Moderator: Johan Vangrunderbeek, Coordinator MateriNex, VITO
13:30 – Carolin Spirinckx, VITO/EnergyVille
Circularity as a strategy towards a more sustainable built environment
Carolin Spirinckx graduated as an industrial chemical engineer in 1993 and specialized in environmental technologies and management in 1994. In 1995, she began her career as a researcher at VITO. Currently, she coordinates a team at VITO/EnergyVille focusing on sustainability evaluations and circularity scans within the built environment.
With over 29 years of research and advisory experience, Carolin Spirinckx is a recognized expert in this domain. With her team at VITO/EnergyVille, Carolin has built extensive experience in methodologies and tools to assess the sustainability and circularity as different levels in the built environment, such as life cycle assessment (LCA), life cycle costing (LCC), social-LCA, Ecodesign, and circularity scans. The team is involved in various research projects, targeting both governmental bodies and market players, at national, European, and international levels.
Carolin plays an active role in various working groups within the European Standardization Committee CEN TC 350 (responsible for developing standards for assessing the sustainability aspects of buildings and standards for environmental product declarations of construction products). Additionally, Carolin coordinates significant projects for the European Commission and the European Environment Agency concerning sustainable buildings. She is also highly active internationally, with projects in the Middle East, Africa, and South America.
14:00 – Wim Van Opstal, VITO
Value chain and organizational implications of implementing circular innovation: lessons from reversible bonding
Wim Van Opstal is a researcher at VITO, where he studies the development of circular business models and policies for a circular transition. With an academic background in economics and commercial sciences, he has more than 20 years of experience in applied scientific research at the crossroads of entrepreneurship, policy analysis, and sustainable development.
Examples of his current research include circular aspects of solar PV, textiles, bio-fertilizers, housing, adhesive bonding, and smart grids, and themes such as labour market policies, the informal circular economy, just transition, and market failures. His research entails business case analysis, survey-research, mapping value chains, backcasting, and policy analysis to support circular business model innovation. Wim is also affiliated with the Maastricht Sustainability Institute (MSI) at Maastricht University and member of the editorial board of the Journal of Circular Economy.
14:30 – Arturo Parajes
3D printing of catalysts on Mars
Arturo Pajares is a materials scientist who joined the Flemish Institute for Technological Research (VITO) as a postdoctoral researcher in 2022. Since 2024, he has been working as an R&D scientist at VITO, focusing his research on developing structured catalysts using 3D printing technology for the catalytic conversion of CO2.
