IFAT in Munich, Germany is the world’s leading trade fair for water, waste and raw material management, and where exhibitors from around the world present strategies, solutions, products and innovations for the sustainable use of resources. And it is also the place where a parallel event was going to be carried out- the platform “Innovation in Environment, Energy and Circular Economy”, of the European network Enterprise Europe Network (EEN), which brings together organizations and research companies worldwide to generate commercial contacts and technological cooperation in this matter.

However, the crisis due to the pandemic forced the postponement of the fair this year, and in view of this scenario, EEN decided to call a virtual meeting, with the aim of “offering a good opportunity for companies from all over the world to meet and establish contacts despite of all travel restrictions, “said Anja Gross of the EEN network at Bayern Innovativ.

The virtual meeting had as main themes the circular economy, waste and recycling, renewable energy, water and energy efficiency, and 662 companies and institutions from 43 countries, including Chile, participated in it, holding 1,075 business meetings.

“From Chile, companies of different sectors and different sizes participated; who have been doing this for a long time and already know how to work with foreign companies, and there is a percentage of companies that found opportunities for cooperation,” said Manuela Caruz, director of Networks Eurochile.

Today, Chilean companies, he added, are looking for new opportunities for collaboration on different topics and sectors, “and this conference was focused on a very attractive sector that is at the forefront of Europe, so it is presented as a new sector or subsector within each company ”.

Currently, European countries are aligning under the recent “Green Deal” launched by the European Commission, and in this scenario, Anja Gross announced, “the issue of sustainability could be even more important for our network in the coming years. Looking at our virtual matchmaking, following each meeting will give us an idea of ​​the impact our event might have had in this regard. ” And as for Chile, she added, that same follow-up work “can give some interesting ideas on how to find common ground.”

Companies value meetings

According to Maud Breyne, Business Intelligence engineer at Recupac, the company had plans to go to this year to IFAT in Munich, but due to the postponement of the event they decided to take advantage of this virtual matchmaking event to compensate for their need to interact with actors from the waste management outside Chile.

Along these lines, this time they sought to establish relationships with machine supplier companies and innovation actors in areas related to waste management and recycling.

“We managed to have contact with 19 international actors of great interest to Recupac, and we are currently quoting services and products with ten of them. No project has yet materialized, but we have gained a lot of knowledge about the global waste market,”said Breyne.

Gerardo Canales, director of the company Implementa Sur, explained that an important part of his service to clients is to make recommendations on technological improvements for a transition to a low-carbon economy, which is why this type of event, “that help keep up to date with the latest innovations and technological options in the international market, are very relevant to our work”.

For Implementa Sur, the main result of the virtual matchmaking event was the learning of technological opportunities with the potential to be incorporated into our productive sectors, at the same time as opportunities for technology transfer were opened in the areas of waste and water.

For Canales, today “all sectors of the economy must move to a much more environmentally friendly performance. The way out of this crisis should be focused on strengthening green growth and more emphatically supporting the transition to a low carbon economy. Those companies that understand and advance more rapidly towards this new order, will undoubtedly take better advantage of the opportunities that are presented today, will be able to manage transition risks more accurately and will see their competitiveness increase in a sustained manner, ”he affirmed.