About the conference
The InnoRenew CoE International Conference 2025 “From lab to life: innovative solutions for a healthier and greener built environment”, will take place 16-17 September 2025, and will provide a forum to explore renewable materials and their use for creating healthy, sustainable buildings during different thematic sessions:
- Advanced Manufacturing
- Information processing
- Creativity & Society
- Buildings
- Health
- Materials
We invite you to submit your doctoral research, ongoing research, methodology discussions, or preliminary results. Especially early career researchers are welcome!
IRIC2025 is an opportunity to share and discuss emerging science and innovations in renewable materials that can be used in the built environment to enhance human and environmental well-being.
Additionally, IRIC2025 will host a workshop of MEZeroE project: Open Innovation Test Bed for building envelope products: how can open innovation lead to better building envelopes?. The aim of this workshop is to evaluate the strengths and weaknesses of MEZeroE OITB (Open Innovation Test Bed) as currently constructed.
#IRIC2025
Important dates
8 July 2025: Abstract submission deadline
1 September 2025: Registration deadline
1 September 2025: Payment deadline
16–17 September 2025: InnoRenew CoE International Conference 2025
Call for abstracts
IRIC2025 welcomes 300-word abstracts for presentations in different sessions:
- Advanced Manufacturing
- Information processing
- Creativity & Society
- Buildings
- Health
- Materials
Please follow the IRIC2025 abstract template and submit through the conference portal. Submit an abstract here.
Abstract submission closes on 30 June 2025.
Keynote speakers
Rebecca Williams
Rebecca Williams is a public speaking, storytelling, and presentation expert. She grew up in a world of opera and spent her early career teaching English and exploring hot springs in rural Japan.
After teaching stints in Spain, Nepal, and Australia, she started consulting on storytelling, public speaking, and leadership communications for tech companies in San Francisco. Since then, Rebecca has served as a public speaking coach at the Stanford Graduate School of Business and has trained professionals and teams at organizations including Google, Meta, and Netflix. For over 10 years, Rebecca has taught global leaders how to show up with authenticity, connect with audiences, and captivate through storytelling. She has lived in six countries, and currently calls Lisbon, Portugal home.
At IRIC2025 she will present “Crusader or Communicator: Will Science Remember You?”, and held a workshop “How to Tell the Story Behind Your Science”.
Sumea Klokic
She completed her master’s degree in chemistry in 2019 and her Diploma in Technical Chemistry in 2020 at Graz University of Technology, where she also earned her PhD in Chemistry (Natural Sciences) in 2022. During her doctoral studies, she conducted her research at the Austrian SAXS beamline at the ELETTRA synchrotron in Trieste, where she continued to work as a Researcher since 2023.
Her research focuses on the structural and chemical characterization of materials used in sustainable and environmental applications, particularly in the fields of energy storage and CO₂ capture. She develops multidisciplinary approaches to monitor stimuli-driven, dynamic processes in materials by combining synchrotron-based techniques such as small-angle X-ray scattering (SAXS) and infrared spectroscopy with complementary tools like quartz crystal microbalance (QCM).
Her doctoral thesis was recognized with the prestigious Karl Schlögl Award and a DOC Fellowship, both awarded from the Austrian Academy of Sciences (ÖAW). She is also a recipient of the Otto Vogl Prize and the Advancement Award of the Austrian Chemical Society. Sumea Klokic has received multiple Best Presentation Awards at international conferences and was named an Austrian Role Model for Women in STEM, Science, and Research in 2023, an honour presented by Federal Minister MMag.a Dr. Susanne Raab as part of the “Let’s Empower Austria” (LEA) initiative.
At IRIC2025 she will present “Bright Beams for a Greener Future: Synchrotron Techniques in Renewable Science”.
Venue
InnoRenew CoE will host IRIC2025 at its building in Izola, Slovenia.
Livade 6a, 6310 Izola, Slovenia
Registration
Full registration: €250
Student registration: €150
Conference dinner: €60
All prices includes VAT.
Registration will be open until 1 September 2025, 23:59 CEST.
Register here.
Payment
Payment must be made by bank transfer to the InnoRenew CoE bank account. A copy of the transfer receipt must be attached to the registration form.
- ACCOUNT HOLDER: InnoRenew CoE / Livade 6a, SI-6310 Izola, Slovenia
- BANK: NLB d.d. / Trg republike 2, 1520 Ljubljana, Slovenia
- SWIFT CODE: LJBASI2X
- IBAN: SI56029220262173147
- REFERENCE: 00-00
Enter “InnoRenew CoE International Conference 2025” in the remarks field, and include the following information:
- Participant name and surname
- Address for issuing/receiving invoice (it can be either a personal or institutional address, but if the invoice is issued to an institution, include the institution’s tax number)
The payment deadline is 1 September 2025, 23:59 CEST.
An invoice will be provided after the conference.
Accommodations and travel
Hotels in Izola:
Hotel Belvedere (Cliff and Villa): Dobrava 1a, 6310 Izola
Hotel Haliaetum: Morova ulica 6a, 6310 Izola
San Simon Resort: Izola (multiple locations)
Hotel Delfin: Tomažičeva 10, 6310 Izola
Hotel Marina: Veliki trg 11, 6310 Izola
Hotel Keltika: Cesta v Jagodje 1, 6310 Izola
DeGrassi Boutique Garni Hotel: Drevored 1.maja 9, 6310 Izola
Airports:
Trieste Airport (TRS), 55-minute drive from Izola
Ljubljana Airport (LJU), 1 hour 20-minute drive from Izola
Venice Marco Polo Airport (VCE), 2-hour drive from Izola
Treviso Airport (TSF), 2-hour drive from Izola
Zagreb Airport (ZAG), 2 hour 30-minute drive from Izola
Shuttle service:
The easiest way to travel to Izola from the airports above is to take a shuttle service like GoOpti transport. Reservation for transfer can be made directly to your hotel. Prices are lower if the shuttle is booked well in advance (1-2 months).
Bus or train:
Travel by bus to Izola is possible. Once in Izola, public transportation is available to move around the city.
You can travel by train from most European countries via connection to Koper (Slovenia), Trieste (Italy) or Ljubljana (Slovenia). From these locations, you need a bus transfer or other transport to reach Izola.
Conference sponsors
Would you like to increase your visibility within the interdisciplinary field of renewable materials for healthy built environments? Become an IRIC2025 sponsor.
Contact us at conference@innorenew.eu for more details.
Scientific committee
Richard Acquah, Michael Burnard, Anja Černoša, Ana Gubenšek, Niki Hrovatin, Andreja Kutnar, Han Lei, Sasikala Perumal, Lea Primožič, Viviana Gaytán Núñez, Simon Troha
Organizing committee
Gertrud Fabian, Lea Primožič, Amy Simmons
Conference organizers
The conference is organized by the InnoRenew CoE and the University of Primorska.
Contact information
Please send questions or comments to conference@innorenew.eu.