Boosting Environmental Technologies by Verification

Promotion of innovative environmental technologies is essential for the environment and for the European economy. Proving that new technologies are working through Environmental Technology Verification (ETV) is one way to achieve this.

Therefore, Europe is now heading towards an Environmental Technology Verification System. A proposal for a EU framework on ETV is planned to be published by the European Commission in autumn 2008. Environmental Technology Verification – an independent assessment of the performance of a specific environmental product or technology – provides quantitative information on the performance of innovative technologies.

· Investors and customers can have confidence that new technologies meet the claimed performance.

· Technology providers can speed up the market acceptance of innovative products.

· An ETV scheme at EU level can open markets within Europe and globally through international recognition following the principle “verified once, accepted everywhere”.

In projects all over Europe, first experiences with ETV in technology sectors such as water monitoring and treatment, air pollution abatement and contaminated site remediation have been collected. They provide the basis for this event.

The conference addresses politicians, regulators, technology providers, industry representatives and associations with the aims to:

· Introduce ETV as a tool for technology promotion

· Show the results of pilot verifications

· Open a gate for participants to present their views to the European Community and decision makers

During a parliamentarian evening on Monday (15th September) and the sessions on Tuesday (16th September), also non technical experts are addressed, whereas a technology approach is taken during the program on Monday.

The conference summarizes the findings out of the ongoing EU FP 6 ETV projects PROMOTE, TESTNET and AIRTV and the Nordic Innovation Centre project NOWATECH.

Main topics addressed are:

· Verification in technology sectors
· Lessons learned
Participation is free of charge. We are looking forward to welcome you at this conference in Brussels!
Contact:
DECHEMA e.V., Dr. Thomas Track,
Tel: +49 69 7564-427, Fax: +49 69 7564-117, E-Mail: track@dechema.de