The CO₂ & Nitrogen Portfolio gathers in Helsinki for the 1st Annual Meeting
The Portfolio celebrated the first Annual Meeting on June 17-18 at the premises of Solar Foods in Helsinki, Finland. ICONIC representatives met with the other project counterparts to review progress, strategize future directions, and foster collaboration on finding solutions for CO₂ and nitrogen management.
Key highlights and discussions
The event opened with a welcome lunch, allowing attendees to network and discuss preliminary ideas, and a factory tour of Solar Foods, offering participants a firsthand look at innovative CO₂ and nitrogen management practices. The official opening was delivered by Anne-Marie Sassen, Head of Unit EISMEA-1, EIC Programme Managers’ Office, who joined online to set the tone for the meeting.
Marco Pantaleo, EIC Programme Manager for Energy Systems and Green Technologies, and Francesco Matteucci, EIC Programme Manager for Advanced Materials for Energy and Environmental Sustainability presented a comprehensive overview of the portfolio’s first year. Their session outlined the strategic plans for the upcoming year, identifying the challenges and opportunities that the Portfolio will have to overcome.
ICONIC’s Innovation Manager Guillermo Gerling provided insights into the policy recommendations that the portfolio will make to the Mission Soil. A detailed session on communication activities covered various aspects of portfolio communication, including the communication guidelines and graphics, presenting the Portfolio website and webinars and discussing the future newsletter and press releases.
Further presentations included an overview of the novelties in the Business Accelerator Services by Olivier Dahon, Project officer in EISMEA, who stressed the potential support that the agency can provide to boost future innovations beyond funding, and a presentation of the Portfolio commonalities, by Christian Brackman from MINICOR.
The day concluded with a workshop presentation on regulation and policy by Rachel Armstrong from Mi-Hy, followed by an informal dinner.
Future Strategy and directions
The second day began with a welcome coffee, setting a collaborative atmosphere for dedicated discussions on the portfolio’s performance. Then, Stefano Giancola from Superval presented, together with Marco Pantaleo and Arttu Luukanen, an assessment of competitiveness and a techno-economic and environmental analysis, opening a discussion about the current progress and identifying areas for improvement.
Marco Pantaleo and Francesco Matteucci facilitated two sessions to evaluate the portfolio’s current progress and identify improvement areas, engaging participants in a hands-on discussion and gathering feedback from all the projects on how to improve the policies, the technical and scientific areas and the exploitation activities.
Key sessions included market application strategies by Nicolas Plumeré from ECOMO, and a view of potential product use by Xavier Muñoz from CONFETI, and insights on turning innovations into business opportunities by Ioannis Ieropoulos from Mi-Hy. The report about the Junior Scientist Meetings was presented by Senni Lehtonen from Hydrocow, showcasing the contributions of emerging researchers in the field.
The afternoon featured a factory tour of Solar Foods, offering participants a firsthand look at the cutting-edge facilities and innovative practices of the company. Specialized sessions included presentations on direct air capture, valorizing side streams from biogas production, regenerative buildings and soil-root interactions in legume grasslands.
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For more information, please visit EIC CO2 and N Portfolio