EnW: Resource Efficiency in Food Manufacturing
Energy in Water: Resource Efficiency in Food Manufacturing Industry in the context of Smart Specialisation Strategies (EnW-REF-S3)
Europe’s food and drink industry is the largest manufacturing sector in terms of turnover, value added and employment. Enhancing a resource-efficient, circular economy, is one of the most important priorities for this industry.It means preserving the value of resources (raw materials, water and energy) that go into producing food and drink products for as long as possible, while also paying attention to: prevention, resource efficiency, environmental performance, sustainable sourcing and consumer awareness. Within his resource efficient, circular economy, water, energy and food are inextricably linked.
Over the last two years, the European Strategic Cluster Partnership on Energy in Water (EnW) has been supporting and harnessing the growth and innovation potential of European SMEs operating across the energy-water 'Nexus’. The EnW partnership is aiming at generating opportunities for SMEs within the energy-water nexus through international partnerships and facilitation of cooperation on solutions.
As a follow-up on the successful EnW European Strategic Cluster Partnership, the partnership and other interested clusters will be working on identifying and classifying the challenges and needs in the food manufacturing industry and connecting and matching these with European SMEs/technologies. Based on a classification, the needs will also be matched to Knowledge Institutes, Capacity building/Empowerment and Regional ESRF-funding/Horizon2020-funding measures.
The ambition of the consortium is to enhance the regional innovation capacity by analysing and classifying the challenges and needs in the food manufacturing industry, and connecting these with European SMEs and Knowledge Institutes within the context of Smart Specialisation Strategies. Furthermore, regions will be mobilised to recruit and assess the regional capabilities and funding possibilities allowing for strong regional uptake of the initiatives and recommendations. National and European funding and policy making institutes will be invited to assess this initiative and come up with solutions to support its outcomes, aligning these with European and national policy and instruments.
The EnW partnership intends to focus on the following high priority areas within the European internal market:
- Generation and reuse of resources from organic waste and wastewate
- Energy and Water recovery and efficiency measures
- Resource recovery in process water
- Wastewater treatment solutions
Target areas within Europe are North-West Europe and South Europe (home countries of the partnership) and East Europe (Visegrád-group: Poland, Check Republic, Hungary, Slowakia and Romania).