Innovation Towards Sustainable Materials

10 - 11 November 2010
Royal Society, London, UK

Aimed at both the academic and the business community the conference will address the need for action across the materials supply chain; from mining and manufacturing, through to materials applications and product design. 

This will raise awareness of the issues facing the materials sector but will also demonstrate that major improvements are already underway, for example in the energy, construction, and transport sectors. There will be recognition that life cycle thinking and sustainability practices need to be embedded in educational programmes and professional practices and the conference will in itself raise awareness of the need for more positive communications to help improve perceptions on the role of materials. 

The pathways toward sustainable development, both from a political and technology perspective, will be explored. Along with tackling the single issue of climate change, there is an increasing need to embrace new business models where decisions can be made around triple bottom line thinking, taking account of added social value, sustainable economics and sound environmental practices. 

Customers for materials will explain how they are being driven by the sustainability agenda, partly by regulations but also as they too recognise the importance of making improvements in the face of their own pressures from downstream markets and consumers. As well as case studies and examples there will be presentations on the emerging methodologies, support tools and new standards to assist with assessing the potential value of new developments.

For more information please visit:
http://www.iom3.org/events/sustainability