Thomas Messervey – R2M Solution

Opening & Moderator: “Welcome to Sustainable Places 2021“

Event opening with brief history of Sustainable Places and overview of the SP2021 program and highlights. Tom is the CEO of R2M Solution and Co-Organizer of Sustainable Places.

Sylvain Robert – European Commission (CINEA, Unit C2)

Keynote: “Horizon Europe: Opportunities for R&I in Sustainable Buildings“

Sylvain Robert is project officer in CINEA, the European Climate, Environment and Infrastructure Executive Agency. He manages research and innovation projects funded by EU programmes in the field of energy efficiency and sustainable buildings. Sylvain is an engineer by training, with a research and project management experience in ICT, smart energy, smart buildings and energy efficiency. He also spent 4 years in the European Commission as policy officer, working on sectoral EU policies for buildings, smart technologies and energy efficiency. In this talk, he shared information on R&I opportunities in sustainable buildings with a focus on Cluster 5, Destination 4 and the Built4People partnership.

Pierluca Merola – European Commission (DG ENER, Unit B2)

Keynote: “Buildings in the Fit for 55 Package and the European Green Deal: EU Energy policy update“

Pierluca Merola is a Policy Officer in the Energy Efficiency Unit of the Directorate-General for Energy of the European Commission. As part of the Energy Efficiency Financing Team, Pierluca is in charge of ensuring the coordination between the regulatory and policy developments and the implementation of different EU founding programmes in the area of energy efficiency and building renovation. Before joining the European Commission, Pierluca graduated in European Political and Governance Studies and worked in Brussels in public affairs and stakeholder organizations. In this talk, he outlined the policy context for the Fit for 55 package which sets to put the EU on track for a 55% reduction in carbon emissions by 2030 and net zero emissions by 2050.

Alain Zarli – Secretary General European Construction Technology Platform and Managing Partner R2M France.

Keynote: “ECTP as an activator of Construction and Built environment European research and innovation”

The ECTP serves as a liaison between the European Commission, industry and research performing bodies. In this talk, Alain gave update on key activities of the ECTP to include its upcoming conference, the Built4People Partnership, and the EU Smart Building Innovation Platform (SmartBuilt4EU). 

Germain Adell – Deputy Director, Nobatek/INEF4

Keynote: “Innovation support to building sector SMEs via metaclustering”

SMEs have high potential but low capacity to bring new products and services to the market. This talk gave an overview of how Open Innovation, Innovation Partnering, Cascade Funding, Metaclustering and national construction technology platforms are playing a role in the Metabuilding and Metabuilding Labs European projects.

Eduardo Loscos – R&D Manager at IDP Engineering and President at BDTA

Keynote: “Driving innovation in Digital Twins – the Building Digital Twin Association”

Launched out of the Horizon 2020 project SPHERE, the Building Digital Twin Association is open to membership from all organizations seeking to advance toward full implementation of Digital Twins across real estate and infrastructure assets. The BDTA also holds an annual conference. This talk gave a brief overview of the vision, mission, activities and opportunities for engagement.