Pollutec 2018 to celebrate 40 years of environmental innovation
This year, Pollutec celebrates its 40th anniversary. The specialist trade show has come a long way since the very first exhibitions dedicated to pollution and waste-treatment equipment in the 1970s. Today, the trade fair is both an environmental showcase and an industry incubator. As a unique forum for eco-innovation and green technology, Pollutec brings together all the sectors and players involved. And, as an incubator, Pollutec helps to support the emergence of sectors such as on-site sewerage systems, biogas, trenchless solutions and ecological engineering. Pollutec has become a key international event for all stakeholders involved in the environment and the climate – eco-industry, local authorities and professionals in all related sectors, including manufacturing and tertiary activities. The trade show reflects the diversity and richness of its markets and is also an opportunity for participants to discover the trends that will characterize the industry in the future.
More than ever, the 2018 exhibition illustrates Pollutec‘s aim of supporting new opportunities, concrete choices and novel solutions in order to better meet the environmental, economic and social challenges facing companies, cities and regions in the 21st century. The trade show stands out as a provider of solutions for using resources more efficiently, fighting climate change and its regional impacts, improving living conditions and preserving biodiversity. Pollutec 2018 will cover 14 broad themes, facilitating the development of interdisciplinary and integrated solutions such as sustainable cities, sustainable industry – infrastructure, networks and connections – and sustainable markets, which will all be relevant to specific needs and expectations: coastlines and the sea, hospitals, the tertiary/service sector, as well as rural areas.
The 14 sectoral themes will be: Water Resource Management; Network Management; Collection, Cleaning and Cleansing; Waste Treatment; Recycling, Re-use and Materials; Sites and Soils; Instrumentation, Metrology and Analysis; Air, Odour and Noise Management; Risk Prevention and Management; Energy Production and Storage; Energy Efficiency of Products and Processes; Urban Planning and Mobility; Biodiversity and Natural Environments; and finally, Pavilions and Institutions (including support, training and research).
As an international exhibition, Pollutec 2018 will also focus on three broad regions: Africa, South-East Asia and South America. The Africa space was launched in 2016 and has become a meeting point for project holders from 22 countries across the continent. After Ivory Coast in 2014, another French-speaking African country will be honoured this year – Burkina Faso (see box, below). Pollutec will also constitute an essential component of the 2020 Africa-France Summit on the theme of sustainable cities, which was announced by French President Emmanuel Macron in Ouagadougou, the capital of Burkina Faso.
The best of eco-innovation in 90 000 m2
At the heart of environmental innovation, Pollutec 2018 will be doing more than ever to deliver a programme entirely dedicated to eco-innovation and clean tech. A wide range of innovative solutions will be presented at the stands, at conference sessions and through several prizes to be awarded. The Innovation Showcase, organized with France’s PEXE network of eco-businesses, is a special initiative aiming to reward the most promising technological or service solutions in terms of market potential.
At the same time, several Innovation Spots will be set up, providing a space for start-ups from all over the world and for incubators from two African countries – Burkina Faso and Kenya. These spaces will present companies and innovative solutions in a variety of fields, including e-tech (technological solutions serving the environment), mobility, green chemistry and the circular economy.
All these players will have the opportunity to present their solutions to market investors. The presentations will take place in the Pitch Ring, which, this year, will also be the setting for ‘battles’ between economic players and political decision-makers over subjects chosen by exhibition visitors a few weeks before the event.
The circular economy in the spotlight at Pollutec
The circular economy is a set of practices designed to preserve natural resources – air, water, soil and raw materials – and use them more efficiently while avoiding waste. It means rethinking the ways we design, produce and consume in order to optimize resource use and reduce environmental impact, including waste production. Presenting goods and services with a low environmental and energy impact, together with solutions for re-use/recycling and new materials recovered from waste, Pollutec has been contributing to the goal of a circular economy for many years.
For the 2018 exhibition, the organizers are going further still by setting up the very first international summit for cities and regions driving to the circular economy, in conjunction with Grand Lyon (the city of Lyon and its region). The event will include plenary sessions, themed operational workshops and local authority/business speed-dating sessions, in order to encourage the implementation of local projects based on co-operation between public- and private-sector players as well as civil society. A call for expressions of interest has been issued and shared via all the exhibition‘s partner networks – French, European and international – to identify and include projects and experiences relating to the various dimensions of the circular economy. The aim is to take into account the methods and priorities that have been adopted in relation to the circular economy’s implementation in various countries, and integrate the data into the programme of the 2018 exhibition. The summit will take place on 28 November in partnership with the UN Environment agency, Ademe and other French organizations such as the Eco Maires network, the Institut de l‘économie circulaire, Orée, and the Centre international de ressources et d‘innovation pour le développement durable (CIRIDD). Visits to model sites in the Lyon area will be organized on the day before.
Pollutec will also feature several specific events designed to illustrate the transition to circular models of economic development in various industries, from ELVs (End-of-Life Vehicles) and WEEE (Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment, such as old mobile phones) to construction-site waste and end-of-life vessels. Live dismantling sessions will accompany this aspect of the trade show.
Pollutec 2018 will take place in November at Lyon Eurexpo, in the French city of Lyon and will run from 27 to 30 November 2018. A total of 2200 exhibitors and 73 000 industry professionals are expected at the trade fair, with 128 countries represented.
For more information: //www.pollutec.com" target="_blank" >www.pollutec.com:www.pollutec.com
Burkina Faso, featured country at Pollutec 2018
A West African country with no access to the sea, Burkina Faso has an economy that is heavily reliant on agriculture – it is Africa‘s leading exporter of cotton, for example. As a result, adapting to climate change is a particular concern in Burkina Faso, along with the development of renewable energy, including major solar-power projects. The country has experienced high levels of growth over the past two years (+5.90 % in 2016 and +6.40 % in 2017). Its cities are growing fast – including Bobo Dioulasso (+11.00 % a year) and the capital, Ouagadougou (+7.20 % a year) – and are having to deal with challenges in connection with pollution, transport, healthcare, etc. In this context, over 1.70 million people have recently benefited from the Urban Water Sector Project conducted with the assistance of the World Bank.
