Improvements of the overall sustainability of process industries from an economic, environmental and social point of view require the adoption of a new industrial symbiosis paradigm - the human-mimetic symbiosis - where critical resources (materials, energy, waste and by-products) are coordinated among multiple autonomous Production Units organized in industrial clusters. SYMBIOPTIMA will improve European process industry efficiency levels by: (a) developing a cross-sectorial energy & resource management platform for intra- and inter-cluster streams, characterized by a holistic model for the definition, life-cycle assessment and business management of a human-mimetic symbiotic cluster. The platform multi-layer architecture integrates process optimization and demand response strategies for the synergetic optimization of energy and resources within the sectors and across value chains. (b) Developing extensive, multi-disciplinary, modular and “plug&play” monitoring and elaboration of all relevant information flows of the symbiotic cluster. (c) Integrating all thermal energy sources, flows and sinks of the cluster into a systemic unified vision, as nodes of smart thermal energy grid. (d) Taking into account disruptive increase of cross-sectorial re-use for particularly impacting waste streams, proposing advanced WASTE2RESOURCE initiatives for PET. The development of such a holistic framework will pave the way for future cross-sectorial interactions and potentialities. Furthermore, the adoption of available LCSA and interoperability standards will grant easy upgradability of legacy devices and a large adoption by device producers. Modularity, extendibility and upgradability of all developed tools will improve scalability and make the SYMBIOPTIMA approach suitable both at small and large scale. Rapid transfer from lab-scale to testing at demonstration sites will be eased by the presence of industrial partners and end-users, as Bilfinger, Siemens, SXS, and Neo Group.

Achieving the European environmental objectives for 2020 requires not only technological progress, but also a major change in energy consumption behaviour. The enCOMPASS project will implement and validate an integrated socio-technical approach to behavioural change for energy saving, by developing innovative user-friendly digital tools to make energy consumption data available and understandable for different stakeholders (residents, visitors, public actors, building managers, utilities and ICT-providers) in ways that empower them to achieve energy savings and manage their needs in energy efficient, cost-effective and comfortable ways. It will demonstrate how this can be achieved with a holistic approach that integrates visualisation of energy data collected from smart sensors, user-generated information and context-aware collaborative recommendations for energy saving, intelligent control and adaptive gamified incentives. The enCOMPASS system will be realized as an open platform combining 1) context-dependent energy usage information from in-home sensors (smart meters and smart home appliances for heat and electricity), 2) user-generated information (automatic and manual activity tracking), 3) adaptive gamified energy visualisation and 4) intelligent controls and automation. The platform is developed to achieve sustainable changes in user energy consumption patterns without compromising comfort levels. The enCOMPASS system will integrate existing technology, product and service offerings of the utility and technology partners, customize and extend them to offer improved and new types of their offerings. The enCOMPASS platform is the heart of a new business ecosystem that enables players in the energy domain to develop their own white-label solutions on top of the platform, or to integrate and use individual services or platform modules. This set-up results in societal, environmental and economic impact of enCOMPASS above and beyond the reach of the pilots.