETSSAF (037099): Network for the development of Sustainable approaches for large Scale Implementation of Sanitation in Africa

The main aim of NETSSAF were (i) to develop innovative, adaptable and replicable approaches to sustainable sanitation, integrating appropriate low-cost technologies with  community-based management and their relevant governance, institutional frameworks and socioeconomic  constraints, and (ii) to coordinate and integrate the current scientific research, technological  innovation and execution activities, creating synergies to support large-scale implementation of sustainable sanitation systems in peri-urban and rural areas, in order to propose feasible solutions  for the achievement of the Sanitation MDG in Africa. To achieve NETSSAF aim a sustainable sanitation expert and research co-ordination platform and an expertise network, has been established accounting with 19 partners representing Universities, Research Centres and companies from 12 European and West African countries. During the 30 months of the project duration all project tasks have been performed by project partners. The NETSSAF partners have organised 14 end-user workshops in different locations of each country in Africa (Mauritania, Burkina Faso, Mali, Niger, Senegal, Côte d’Ivoire, and Ghana). End-users were informed about the principles and benefits of sustainable sanitation and the hygienic behaviour to develop. Further mechanisms of dissemination have also been produced, in the form of radio programmes in local stations, posters and an awareness kit. Jointly organised with the end-users’, 14 capacity building of authorities in seven West African countries also took place. The strategy of authority capacity building has also been developed, empowering local and national authorities for the deployment of dissemination programs for sustainable sanitation in rural and peri-urban areas of West Africa.

The main outcomes of the project are: (i) The Yellow Pages of Sanitation and Wastewater Treatment Solutions for West Africa, which is available in internet at http://www.yellowpagesofsanitation.com in both English and French versions; (ii) the NETSSAF Participatory Planning Approach is a computer software that is freely available on-line for download in the project web page and its tutorial for sustainable sanitation planning and (iii) a Guide for large scale planning and implementation of Low Cost Sanitation Technologies (a condensed version of the NETSSAF participatory planning approach) to offer an easy reference guide the users where there are not computers or electricity. All these NETSSAF outputs have been intensively disseminated by the partners in activities performed under the Sustainable Sanitation Extension and Dissemination Programme available on the official project http://www.netssaf.net/ webpage. The NETSSAF project has achieved its initial aim of attaining a cross-fertilisation of ideas, fortifying the significance of local activities through the incorporation of key actors and stakeholders into a multidisciplinary an international approach. This have been achieved mainly through (i) the promotion of international co-operation and (ii) the encouragement of permanent communication links establishment between African and European organizations, (iii) the strengthening of the EU scientific and technological capacity in the field by initiating and guiding future R&D activities, (iv) coordinating efforts and exchanging knowledge and (v) the raising of a positive socio-economic impact trough the implementation of suitable wastewater conceptions. All the project deliverables are available at the  website.

FP6 CAESAR (022674): Computer assisted evaluation of industrial chemical substances according to regulations

The objective of the CAESAR project is to develop new quantitative structure-activity relationships in silico (QSAR) models for bioconcentration factor (BCF), skin sensitization, mutagenicity, carcinogenicity and developmental toxicity, suitable for the legislation on chemicals (REACH). These five endpoints have been chosen among the most "animal-consuming" in vivo toxicity experiments within REACH in order to reduce the number of animals used as well as the costs. Preliminary results for each endpoint are accessible at the http://www.caesar-project.eu/index.php?page=results

The CAESAR model for bioconcentration has been assessed according to the OECD principles and (i) a defined has been taken from the REACH; (ii) an unambiguous algorithm: chemical structures have been checked individually by two persons, to have a correct starting point. The mathematical algorithm is unique and clearly defined; (iii) a defined domain of applicability: the model is based on a data set of heterogeneous industrial chemicals of about 500 compounds; (iv) appropriate measures of goodness-of-fit, robustness and predictivity: the model has been checked with a large set of statistical criteria; (v) a mechanistic interpretation, if possible: LogP is the most important descriptor, as expected, and is modulated by other descriptors.

The CAESAR approach to address the skin sensitization issue two complementary approaches were investigated: (i) a global approach aimed at developing a classifier to discriminate sensitizers vs non sensitizers, and (ii) a local approach that investigated a mechanistic based category formation coupled with a read-across approach within each category. 

