Digital conference smartLab connects on the topic of sustainability

Sus­tain­abil­i­ty is on every­one’s lips — there is no polit­i­cal agen­da or cor­po­rate page where it is not addressed. In our pri­vate lives, we pay atten­tion to it and try to reduce our eco­log­i­cal foot­print. In research and lab­o­ra­to­ries, too, the top­ic is increas­ing­ly com­ing to the fore. Sus­tain­abil­i­ty is there­fore one of the three key top­ics of the smart­Lab con­nects dig­i­tal con­fer­ence, which will be held from Sep­tem­ber 7 to 8, 2021.

How can research be con­duct­ed sus­tain­ably in view of the large quan­ti­ties of dis­pos­able plas­tic items, the high water and ener­gy con­sump­tion or the use of sub­stances that are haz­ardous to the envi­ron­ment and health? Is it pos­si­ble to work sus­tain­ably in the lab­o­ra­to­ry? These and oth­er ques­tions will be con­sid­ered dur­ing the dig­i­tal con­fer­ence at Sus­tain­abil­i­ty Day on Sep­tem­ber 7. Reg­is­tra­tions are now open online.

“Sus­tain­abil­i­ty has final­ly arrived in the life sci­ences. The Sus­tain­abil­i­ty Day is intend­ed to bring this impor­tant top­ic into focus in a com­pact way: for researchers in their dai­ly lab­o­ra­to­ry work who, for exam­ple, are con­cerned about the high con­sump­tion of plas­tics and resources and are look­ing for solu­tions, but just as much for com­pa­nies from the life sci­ences sec­tor as well as lab­o­ra­to­ry con­struc­tion and oper­a­tion, which can con­tribute their very own approach­es to solu­tions through inno­va­tions. Because: in the end, the imple­men­ta­tion of sus­tain­abil­i­ty only suc­ceeds together.”

- Dr. Ker­stin Her­muth-Klein­schmidt, NIUB Sus­tain­abil­i­ty Con­sul­tanc y 

Con­fer­ence par­tic­i­pants at the Sus­tain­abil­i­ty Day can look for­ward to excit­ing con­tri­bu­tions on top­ics such as “Plas­tics in the Lab.” Speak­ers will pro­vide sug­ges­tions and pro­posed solu­tions that can reduce the use of plas­tic in every­day lab­o­ra­to­ry work.

“The most sus­tain­able plas­tic is the plas­tic you do not use” — Tim Dil­lon, Euro­pean Prod­uct Man­ag­er (Rain­in), Met­tler Toledo.
“Plas­tic con­sum­ables — trapped between vision and real­i­ty: Plas­tic lab­o­ra­to­ry con­sum­ables have been essen­tial for mod­ern research — Can we remove plas­tic from today’s lab work again?” — Dr. Jan Beber­meier, Glob­al Mar­ket­ing Man­ag­er Sam­ple Man­age­ment, Eppen­dorf AG
“How Lab­con Took ACTion to dras­ti­cal­ly reduce green­house gas emis­sions from plas­tic parts” — Scott Weitze, Lab­con Lead Scientist.

Atten­dees will learn about spe­cif­ic things lab staff can do, what it takes to run a sus­tain­able lab, and how incen­tives and pro­grams can help imple­ment sus­tain­abil­i­ty in the lab.

“Cre­at­ing a sus­tain­able life sci­ences cul­ture and mind­set” — Dr. Ker­stin Her­muth-Klein­schmidt, NIUB Sus­tain­abil­i­ty Consulting.
“Thick air in the lab? Now, sus­tain­ably reduce recir­cu­la­tion costs!” — Peter Rebehn, Man­ag­ing Direc­tor S.C.A.T. Europe GmbH
“Path­ways to Sus­tain­abil­i­ty” — Dr. Peter Neurieder, Man­ag­ing Direc­tor, EGNATON e.V.
“Take CaRe in your lab and insti­tute”, Dr, Jan Hei­del­berg­er, Mem­ber of the MPSN Steer­ing Com­mit­tee, Max Planck Sus­tain­abil­i­ty Network
“Pow­er guz­zler Inter­net — The under­es­ti­mat­ed CO2 source” — Dr. Torsten Bey­er, Inter­net consultancy
“Many roads lead to the “hor­mone” — Deter­mi­na­tion of EE2 accord­ing to require­ments of the EU-WFD under con­sid­er­a­tion of sus­tain­abil­i­ty aspects” — Dr. Fabi­an Itzel, Team Leader Screen­ing Pro­ce­dure (LC&GC), Insti­tute for Ener­gy and Envi­ron­men­tal Tech­nol­o­gy e.V.