GIN2012 roused fervent interest

With five women keynote speakers and six unique “Jam Sessions” at six different host businesses in the region, GIN2012 made an impression in conference history.

“I’ve been to many conferences, maybe too many, but this one was really good and totally unique,” said Professor Don Huisingh of the University of Tennessee and Editor-in-Chief of the high-ranking Journal of Cleaner Production in praise of the event.

“This is just the beginning, an appetizer for what could happen when municipalities, enterprises, and academia collaborate in a triple helix. And your history in the development of biogas is exceedingly interesting,” he continued.

The Organising Committee of the Greening of Industry Network (GIN) also used laudatory words:
“The next GIN conference will be held in Australia and we’ll strongly recommend they arrange Jam Sessions,” said Diego Vazquez-Brust who is Editor-in-Chief of the Greening of Industrial Network (GIN).

During the second day of this eighth GIN conference, six “Sustainability Jam Sessions” were organised in the region for the first time at:

• Tekniska Verken 
• Toyota Material Handling 
• Saab
• Holmen in Braviken 
• Vreta Kluster 
• E.ON 
• Händelöklustret

Some twenty-five researchers and interns attended each Jam Session participating in lively and fertile discussions.

“Environmental awareness must be part of all long-term development work; we identified new issues to work with via our Jam Session. We’ll also open up our forward-looking projects to both researchers and students in the future,” said a very satisfied Anders Claesson, CEO of BT Products at Toyota Material Handling in Mjölby.

Magnus Börjesson, CEO of Vreta Kluster, spoke to the four innovative small businesses that had their business ideas reviewed during the afternoon.
“There was great interest in the results; we’ll keep in contact with several of the researchers who participated. Vreta Kluster has broadened its network and shown the high level we’d like to have discussions at.”

At Tekniska Verken, Stefan Jakobsson was on the same line:
“The conference, like our collaboration with Professor Leo Baas, has broadened our contact network and opened the world up to us. We also hope that the researchers took something home with them, that they see what is possible when the needs of companies are linked with the skills in academia,” he said.

A few people with every reason to be satisfied are the arrangers at the Division for Environmental Technology and Management, with Professors Baas and Olof Hjelm spearheading.
“We wanted to find a model where a conference is able to influence a region, and where the region can influence the world of research,” said Hjelm in his closing address.

This is something that’s been very successful so far. New meetings have now been booked to pass on the results in the region and to continue the close collaboration between business and academia.

“During several Jam Sessions it became clear how vast the rift actually is between big businesses and the many small innovative businesses in the region. We must continue to build close networks and use GIN2012 as a springboard for a new form of collaboration,” said Gert Kindgren, CEO of Cleantech Östergötland, by way of conclusion.

Leading off GIN2012 with female keynote speakers turned out to be another point in its favour:

• County Governor, Elisabeth Nilsson
• LiU Vice-Chancellor, Helen Dannetun
• Minister of Trade and Industry, Eva Björling
• GIN organisational spokesperson, Maria-Laura Franco Garcia
• CEO of Qlean Scandinavia, Petra Hammarstedt

---

Related Internal Links

• Jam Sessions at Vreta Kluster and Braviken
• Division for Environmental Technology and Management at LiU
• Leo Baas 

Related External Links

• Donald Huisingh
• Journal of Cleaner Production 
• Cleantech Östergötland

Monica Westman Svenselius 2012-10-31

---

Creative meeting at Vreta Kluster

A farmer from Östergötland and a professor from Mexico took part in a lively conversation. At a guess, they’re discussing issues concerning biogas. The place is Vreta Kluster, in the middle of the Östergötland agricultural landscape. It’s time for the Jam Session at GIN2012.

Invest in open innovation at Braviken

Invest in open innovation and your own incubator. That was the advice Holmen, the forestry company, received when GIN2012 participants participated in a Sustainability Jam Session at the Braviken forestry combine.

Metals worth billions at local tip

The mines of the future may be closer than we think. A degree project from Linköping University demonstrates that landfill at the Gärstad waste facility in Linköping contains metals worth SEK 3 billion.

Preparations are underway for GIN2012

Leo Baas, Professor in Industrial Ecology at Linköping University outlines preparations for the 18th Greening of Industry Network Conference at Linköping University.

New Key Note Speaker

We are very proud to announce that Petra Hammarstedt, CEO of Qlean Scandinavia AB, will be a keynote speaker of GIN2012.