Presentations of SusProNet's first international conference:
>> First International Conference 'State of the Art', 5 and 6 June 2003

Proceedings and presentations of SusProNet's second international conference:
>> Second International Conference 'Practical Value', 3 and 4 June 2004


The objective of this conference was to provide the audience with an overview of where we stand on sustainable product-service innovations and how the results from recent European projects have contributed to this. The proceedings and the cases that were presented (PSS success stories) can be downloaded here:

Conference background
With products becoming more and more a commodity, how do I enhance my profit margin? Many manufacturing companies face this question these days. One of the answers is 'going downstream': bundling the product offer with services to an 'integrated solution'. This creates higher client loyalty, new unique selling points, hence higher margins, and enables a higher speed of innovation. Hence, in its FP5 the EU invested heavily in research and demonstration projects supporting this shift from 'products' to 'product-services'.
Product-services have another advantage. Simply said, they create immaterial value. This allows for an economic growth that is de-coupled from material use. A shift from products to product-services hence also can be a vehicle towards eco-efficient, sustainable growth.
The shift to product-services hence fits well in the EU's Lisbon strategy, i.e. to make the EU the world's most dynamic and competitive economy. Furthermore, eco-efficiency is the 'leitmotiv' of the Sustainability agenda of the Dutch EU Chairmanship.

Conference objective and programme
With a wealth of FP5 product-service project results now available, the time was right to organize a one-stop-shop dissemination event. The first session hosted high-level speakers of the EU and Dutch authorities, who placed product-services in the context of innovation and eco-efficiency. Then the event shifted to a showcase of successful PSS examples, which inspired visitors to find new ways to create added value in their own business. Via parallel workshops, presentations, and stands on a 'product service market', visitors sampled from business ideas and PSS development approaches produced in the different projects. In total the projects presented represented an effort of dozens of million Euro. Among the projects presented were:
- HiCS (Highly Customerized Solutions), with new business examples in the Food area;
- HomeServices, focusing on service development for final consumers;
- Brainfridge, showing an intelligent logistical concept for a retail cooling chain;
- SusProNet, with PSS examples in the fields of Chemicals and Building, ICT, Offices, Food, and Housing
- MEPSS, that developed a business manual that supports PSS development.

Contacts
The conference was organized by SusProNet en MePSS partners TNO, and PricewaterhouseCoopers: The conference proceedings and cases are available upon request. Mail for a request to Arnold.Tukker@tno.nl

Postcript: the projects behind the conference:
In 2003, seven research institutes (TNO-STB, VITO, INETI, econcept, CfSD, TNO Industry/Kathalys, and O2 Global Network) and some 25 companies (a.o. Philips, Nokia, Samas, Secil, etc.) started a Thematic Network on Product Service Systems, called SusProNet (www.suspronet.org). SusProNet is funded by the European Commision (EC) to explore and help define the 'state of the art' in PSS. SusProNet serves also as the central node in a cluster with six other major EU-funded projects on PSS. One of its tasks was to organize two major conferences in 2003 and 2004 to increase networking and knowledge in this area, which both were very successful.

The Methodology for PSS (MePSS) consortium (PricewaterhouseCoopers, CIRIS/SDI Politecnico Milano, econcept, Dalt, Pre, Insead, Ecobilan, Zuid Hollandse Milieufederatie, GrAT) started in 2001 to identify tools and methodology for PSS development and to develop an integrated toolkit for innovation based on the PSS-approach. An integrated methodology including existing and new tools has been developed and will be published in a manager's handbook and supporting website in October.

This conference was sponsored by European Commission - FP5 programme.