The CAESAR model for mutagenicity is based on a data set that includes 4225 compounds. For developing classification models, this data set was subdivided in two classes: 80% (3380 chemicals) used for building the model and 20% (845 chemicals) left for testing. For regulatory purposes, an integrated model was arranged cascading two complementary techniques: a machine learning algorithm (SVM), to build an early model with the best statistical accuracy, equipped with an expert facility for FN removal based on known structural alerts, to refine its predictions.

The CAESAR QSAR model to address the carcinogenicity issue two complementary approaches were investigated: (i) a regression approach, and (ii) a continuous approach. The original dataset used for the development of CAESAR model for carcinogenicity contains 805 chemicals extracted from CPDBAS with associated TD50 values for rat.

The dataset used for the CAESAR QSAR model for developmental toxicity includes 292 compounds divided into a training and a test set. Chemical compounds were categorized into toxicant or non toxicant according to FDA risk factors. The chemical descriptors have been calculated in collaboration with a public US EPA program. In the Model A the software used is the WEKA (Waikato Environment for Knowledge Analysis), an open source workbench. The algorithm used for modelling is Random Forest that constructs a "forest" of random "trees". The Model B based on Adaptive Fuzzy Partition (AFP) to develop classification models implementing a fuzzy partition algorithm.

Notice for the use of in silico CAESAR models addressing human toxicology related to human toxicology (i.e.: carcinogenicity and developmental toxicity models). Currently, the role of in silico models in these endpoints can be limited to consider them as an ingredient in deriving a weight of evidence rather than to substitute per se existing methods. Their utility is consequently in support to the overall assessment. The user is also advised that, since some of the models are based on datasets focused on a limited chemical space, particular attention should be placed for these two last endpoints in the evaluation of similar compounds already present in the studied datasets and the model's ability to correctly predict them.

FP6 FOOTPRINT (022704): Functional Tools for Pesticide Risk Assessment and Management

The FOOTPRINT project proposed to address the lack of pesticide risk assessment and management tools by developing a set of computer tools which allow users to (i) identify the dominant pathways and sources of pesticide contamination in the agricultural landscape; (ii) estimate levels of pesticide concentrations transiting towards surface water and groundwater; (iii) make scientifically-based assessments of how the implementation of risk reduction strategies is likely to reduce pesticide contamination of water resources. 

The final results of the FOOTPRINT project are the development and evaluation of three computerised tools to be used by three different end-user communities to assess and reduce the risk of pesticides impacting on water resources.  The three tools are designed to work at different scales, but to maintain a strong consistency between them, thereby enabling the efficient use of the suite of the tools to identify potential ‘red’ zones at the large scale and then deploy local mitigation strategies at the local (farm) scale.  The tools are also expected to have a direct contribution to policy development. Besides the three software tools, FOOTPRINT released stand-alone information and tools for the pesticide fate and risk assessment community including(i) FOOTPRINT literature reviews which have been favourably received by peers; (ii) FOOTPRINT SUGAR, a new hydrological index, which is provided for download from the FOOTPRINT web site; (iii) FOOTPRINT Pesticide Properties Database (FOOTPRINT PPDB) which is already recognised as a key reference in the field. Final results of the project are available on the www.eu-footprint.org website. 

In view of the success of FOOTPRINT and the need to actively disseminate the results, a start-up company FOOTWAYS (www.footways.eu) was set-up by the coordinator. The objectives of FOOTWAYS are (i) dissemination of the FOOTPRINT research and tools (training, technical support, maintenance); (ii) developments of new tools which address the shortcomings and limitations of the FOOTPRINT tools; (iii) active contribution to the adoption of pesticide risk assessment and management tools by the farming community to support the protection of water resources across the European Union.

NEW FP7 RESEARCH PROJECTS  

FP7 UPSOIL (226956): Sustainable Soil Upgrading by Developing Cost-effective, Biogeochemical Remediation Approaches

