"The Covid-19 pandemic has confronted economies across the world with the consequences of a globalised world with complex and integrated value-chains over several continents. It exposed the fragility of our model based on open free trade and cost efficiency. It showed how much our industries are dependent on foreign supplies, not only raw materials but also intermediate products, to manufacture their goods. Since then, there has been a strong emphasis in reinforcing the resilience of our economies by developing Europe’s open strategic autonomy. A combination of diversification of sources, development of strategic capacities, reshoring or nearshoring is advocated by European policymakers to make Europe more resilient. How does this compare with businesses’ behaviour on the markets? Do we see in practice a change of strategy and in the way companies do business? Recent surveys amongst international businesses tend to indicate that international leaders do not envisage to change significantly the organisation of their supply chains nor to reshore some of their activities to Europe. This panel will discuss how businesses see their supply chains in the near future and in the medium term and the reasons behind their strategies."

"Industry is going through an unprecedented transformation on a global scale and we are witnessing increased disparities between sectors and regions. The rapid shift towards a climate neutral Europe and digital transformation is changing the way we work, learn, take part in society and lead our everyday lives. Europe can only grasp these opportunities if its people develop the right skills. The COVID-19 pandemic has also had a profound impact on millions of people in the EU have lost their job or experienced significant income loss. Many will need to acquire new skills and move to new jobs in a different sector of economy. More will need to upskill to keep their job in a new work environment. For young people, entry in the labour market could be very challenging. To answer these challenges the Commission highlighted the importance of skills in the EU Industrial Strategy and adopted in July 2020 European Skills Agenda. A key for recovery is to increase public and private investment in upskilling the workforce to maximise job retention and new job opportunities. The Skills Agenda sets that by 2025, 120 million people should participate in training every year. The session will discuss how to address this challenge and mobilise efficiently the Recovery and Resilience Plans and the next Multi-Financial Framework (2021-2027)."

Industrial alliances help achieving key EU policy objectives related to green and digital transition in a given ecosystem or value chain. They bring together a wide range of partners including public and private actors and civil society. Alliances have already delivered benefit in the area of batteries and circular plastics. Building on this success, the Commission launched in 2020 the European Clean Hydrogen Alliance and the European Raw Materials Alliance. How they help to achieve EU policy objectives and at the same time create opportunities for participating companies? Tune in to this session to learn the answers.

"In January 2021, the European Commission approved a second Important Projects of Common European Interest (IPCEI) in the battery value chain. This highlights once again the importance of pan-European cooperation and public financing to tackle the massive innovation challenges that come with the green and digital transition. This session will explain IPCEIs as a State aid instrument. It will show that IPCEIs make it possible to bring together knowledge, expertise, financial resources and economic actors throughout the Union to overcome important market or systemic failures and societal challenges."

Public procurement can be a powerful tool in the transition to a sustainable and just circular economy. The aim of this workshop is to walk policymakers and decision-makers through the circular procurement process. Our goal is to share/highlight the daily concerns and huge change in mindset for those involved in procuring. We want this workshop to help policy makers tackle the bottlenecks in legislation and we hope to give a unique insight for businesses and decision-makers on how they should transform their range of products & services to enter the circular economy. Organised by European Economic and Social Committee

For Europe‘s industry to reach climate neutrality, we need to tackle several main challenges.  This session aims to identify these barriers and give a way forward for the industry to successfully lead this transition. One of these challenges is to diminish the innovation gaps from Research and Development investments to the deployment of new technologies in Industrial eco-systems. 
Leveraging and exploiting the synergies between manufacturing companies and sectors in order to optimise resource and energy management on a regional level and beyond will be one of the most important drivers for decarbonisation. Increased cost efficiency and resource productivity as well as technological and process-related innovation resulting from industrial sector coupling are also particularly critical in the context of the current economic crisis. Stimulating a circular and materials efficient economy is also one of the main challenges.

Organiser: EBOWWN The main focus of the session will be to showcase the role of European business in delivering projects towards the green transition in global markets. The EBO Worldwide Network is an association which includes European Chambers of Commerce and Business Councils in over forty countries in all continents (except Antarctica). A panel of European Chambers from a country from each continent (Africa, Americas, Asia, Europe, and Oceania) will present the main context for green transition policies and programmes in their market, and how European companies are delivering project to achieve these ambitions.

Organiser: Fertilizers Europe The session is expected to showcase innovative, breakthrough projects with industrial symbiosis at their core, illustrating value added for actors across the value chain as well as flagging the challenges faced by front runners and their needs to scale up. Representatives from the fertilizer and energy industries, end-customers, as well as EU and national policymakers will come together to discuss how to build a business case for a net zero world.

"Industry is going through an unprecedented transformation on a global scale and we are witnessing increased disparities between sectors and regions. The rapid shift towards a climate neutral Europe and digital transformation is changing the way we work, learn, take part in society and lead our everyday lives. Europe can only grasp these opportunities if its people develop the right skills. The COVID-19 pandemic has also had a profound impact on millions of people in the EU have lost their job or experienced significant income loss. Many will need to acquire new skills and move to new jobs in a different sector of economy. More will need to upskill to keep their job in a new work environment. For young people, entry in the labour market could be very challenging. To answer these challenges the Commission highlighted the importance of skills in the EU Industrial Strategy and adopted in July 2020 European Skills Agenda. A key for recovery is to increase public and private investment in upskilling the workforce to maximise job retention and new job opportunities. The Skills Agenda sets that by 2025, 120 million people should participate in training every year. The session will discuss how to address this challenge and mobilise efficiently the Recovery and Resilience Plans and the next Multi-Financial Framework (2021-2027)."