A delegation of 40 participants selected by the Tianjin Science and Technology Committee (TSTC) will be the first arriving in Italy after the summer break, on September 1.
The theme chosen for this year's training is "Eco-city Building and Innovation Management", focusing on different aspects specifically requested by the TSTC and which define an eco-city.
Building ecological cities requires meeting very demanding goals and innovation plays a major role in this respect. The lectures and site visits organised during the course present the current situation and future perspectives for the promotion of innovation in Europe and Italy, as well as policies, best practices and tools to develop a self-sufficient and environmentally-friendly city. Each day will focus on a different topic: eco-building, sustainable mobility, integrated waste management, climate change and emission reduction, energy conservation and efficiency, innovation management.
Among the site visits it is worth mentioning the one at the most advanced concentrated solar power installation with thermal energy storage, with the cooperation of Angelantoni Industrie S.p.A.

Further details can be found in the training course agenda at the Sustainable Development Community website.
More info on the TEN Center activities can be found at this link.

Environmentally friendly production processes and management are the focus of the second course of 2013 organized in cooperation with MOST, and taking place between June 29 - July 11.
Innovation of production technologies to make them greener could have a double benefit for enterprises: they reduce the impact on the environment, thus also obtaining a better image to the customer eyes, and at the same time they could also lead to a cut of production costs.
Given this very specific focus it is no surprise that the training course will have a very high number of site visits to companies producing end-use goods (coffee, plastic tubes, mechanical parts for cars, furniture, electrical motors, inverters and steam generators) as well as a power plant.
Lectures will also focus on the tools that companies can use to calculate and then reduce their emissions, waste, energy consumption and the likes, such is the case of the Life Cycle Assessment (LCA).
Given the huge impact that energy production has on the environment, one day will be devoted to introduce all the most advanced technological innovations in this field.

Further details can be found in the training course agenda at the Sustainable Development Community website.
More info on the TEN Center activities can be found at this link.

The first course in 2013 organized in cooperation with the National Development and Reform Commission is scheduled from June 16 to 27.

Thirty-eight participants will attend a 10-days course on "Capacity Building on Climate Change", an issue of constant concern not only for China but also for all countries worldwide. Lectures and visits will explore the policies and actions to mitigate the effects of climate change and adaptation measures applied in Italy and other countries. In this regard the city of Venice will provide for a first and highly interesting case study. A special focus will be given to energy production and use, and also tools such as the European Emission Trading Scheme will be discussed.

To better understand the practice of the EU ETS system the participants will visit the Italcementi cement production plant in Calusco d'Adda, an advanced industrial installation that applies the most recent technologies to reduce its energy consumption and greenhouse gas emissions.

Further details can be found in the training course agenda at the Sustainable Development Community website.

More info on the TEN Center activities can be found at this link.

The advanced training course on Eco-city addressed to a delegation selected by the Beijing and Shanghai Municipal Environmental Protection Bureaus started today in Rome.

After this first introduction day the 41 participants will move to Siena. This city is one of the successful case studies of Italian eco-cities and the participants will have the chance to discuss with experts of Siena University and representatives of the Local Government about their experience on the matter.

In the following days lectures and site visits will deeply analyze the main aspects of the training's subject: waste, wastewater, green and rural areas, eco-building. Beside these topics, during the 10-days course experts will try to answer other important questions: how is it possible to assess a city as an eco-city? Which are the indicators? This will be hopefully a starting point for a double side analysis of Italian and Chinese realities.

The Eco-City course is one the 2013 advanced trainings organized by VIU with the support of the Italian Ministry for Environment, Land and Sea and in collaboration with Agroinnova.

Further details can be found in the training course agenda at the Sustainable Development Community website.

More info on the TEN Center activities can be found at this link.