UPSOIL aims to achieve a breakthrough in in-situ remediation through an innovative technological perspective taking into account the physical properties and the biogeochemical reactivity of the soil as well as the contaminants. To this end UPSOIL will develop robust technologies for fast, cost-effective, integrated source zone and plume treatment. These are designed to result both in timely reached restored soil functions and associated risk levels, and a maximal use of the natural soil rehabilitation potential at a longer term. UPSOIL thus supports soil function preservation and faster restoration and sustainable redevelopment of European regions and cities that carry the burden of historical soil contamination. Accompanying goals are to broaden the market of soil remediation for SMEs and to build confidence with regulators in adopting sustainable in-situ remediation as the preferable approach for soil restoration. UPSOIL will focus on soils with organic contaminants while addressing effects on metal mobilization, aiding in the remediation of the most pressing soil pollution cases in Europe. Within the UPSOIL perspective, smart coupling of technologies is one approach to optimise remediation with respect to cost, time and soil sustainability. In addition, highly innovative techniques (to be patented) will be developed. These include the automatic targeting of the injection of the remedial agent, and the use of specifically developed selective remedial agents that preferably react with the contaminant and not with the soil matrix. UPSOIL joins strong partners from different EU regions that form a balanced mix of scientific knowledge groups, applied science experience, and practical input through SMEs and contractors that also secure testing of the technologies develop in real field site situations and a further market application of the developed knowledge. Partner institutions: (i) FUNDACION LABEIN (ES); (ii) Flemish Institute for Technological Research (BE); (iii) Stichting Deltares (NL); (iv) Wageningen Universiteit (NL); (v) Instytut Ekologii Terenow Uprzemyslowionych (PL); (vi) National R&D Institute for Industrial Ecology (RO); (vii) Swedish Geotechnical Institute (SE); (viii) Enacon s.r.o (CZ); (ix) Ecorem Baltija UAB (LT); (x) DEKONTA, a.s (CZ); (xi) Przedsi?biorstwo Oczyszczania Wód i Ziemi POWIZ Ltd. (PL); (xii) EJLSKOV A/S (DK); (xiii) Rehabilitacion de Suelos S.L (ES); (xiv) BIUTEC-Biotechnologie und Umwelttechnologie Forschungs- und Entwicklungsgesellschaft mbH (AT); (xv) Geotecnia y Cimientos S.A (ES). The homepage of the project is not yet available, will be established later. 

FP7 PROSUITE (227078): Development and application of a standardized methodology for the Prospective Sustainability assessment of Technologies

The Lisbon strategy aims to make the European Union "the most dynamic and competitive knowledge-based economy in the world capable of sustainable economic growth with more and better jobs and greater social cohesion, and respect for the environment by 2010”. This core statement shows the complexity of societal aspirations and also indicates potential conflicts between environmental, economic and social goals. As an engine of progress and change, technologies have been discussed controversially in the last decades in terms of the net benefit they bring to society. A general awareness has grown of a need to carefully select, promote and control technology development. Technology Assessment, which started as a broad, holistic approach has been increasingly formalized, evolving into a variety of specialized assessment tools. These commonly allow partial evaluations for the environmental, economic and social dimensions and they are generally not linked in a consistent way. Few methodologies are currently available for an integrated assessment over the three dimensions of sustainability. PROSUITE will develop a coherent, scientifically sound, and broadly accepted methodology for the sustainability assessment of current and future technologies over their life cycle, applicable to different stages of maturity. PROSUITE identifies and addresses the “hot spots” of sustainability assessment of technologies. PROSUITE will show how to combine technology forecasting methods with life cycle approaches, and how to develop and possibly combine the three sustainability dimensions in a standardized, comprehensive, and feasible way.

Responding to the current limitations observed in the field, PROSUITE seeks to provide: (i) Clear guidance on how to perform future, full-scale assessments for technologies in an early stage of development; (ii) A solid research basis for technology characterization, including the identification of technology features; (iii) Guidance and concrete approaches for dealing with economic effects especially at the macro-level, and for capturing secondary effects; (iv) Environmental impact assessment methods that reflect the scientific state of the art, focusing notably on land and water use impacts, metal toxicity and outdoor nanoparticle exposure; (v) Stakeholder-generated consensus on which quantitative and qualitative social indicators should be applied, making explicit both their normative aims and their functional purpose; (vi) A harmonised approach to integrate assessment results within and across the environmental, economic and social impacts; (vii) Flexible, user validated open source software forming a decision support system, for the broad and lasting application of PROSUITE integrative methods. Further details about proposed activities of the PROSUITE are available at the http://www.prosuite.org and http://www.prosuite.eu homepages of the project.

