News and events published on the Eco-innovation Community Platform

• News: Eco-innovative technologies could transform European aluminium industry by 2050
• News: New factsheet on EMAS and ISO 14001: an overview of expected amendments to EMAS regulation
• News: Benefits of public procurement of innovation – including sustainability and for environment sector
• New event (with comments): NEW_InnoNET Stakeholder Conference 2016

The next few years could see a flood of water-related technological innovation coming out of Europe, according to EIP Water – the European Innovation Partnership established under the European Union's Innovation Union initiative.
In terms of barriers, EIP Water has identified five key issues where work is needed to ensure that innovators do not face unnecessary blockages: access to finance; regulatory obstacles; barriers in public procurement; the need to fine-tune public-private partnerships; and provision of testing and demonstration sites.
Examples in practice of some of these barriers, according to Guido Schmidt, a senior policy expert who leads the EIP Water Secretariat, include problems in obtaining permits for water-innovation related activities, and mismatches in the risk-reward balance for the financing of water innovation projects.

A Slovenian company that emerged from a farming cooperative to become a manufacturer of windows is leading a move away from synthetic window frames to a new generation of recyclable frames made from wood and aluminium, which are suitable for passive and low-energy houses and applications.

The market for construction products offers a substantial opportunity for circular economy business models. Rather than being manufactured from virgin materials, many construction products – such as building and insulation materials – can be recovered and recycled from construction and demolition waste, or can be manufactured from other waste streams. Often, eco-innovative companies can uncover new and more environmentally friendly opportunities by using recovered or recycled materials in creative ways.