Uit het rapport: "Deze onderzoeksagenda is tot stand gebracht door de lectoren die samenwerken in het Nationaal Lectoren Platform Urban Energy. Alle betrokkenen bij het platform zijn in staat gesteld om bij te dragen aan de tekst, speciale dank daarbij voor de bijdragen en commentaren vanuit de TKI Urban Energy en de HCA topsector Energie."
Land use or land-use changes can trigger or generate hazards and affect the potential consequences of these hazards. Deforestation can trigger land slides, for example, and land reclamation or levee construction can increase flood hazards downstream. New dwellings in or near forests can trigger wildfires, especially if home owners fail to prioritise fire safety measures. In addition, if land is used for industrial activities, new technological hazards, such as the risks resulting from the storage or production of hazardous materials, can be introduced into the environment. Moreover, land-use changes can increase damage potential. Residential developments in hazard-prone areas, such as areas prone to flooding or earthquakes, can negatively affect the number of properties and people exposed to hazards. Consequently, spatial planning activities that are concerned with influencing land use by locating physical structures and activities such as agriculture, recreation or industry within a territory (Couclelis, 2005; Tewdwr-Jones, 2001) can result in new or increased safety risks in a particular area.
MULTIFILE
The textile and clothing sector belongs to the world’s biggest economic activities. Producing textiles is highly energy-, water- and chemical-intensive and consequently the textile industry has a strong impact on environment and is regarded as the second greatest polluter of clean water. The European textile industry has taken significant steps taken in developing sustainable manufacturing processes and materials for example in water treatment and the development of biobased and recycled fibres. However, the large amount of harmful and toxic chemicals necessary, especially the synthetic colourants, i.e. the pigments and dyes used to colour the textile fibres and fabrics remains a serious concern. The limited range of alternative natural colourants that is available often fail the desired intensity and light stability and also are not provided at the affordable cost . The industrial partners and the branch organisations Modint and Contactgroep Textiel are actively searching for sustainable alternatives and have approached Avans to assist in the development of the colourants which led to the project Beauti-Fully Biobased Fibres project proposal. The objective of the Beauti-Fully Biobased Fibres project is to develop sustainable, renewable colourants with improved light fastness and colour intensity for colouration of (biobased) man-made textile fibres Avans University of Applied Science, Zuyd University of Applied Sciences, Wageningen University & Research, Maastricht University and representatives from the textile industry will actively collaborate in the project. Specific approaches have been identified which build on knowledge developed by the knowledge partners in earlier projects. These will now be used for designing sustainable, renewable colourants with the improved quality aspects of light fastness and intensity as required in the textile industry. The selected approaches include refining natural extracts, encapsulation and novel chemical modification of nano-particle surfaces with chromophores.
On a yearly basis 120 million kg of spent coffee ground (SCG) is disposed as waste. Two partners in the project have the intension to refine the valuable compounds from this coffee residue. One of these compounds is the group of melanoidins. It is proven that these natural polymers, with polyphenols incorporated, can be applied as colourant to textiles. These colourant compounds can be extracted from the SCG. In this project an industrial feasible dye recipe for SCG extract to cotton will be developed. This twostep dye method consists of a mordanting step and a colour uptake step. Both will be optimised to colour intensity and light and wash fastness. Parameters as cycle time and energy and water consumption, will be take into account to make the dye recipe applicable for industrial standards. Chemical analysis of mordant compounds (tannins) and colourants (polyphenols) will be carried out to quantify and qualify the uptake by cotton. With the results of this project, the partners will be able to support their customers of the SCG extract with a scientific based advise about the application as a textile dye to ensure a solid market acceptance of SCG extract. With the SCG extract as a professional biobased colorant in the market, companies in textile industry will have a wider choice in using environmental friendly products. At the end, this will lead to complete biodegradable products for consumers.
Cross-Re-Tour supports European tourism SME while implementing digital and circular economy innovations. The three year project promotes uptake and replication by tourism SMEs of tools and solutions developed in other sectors, to mainstream green and circular tourism business operations.At the start of the project existing knowledge-gaps of tourism SMEs will be researched through online dialogues. This will be followed by a market scan, an overview of existing state of the art solutions to digital and green constraints in other economic sectors, which may be applied to tourism SME business operations: water, energy, food, plastic, transport and furniture /equipment. The scan identifies best practices from other sectors related to nudging of clients towards sustainable behaviour and nudging of staff on how to best engage with new tourism market segments.The next stage of the project relates to two design processes: an online diagnostic tool that allows for measuring and assessing (160) SME’s potential to adapt existing solutions in digital and green challenges, developed in other economic sectors. Next to this, a knowledge hub, addresses knowledge constraints and proposes solutions, business advisory services, training activities to SMEs participating. The hub acts as a matchmaker, bringing together 160 tourism SMEs searching for solutions, with suppliers of existing solutions developed in other sectors. The next key activity is a cross-domain open innovation programme, that will provide 80 tourism SMEs with financial support (up to EUR 30K). Examples of partnerships could be: a hotel and a supplier of refurbished matrasses for hospitals; a restaurant and a supplier of food rejected by supermarkets, a dance event organiser and a supplier of refurbished water bottles operating in the cruise industry, etc.The 80 cross-domain partnerships will be supported through the knowledge hub and their business innovation advisors. The goal is to develop a variety of innovative partnerships to assure that examples in all operational levels of tourism SMEs.The innovation projects shall be presented during a show-and-share event, combined with an investors’ pitch. The diagnostic tool, market scan, knowledge hub, as well as the show and share offer excellent opportunities to communicate results and possible impact of open innovation processes to a wider international audience of destination stakeholders and non-tourism partners. Societal issueSupporting the implementation of digital and circular economy solutions in tourism SMEs is key for its transition towards sustainable low-impact industry and society. Benefit for societySolutions are already developed in other sectors but the cross-over towards tourism is not happening. The project bridges this gap.
