VITO Vision may 2022

In order to monitor the environment and climate in Europe, analyse the results and communicate new knowledge and insights, the European Environment Agency has a network of topic centres, each focusing on a specific aspect of European environment and climate policy.  VITO is involved in four of these European Topic Centres (ETC), in two of them even as coordinating partner.

Developers of products or systems powered by batteries, or of equipment for heating and cooling, for example, can turn to VITO/EnergyVille for a wide range of tests that meet all their possible questions and needs.  What is unique about both the battery test and the thermal engineering lab is that they both create very dynamic environments that are closely linked to real world scenarios.  This sets them apart from standard laboratories.

The renovation of the conference building on the JRC Geel site offers a unique opportunity to put the New European Bauhaus Initiative into practice. It is also an opportunity to ensure that the European Green Deal results in a real construction project that is sustainable, attractive and inclusive, both intrinsically and in the way it is realised. VITO has been a neighbour of the JRC Geel for many years, and is closely involved in assessing the sustainability of the entire project via Level(s), a new European framework for examining the sustainability of buildings.

Barely 1 % of all worn clothing in Europe is recycled to a high standard. The rest is largely incinerated along with household waste. The logical answer to how to do things differently seems to be to improve the collection, sorting and recycling process. But it is not that simple, as the experts on circular economy at VITO know. ‘A real transition to a circular fashion economy can only be achieved if the change is systemic and occurs right across the value chains.'

So-called endocrine-disrupting chemicals (EDCs) are chemicals that, above certain exposure thresholds, can disrupt endocrine systems. This entails health risks. In Flemish waterways and rivers, the concentrations of EDCs are too high to simply exclude an effect. Together with Inopsys, a developer of innovative methods and mobile, on-site water purification installations, VITO is already looking at how the substances can be filtered out of wastewater using innovative membrane techniques. So that a solution will be available when environmental legislation is strengthened.

With the We Are ecosystem, VITO is helping to develop a radically new and different way of dealing with personal (health) data of citizens. This is done by means of an innovative technological component but also by the development of new applications, such as the online prevention platform BIBOPP. It is intended to give citizens confidence in how their privacy-sensitive data are used - and above all: by whom and why - and thus to ‘empower’ them in terms of their data and personal health.

At the end of 2021, the WorldCover project of the European space agency ESA announced a scoop. For the first time, there was a detailed land cover map that spanned the entire surface of the earth. Equally important is the speed with which the map - which shows the land cover during the year 2020 - was developed. As a result, changes in land cover can now be spotted in near real time. And this enhances the monitoring of the impact of those changes on climate, biodiversity or food security.

Since he graduated from KU Leuven in 1988 with a physics degree, Jurgen Everaerts (58) has worked for about five companies and organisations. However, the technology behind remote sensing is a common thread throughout his well-filled career. Today, within his Remote Sensing department, he is strongly advocating rejuvenation and diversity. ‘I am driven by stimulating and supporting young people.’