INCITE is created to scan systematically the horizon, gathering worldwide information on innovative industrial environmental techniques which if they are deemed ready for use at an industrial scale, provide significant environmental benefits and are cost effective could be incorporated in the Sevilla Process for the development of environmental norms.
Of particular importance for INCITE are the following areas in which significant environment benefits may be expected from the implementation of innovative industrial techniques:
- Decarbonisation
- Depollution
- Energy, water & material efficiency
- Circular economy
Relevant techniques for INCITE shall be at a level of technological maturity that has been demonstrated in a relevant environment (industrially relevant environment in the case of key enabling technologies) or system prototype demonstration in an operational environment (i.e. at least Technology Readiness Level (TRL) 6-7). Techniques linked to first-of-a-kind (FOAK) and/or demonstration installations, or very close to being implemented at full scale, are particularly relevant for INCITE. The technology must be at least at the level of pilot production and demonstration, and must have progressed beyond initial testing. Measured, calculated or estimated data related to performance shall exist (i.e. both engineering and environmental performance metrics such as design parameters, measured consumption of energy or water, emissions to air, water or soil, etc.) and financial valuations and real-world prototype validations shall be available.
The environmental performance of a technique is analysed by comparing this technique with a relevant alternative or baseline, which should be a technique that is implemented in agro-industrial installations, commercially available and recognised as providing the highest possible level of environmental protection (e.g. typically this will be a Best Available Technique). In general terms, the aim of the environmental performance analysis is to determine whether the technique either provides a higher level of environmental protection or an equal level of environmental protection at lower costs than the relevant alternative currently applied. In addition, potential cross-media effects of the technique will be looked at, including the identification of potential trade-offs or unintended consequences associated with the deployment of the technique.
If any information submitted to the INCITE database is considered confidential business information and/or sensitive information under competition law by the data submitter, this should be clearly stated when submitting the information. Confidential business information and sensitive information under competition law will be kept confidential and will not become publicly available in the INCITE database/web platform.
Please submit as much information as possible in the information platform questionnaire to enable a thorough analysis of the environmental performance of the innovative technique. Incomplete submission will not be validated and will not appear on the INCITE online platform. The INCITE team may contact you to clarify various technical aspects of the submission before final validation.
The INCITE questionnaire has been developed to enable a holistic analysis of the innovative techniques submitted. Essentially, this means that several environmental impacts (e.g. increase of reduction of emissions to air or water, reduction of greenhouse gas emissions, increase of energy or water efficiency), economic aspects (e.g. CAPEX, OPEX) and cross media effects will be considered at the same time in order to analyse the overall costs and environmental performance of techniques using an integrated approach.
Accordingly, the INCITE questionnaire has been divided into the following sections requesting information on:
- Innovative technique Basic Information
- Associated project (if relevant)
- Installation (e.g. company developing the innovative technique)
- Production data
- Environmental performance
- Cross-media effects
- Economics
You can find an offline version of the questionnaire here.
The INCITE team is committed to carefully analysing the innovative techniques voluntarily submitted by stakeholders. Our thorough analysis process ensures that each technique is reviewed for its potential to drive decarbonisation, depollution, resource efficiency, and a circular economy in large agro-industrial plants covered under the IED. Once a technique is submitted, the INCITE team will review it through the following workflow:
Step 1: Initial Screening
Upon receipt of a submission, our team conducts an initial screening to verify that the technique: falls within the scope of INCITE, offers one or more environmental benefits, provides sufficient information for a comprehensive assessment and is near-industrial scale (level of development). If needed, the INCITE team will contact the data submitter to ask for additional information.
Step 2: Eligibility and Publication
If a technique passes the initial screening, it will be published on the INCITE platform as being under review. This is followed by a more in-depth analysis of the information submitted, aiming to determine its environmental benefits, potential trade-offs/cross-media effects and cost effectiveness of the innovative technique, by comparing it in particular with a relevant alternative technique (in many cases, a Best Available Technique). During this step, INCITE may work with external experts. In some cases, our team will also request additional information from the technique submitter to clarify or supplement the provided data. This ensures that the in-depth analysis is as accurate and comprehensive as possible. At the end of this process, techniques, which have successfully undergone a full analysis will be clearly identified in the platform as such and published.