On 31st January 2023 the GRETE partners met for the 9th consortium meeting. After being hosted in three of the five partner countries – Finland, Austria and Portugal – this time Italy was the destination: the GRETE partners travelled to Milan where the last official gathering took place at Materially’s premises, the project’s communication manager and provider of consultancy services on innovative and sustainable materials.
The GRETE consortium did not have a lot of occasions to meet since the COVID-19 pandemic cancelled the plans few months after the project launched. Besides the kick-off meeting in May 2019, held at project coordinator VTT’s facilities in Espoo, and a second meeting later that year at BOKU’s Campus in Tulln an der Donau, most of the consortium collaboration happened online. Only in April 2022, after four virtual editions, the consortium gathered again for a physical meeting hosted by the Portuguese partners University of Aveiro and Celbi (Altri Group) while an 8th meeting was organised six months later by University of Helsinki and Metsä Spring, back in Finland.
Not having met for two years somehow impacted the way of exchange between individuals that haven’t collaborated beforehand, but the flawless management by project coordinator Stina Grönqvist and her extended support in solving any issue made sure that all partners contributed in their best way and allowing to reach exceptional project results. This last one-day meeting, a quick and intense gathering, offered the platform for all involved partners to share their research results and bring some physical samples to Italy.
The samples that translate the joint research efforts into tangible outputs will be presented during the GRETE final event. An anticipation was showcased shortly after the meeting in Milan to a broad circular-economy-focused audience thanks to the Horizon 2020 project CENTRINNO, coordinated by the municipality of Milan via its local pilot Manifattura Milano.
Now that the end of GRETE is nearing all efforts are directed towards the final event hosted within the Cellulose Fibres Conference 2023. The conference offers a great opportunity to share the project results with the stakeholders of the wood-to-textile value chain belonging both to academia and industry. The conference program is now published and we are glad to communicate that on the second day, 9th March 2023, several consortium members will have the opportunity to present the research developed in the 4-years-collaboration.
In the first morning session with the title Sustainability & Environmental Impacts Ali Harlin from VTT provides an overview on Energy Impact on Different Regenerated Fibre Processes while Joan Colón Jordà from BETA – Uni Vic illustrates their LCA studies Sustainability of Novel Man-Made Cellulosic Fibre Production from Paper Grade Pulp.
Later that day we will have a “GRETE Session”: Ionic Liquids and New Technologies for Pulps, Fibres and Yarns where Eva Gazagnaire from University of Helsinki, Jenni Rahikainen from VTT, and Carla Vilela from University of Aveiro will present the different research streams of the GRETE scientific work.
During the coffee breaks of the two conference days we’ll organise also a “Talk to the expert” session at the GRETE booth (number 22) where members of the consortium will be available to answer your questions and explain more about their work. Planning to participate in the conference? Use this code and get 20% off: CFC23-GRETE-9283u
We’re looking forward to meeting you in person at the Cellulose Fibres Conference on March 8 + 9 2023!
