SMARTSPEND project seeks greater and better designed public support for research and innovation in energy technology

SMARTSPEND will organize a large conference to help innovators in financing the risk of access to clean energy from public and private sources, since they need money and connections to increase it. To prepare this conference, SMARTSPEND will inform about the financing needs and identify the possible sources of it.

“The financing that national governments provide directly and the financing they provide indirectly through their contributions to the European Union’s R&D budget have been very useful for the development of clean energy technology,” says Greg Arrowsmith, advisor of policies of EUREC, scientific coordinator of SMARTSPEND. “This project will be involved with governments in their future support,” Arrowsmith concludes.

SMARTSPEND partners were chosen because of their links with companies and research centers in the specific field of clean energy. This will allow the dissemination of the results of the project, including: analysis of the financing needs of the industry; a map of financing instruments for energy innovation; recommendations for alternative models of sectoral organization at European Union level, and recommendations on support for innovation in energy technology.

Partners and sectors of the SMARTSPEND project:

  • EUREC – The European Association of Renewable Energy Research Centers: scientific coordinator.
  • CIRCE Foundation – Center for research of resources and energy consumption: process industry.
  • EASE – European Association for energy storage: energy storage.
  • ECTP – European platform for technological construction: energy efficient buildings and construction.
  • EGEC – European Geothermal Council: geothermal energy.
  • EMIRI – Energy Materials Industrial Research Initiative: Advanced Materials for Clean Energy and Clean Mobility Technologies
  • ESTELA – European Solar Thermal Electricity Association: concentrated solar energy.
  • Ocean Energy Europe: Ocean Energy
  • German renewable resources agency – FNR: bioenergy.
  • WIP renewable energy: photovoltaic.
  • ZABALA Innovation Consulting: smart energy networks.