2022 Lorraine

This was the 8th edition of doc-ECE in Lorraine on Entrepreneurship in the Circular Economy


When? 28 November to 2 december, 2022

Where? Saxon-Sinon, Lorraine, France



Europe has launched several major initiatives and an IPCEI to support innovation and rapid development of hydrogen as an energy carrier. Green hydrogen resulting from the conversion of renewable energies is a major component of the green deal strategy.

 

With our partner John COCKERILL, a world leader in green hydrogen generation, we aim at analyzing the potential for a circular deployment of their new range of alkaline water electrolysers. Note that no previous knowledge on hydrogen technologies is required!

 

After a brief introduction to the main principles of circular economy, circular design and the raw materials value chain, students will be invited to work in multidisciplinary teams and analyze different scenarios to optimize a repair-reuse-recycle approach for John Cockerill's electrolysers. The whole week includes several seminars, ideation sessions, testimonies and a final pitch competition.

 

All other activities and accomodations will be hosted by “Le Gîte des Hauts de Sions’ located near Nancy (France).


Alexandre Chagnes, main organizer and host

The objective


The doctoral school brings together highly motivated PhD candidates from a variety  of disciplines to foster entrepreneurial thinking, increase their awareness regarding circular economy opportunities and provide them with skills and tools to translate technological ideas into relevant and viable business initiatives for a more sustainable future.

The concept


The core of the programme is the intense 5-day winter school from November 28 to December 2. The participants will work in multidisciplinary teams to solve a challenge provided by an industrial partner (John Cockrill) and are coached by our experts. The outcome is presented to a jury on the last day in the form of a business pitch.

Lectures, workshops and social activities nourish the programme and are spread over the full week.


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The educational content


  • The concept of the circular economy
  • Circular business models
  • Social aspects of the circular economy
  • Ideation, value creation and business validation
  • Think circular: From product design to recycling
  • Resources and criticality
  • Principles of recycling
  • Life Cycle Assessment
  • Pitching and presentation skills

Learning objectives


  • Develop entrepreneurial skills and mindset
  • Train to work in interdisciplinary teams
  • Broaden your knowledge on the circular economy
  • Learn about the potential of sustainable business opportunities
  • Obtain tools to assess the potential of business ideas
  • Learn how to present a business pitch

The programme


The speakers


Alexandre Chagnes

Alexandre Chagnes

Alexandre CHAGNES is Full Professor at ENSG in France. He has created the National Research Network PROMETHEE on hydrometallurgical processes and is Scientific Director of the Labex RESSOURCES21 and Director of Industrial Partnerships at the Engineering School of Geology in Nancy (ENSG). His field of research is focused on solvent chemistry applied to lithium-ion batteries and liquid-liquid extraction of strategic metals from minings and recycling.

Eric Pirard

Eric Pirard

Eric Pirard is "ingenieur geologue" and professor of georesources at ULiège. Specialised in developing computer-assisted imaging techniques in geology, particle science and geometallurgy, he is heading a group of about 30 researchers.

Karel Van Acker

Karel Van Acker

Karel Van Acker is full professor in Circular Economy at KU Leuven with a joint mandate at the department of Materials Engineering and at the Centre for Economics and Corporate Sustainability. His research is on developing strategies to realize the circular economy (CE) and on sustainability assessments of these CE strategies.

Jutta Hildenbrand

Jutta Hildenbrand

Jutta Hildenbrand is research scientist and project manager at RISE. Her research fields are life cycle assessment and system analysis for product systems including a focus on chemicals assessment.

Jean Paul Gueneau de Mussy

Jean Paul Gueneau de Mussy

Technology Explorer & Co-Founder at Material Mastery. +20 years leading projects across diverse Deep-Tech fields (microelectronics, clean-tech, chemical engineering, metallurgical engineering & materials science) and +10 years doing business with more than 10 countries. Entrepreneurial researcher passionate about finding new ways to use disruptive innovation to catalyzing better ways of doing business for the well-being of people and planet and not only for profit.

Guillaume Delporte

Guillaume Delporte

Guillaume Delporte is head of eco-design and circular economy issues at John Cockerill. He is in charge of measuring, analyzing and improving the environmental footprint of products, processes, projects and services. He has a background in Electrical Engineering, Project Management and Business Develoment.

The venue


  • We invite you to Nancy city centre in France. The doctoral school will take place at the ‘Gîte des Hauts de Sion’ at 30 km from Nancy. A bus will carry you to this location (you will receive detailed information in time).

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