FP7 SuPerBuildings (244087): Sustainability and performance assessment and benchmarking of buildings

The project will develop (1) sustainability indicators for buildings, (2) understanding about the needed performance levels considering new and existing buildings, different building types and local requirements, (3) methods for the benchmarking of sustainable buildings (SB) and (4) recommendations for the effective use of benchmarking systems as instruments of steering and in building processes. The work will make use of the existing knowledge of SB assessment and rating systems. However, the project recognises that there are still unsolved issues and areas with no common understanding. These include: (a) the integration of social and economic issues with SB assessment, (b) consideration of certain environmental aspects as land use, (c) defining appropriate performance levels considering both minimal levels and advanced targets, (d) consideration of local conditions, different building types, and both new and existing buildings when selecting performance levels, (e) selection of benchmarking criteria to be easily adopted in different parts of Europe, (f) effective mobilisation of the benchmarking system, (g) effective making use of the system in building processes and in building regulation and steering. The work will be divided into 8 work packages, which all will contribute to achieve the goals of the project. Partners institutions: (i) VALTION TEKNILLINEN TUTKIMUSKESKUS (FI); (Iii) BRE Global Ltd (UK); (iii)3 CENTRE SCIENTIFIQUE ET TECHNIQUE DU BATIMENT (FR); (iv) CENTRE SCIENTIFIQUE ET TECHNIQUE DE LA CONSTRUCTION (BE); (v) UNIVERSITAET KARLSRUHE (TECHNISCHE HOCHSCHULE, DE); (vi) CESKE VYSOKE UCENI TECHNICKE V PRAZE (CZ); (vii) STIFTELSEN SINTEF (NO); (viii) FRAUNHOFER-GESELLSCHAFT ZUR FOERDERUNG DER ANGEWANDTEN FORSCHUNG E.V (DE);  (ix) FUNDACION LABEIN (ES); (x) OSTERREICHISCHE GESELLSCHAFT FUR UMWELT UND TECHNIK (AT); (xi) YIT Kiinteistötekniikka Oy (FI); (xii) VINCI CONSTRUCTION FRANCE (FR); (xiii) WSGreen Technologies GmbH (DE); (xiv) Context AS (NO); (xv) Stichting W/E adviseurs duurzaam bouwen (NL); (xvi) GEOS s.r.l. (IT). The homepage of the project is not yet available, will be established later. 

FP7 SMARTeST (244102): Smart Resilience Technology, Systems and Tools 

The project, involving leading European organizations, will develop innovative smart technology, systems and implementation tools. The project is set out into six main work packages: WP1 – Management: controlling the operation, scientific excellence and finance of the consortium. WP2 – FRe technology: developing innovative and smart technology and products, based on extending current products and introducing smart systems that rely less on manual intervention. The emphasis is on cost effective solutions. The WP will develop guidance and standards for FRe technology that could be adopted by standards organizations as harmonized standards. WP3 – FRe systems: developing the concept of flood resilient systems in the urban environment through the use of case studies in seven partner countries. FRe systems are the combination of FRe technology and the urban environment within which they sit. The FRe systems can range from individual building and infrastructure level to whole cities. WP4 – FRe implementation: considering how to implement FRe technology and systems in practice. It will consider appropriate tools and develop a decision support system. WP5 – Integration: bringing together the theory and practical research in WP2 – WP4, the intention is to demonstrate how FRe technology, systems and implementation can work in practice. The involvement of relevant stakeholders through national support groups will be essential.WP6 – Dissemination: a range of dissemination activities are planned within the project. A project web site will host an information platform. National and international conferences will disseminate the research results and create impact amongst stakeholders. A manual of FRe technology, systems and implementation tools will be produced. The project partners have already cooperated for more than three years in COST Action C22 – Urban Flood Management and are therefore well placed to successfully undertake this project. Partner institutions: (i) BUILDING RESEARCH ESTABLISHMENT LTD (UK); (ii) TECHNISCHE UNIVERSITAET HAMBURG-HARBURG (DE); (iii) CENTRE SCIENTIFIQUE ET TECHNIQUE DU BATIMENT (FR); (iv) The University of Manchester (UK); (v) NATIONAL AND KAPODISTRIAN UNIVERSITY OF ATHENS (EL); (vi) Dion. Toumazis & Associates (CY); (vii) ECOLE NATIONALE DES PONTS ET CHAUSSEES (FR); (viii) TECHNISCHE UNIVERSITEIT DELFT (NL); (ix) UNIVERSIDAD POLITECNICA DE MADRID (ES); (x) Leibniz Institute of Ecological and Regional Development (IOER) (DE)   

The homepage of the project is not yet available, will be established later. 

