Speech title: “The conditional framework of regional biobased innovations; insights and experiences from regional HUBS in H2020 BLOOM project”

The speaker
Remco Kranendonk is a senior researcher at Wageningen Environmental Research, working on regional development and bioeconomy regional clusters. advices and facilitates regional innovation processes and has a broad experience in connecting science and regional networks of practitioners. He participated in the FP7 project BERST as WP leader in setting up a Community of Practice. He is program leader of Climate Smart Agriculture Program in the Netherlands within Climate KICs. He was organiser of the TCI 2016 Global Cluster Conference and responsible for WUR Strategy on Regional Partnerships. Actually he is active in the H2020 Bloom project, focussing on raising awareness of biobased perspectives within the civil society; he is responsible for the extension of the regional triple helix networks to a quadruple helix interplay.

Speech title: “Ecodesign and Sustainable packaging: challenges, trends and perspectives”

The speaker
Ana Pires received the PhD in Environmental Engineering from the Faculty of Science and Technology of the NOVA University of Lisbon (FCT NOVA). She is a Researcher and Invited Professor at FCT NOVA, in the area of solid waste management and circular economy. Author of several articles and communications, with a book awarded by the International Solid Waste Association. Her research areas focus on the development of sustainable eco-design methodologies, reuse-based Circular Economy models and sustainability metrics for hierarchical waste management. She is a co-founder of the waste@NOVA network of researchers dedicated to innovation in waste treatment and management technologies.

Speech title: “All life on Earth depends upon healthy Oceans – Choose your lifeline”

The speaker
Howard is an internationally acclaimed marine biologist, now takes the helm as Chief Scientific Officer of GOES Foundation (Global Oceanic Environmental Survey). As an academic and successful businessman, Howard’s 30+ year career has been focused on one vision — to make the aquatic environment safer and cleaner for humans and all the other organisms on which our life depends. Along with his team of marine biologists, and an experienced globally-connected group of policy makers, communication experts and management consultants are the driving force behind GOES. Being aware that all life on Earth depends on a healthy Oceanic ecosystem and that climate change is all about carbon dioxide, (but that most of the effort by Governments has gone into reducing emissions) and that it is known that elimination of aquatic environmental pollution from toxic-for-ever chemicals such as PCBs and Oxybenzone is primordial to avoid ocean acidification and a complete collapse of the entire marine environment, Howards focus is about restoring oceanic ecosystems to sequester carbon dioxide.
Stating that if we don’t eliminate pollution within 10 years then we lose the Marine Ecosystem and biodiversity in 25 years, along with the food supply for 2 billion people, the GOES Foundation is now the primary focus of Dr. Howard Dryden.