Organised by the IOM3 Sustainable Development Group

PRESENTATIONS AVAILABLE BELOW

This event has passed.

Sustainable development, against a background of mitigating and adapting to climate change, remains the primary challenge of the 21st century. Living standards and quality of life must improve for all and for the long term, but with less dependence on the consumption of finite resources, with lower carbon intensity and with greater respect to the planet's ecosystems. 

Materials are  an essential part of every day life. It is hard to imagine how improved living standards could be achieved without  materials innovation and new more effective material applications. Yet there is often little recognition of the positive contribution that materials can make to improve quality of life. More importantly, there is a perception that as the world population grows and higher living standards are achieved, the increasing demand for materials maybe a significant part of the problem and not necessarily part of the solution.

As well as the challenges, huge potential opportunities exist both in business terms and in technology development  which will require the materials industries and the associated professional bodies to re-think their role and to set out new strategies.

The Innovation Towards Sustainable Materials conference sets out to address these challenges and demonstrate that materials have a key role to play in a more sustainable world.

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.

This event is approved for Professional Development by the Institute of Materials, Minerals and Mining.

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