FP7 FloodProBE (243401): Title: Technologies for the cost-effective Flood Protection of the Built Environment

The principal aim of FloodProBE is to provide cost-effective means for the flood protection and damage mitigation in urban areas. To this end, FloodProBE will develop, test and disseminate technologies, methods, concepts and tools for risk assessment and mitigation, focussing particularly on the adaptation of new and existing buildings (retrofitting) and on infrastructure networks. The three main elements addressed by FloodProBE are (a) the vulnerability of critical infrastructure and high-density value assets, being the main originators of direct and indirect flood damage, (b) the reliability of urban flood defences by improving understanding and assessment of failure processes that have proven to be critical in recent flood events and (c) construction technologies and concepts for flood-proofing buildings and infrastructure networks to increase the flood-resilience of the urban system as well as for retrofit and repair of flood defences in the most economic and cost beneficial manner. The afore-mentioned elements will be integrated into state-of-the-art flood risk management strategies and will be developed, tested and validated via pilot study sites. A wide range of stakeholders will be involved in the project from the outset through an Associate Partner programme and by an external Advisory Board. This involvement will provide guidance on the project programme to directly meet industry needs, whilst also facilitating international dissemination, supporting uptake and implementation of project deliverables. The primary impact of FloodProBE will be a significant increase in the cost-effectiveness (i.e. performance) of investments in newly developed and existing flood protection and flood resilience measures. This will be achieved by focusing the research on “risk hotspots”, i.e. weak links in flood defence system performance and vulnerable assets, that, if damaged, cause very large direct and indirect adverse consequences (e.g. infrastructure networks). Partner institutions: (i) STICHTING DELTARES (NL); (ii) HR WALLINGFORD LTD (UK); (iii) CENTRE NATIONAL DU MACHINISME AGRICOLE, DU GENIE RURAL, DES EAUX ET DES FORETS (FR); (iv) STIFTELSEN SINTEF (NO); (v) EIVP (FR); (vi) Regionální Environmentální Centrum, CR (CZ); (vii) OXFORD BROOKES UNIVERSITY (UK); (viii) Dura Vermeer Groep NV (NL); (ix) ACCIONA INFRAESTRUCTURAS S.A. (ES); (x) Samui Design & Management Ltd (UK); (xi) MOSTOSTAL WARSZAWA SA (PL); (xii) LABORATOIRE CENTRAL DES PONTS ET CHAUSSEES (FR); (xiii) DeltaSync BV (NL). The homepage of the project is not yet available, will be established later. 

FP7 PERPETUATE (244229): Performance-based approach to the earthquake protection of cultural heritage in European and Mediterranean countries

PERPETUATE intends to develop European Guidelines for evaluation and mitigation of seismic risk to cultural heritage assets, with innovative techniques for the seismic strengthening of historical buildings and the preservation of artworks (frescos, stuccoworks, statues, battlements, banisters, …). The main deliverable of the project will be made by a main document, which outlines the safety and conservation conceptual approach and the overall methodology, and other specific documents, describing the different components of the risk analysis. Two different problems are considered: a) assessment of a single cultural heritage asset (hazard analysis; soil foundation problems; investigations for the building knowledge; seismic analysis; SHM and strengthening interventions); b) policy initiatives for seismic risk mitigation (simplified vulnerability and risk analysis at territorial scale). Other important deliverables will come out from the application and validation of the methodology in two case studies, the Citadel of Algiers and the historical centre of Rhodes, both in the UNESCO list of the World Cultural Heritage. The call asks for the development of “integrated methodologies and innovative tools” for “protection .. of the main cultural heritage assets as regards the impact of earthquakes” and makes expressly reference to the contribution for improved regulation and standards. The recommendations recently issued by the Italian Ministry of Culture represent the framework for the development of European Guidelines, applicable in the European and the other Mediterranean countries. The methodology proposed in PERPETUATE will use a displacement-based approach for the vulnerability evaluation and the design of interventions; the use of safety verification in terms of displacement, rather than strength, orients to new strengthening techniques and helps in the comprehension of the interaction between structural elements and unmovable artistic assets. Partner institutions: (i) UNIVERSITA DEGLI STUDI DI GENOVA (IT); (ii) Ente per le Nuove tecnologie, l'Energia e l'Ambiente (IT); (iii) BUREAU DE RECHERCHES GEOLOGIQUES ET MINIERES (FR); (iv) ARISTOTELIO PANEPISTIMIO THESSALONIKIS (EL); (v) NATIONAL TECHNICAL UNIVERSITY OF ATHENS (EL); (vi) UNIVERZA V LJUBLJANI (SI); (vii) UNIVERSITY OF BATH (UK); (viii) USTHB/LBE (DZ); (ix) Gradbeni inštitut ZRMK d.o.o. (SI); (x) Entreprise de Travaux de Bâtiment Mekhati (DZ). For more information please visit the http://www.perpetuate.eu/ website of the project.

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