FlexFunction2Sustain Progress Meeting in Freising

On March 2-3, the FlexFunction2Sustain consortium met in person to celebrate the completion of the third year of project implementation. The all-round enjoyable visit was cordially hosted by Fraunhofer Institute for Process Engineering and Packaging IVV at their premises in Freising, Germany. Those partners who could not make it in person were able to connect digitally so that discussions with the entire consortium could take place. The two-days concise but vivid meeting gave the partners the possibility to get an overview of the current status of the OITB’s development process from both technical and business perspective.

With only a year to go, it was crucial at this point to review the technical facilities by checking the statues of the machine upgrades and their interconnection with the ongoing use cases. Among the achievements highlighted during the meeting was the upgrade of REMIX Pilot line and its accreditation for PP flexible film recyclability evaluation as well as the upgrade of BIODEGRADIX Pilot line certified for TUV Austria audit. In line with the discussion hold, the partners visited the technical facilities at Fraunhofer IVV known for its experience and offering in roll-to-roll coating, extrusion of flexible polymer films and in developing corresponding multilayer structures for flexible packaging applications with various functionalities.

On the second day, the partners summarised what has been achieved during the course of the project from business perspective. The European Sustainable Nanotechnology Solutions Association (ESNA) association is now being registered. The very next step is the announcement of a call for tender and selection of a Single Entry Point, which will be a one-stop shop for future customers. Moreover, discussion on the successful transition to a sustainable OITB business by ESNA took places and how to moved forwards towards the future operation of the association and its sustainability in terms of potential investment opportunities.

The Project Adviser Susana Xará at Health and Digital Executive Agency (HaDEA) and the External Advisory Board members also joined the meeting. They followed the progress and gave valuable feedback and recommendations for the future work of the project. 

Striving for better results becomes easier when we combine our strengths. With only a year to go, the FlexFunction2Sustain partners are strongly motivated to collaborate in the upcoming months and to put their best efforts in order to achieve impressive results to showcase.

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