Transcript Making researchers’ mobility a credible promise

SET Plan Conference
Rome, 10-11 December 2014
Unlocking the territorial implications of the SET Plan
Andrea Bonaccorsi
University of Pisa
RISE Expert Group, European Commission, DG Research and Innovation
Advisor, Department for Cohesion Policies (DPS), Italian Government
The (implicit) territorial dimension of the SET Plan
The SET Plan gives prominence to energy efficiency and the new role of energy consumers.
This implies
- deep changes in the daily behaviour of the population
- combination of new technological solutions with sound and innovative business models
These require the active involvement of local communities
- diversity in local energy cultures
- different social reaction to new energy consumption behaviors
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mobilization of resources for investment (e.g. energy-efficient buildings, refurbishments)
linking the grid to mobility in smart cities
locally-managed logistic cycle in biomass/ biorefineries
microgeneration, microgrids, storage
Most frequent words in SET Plan
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80
60
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20
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Source: ENEL Foundation, GENOR Project (2014)
Most frequent “qualified” words in SET Plan
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Source: ENEL Foundation, GENOR Project (2014)
The academic point of view: Research Policy
Among the top 25 most cited articles since 2009, one third refer to transition to sustainability
Innovation studies and sustainability transitions: The allure of the multi-level perspective and its challenges
Volume 39, Issue 4, May 2010, Pages 435-448.
Adrian David Smith | Jan Peter Voß | John Grin
Ontologies, socio-technical transitions (to sustainability), and the multi-level perspective
Volume 39, Issue 4, May 2010, Pages 495-510
Frank W W Geels
Governing transitions in the sustainability of everyday life
Volume 39, Issue 4, May 2010, Pages 471-476
Elizabeth Shove | Gordon P. Walker
Evolutionary approaches for sustainable innovation policies: From niche to paradigm?
Volume 38, Issue 4, May 2009, Pages 668-680
Jan Nill | Rene M. Kemp
Demand-pull, technology-push, and government-led incentives for non-incremental technical change
Volume 38, Issue 5, June 2009, Pages 700-709
G. F. Nemet
Can cities shape socio-technical transitions and how would we know if they were?
Volume 39, Issue 4, May 2010, Pages 477-485
Mike Hodson | Símon J. Marvín
Sustainability transitions: An emerging field of research and its prospects
Volume 41, Issue 6, July 2012, Pages 955-967
Jochen Markard | Rob P J M Raven | Bernhard Truffer
What is protective space? Reconsidering niches in transitions to sustainability
Volume 41, Issue 6, July 2012, Pages 1025-1036
Adrian David Smith | Rob P J M Raven
The transition to a low carbon economy
The large literature on the transition to sustainability offers several insights:
- The transition is not mainly a technological process, but involves several dimensions of social
innovation and organizational innovation
- The social challenge refers to the willingness of customers to change deeply-rooted energy
consumption behaviors and to assume a proactive role
- Customers and local communities engage in the transition only if:
- they are involved since the early stages of the research-demonstration-innovation cycle
- they see a clear economic benefit from the changes in consumption behavior
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The organizational challenge refers to the ability of large, hierarchical, performance-oriented
energy producers to engage with decentralized processes of involvement of customers and
decision-making on the management of the energy grid
The regional dimension of the SET Plan
In the transition process there is a role for local and regional authorities in charge of
regulation and authorization in several key areas for energy (buildings, public transport,
mobility).
Regional governments have also an increasing role in innovation policies (OECD, 2011) and
in the European context they are the recipients of the largest share of Structural Funds.
Within Structural Funds there has been a process of orientation of priorities towards
research and innovation («Lisbonization» of the cohesion policy).
There is a crucial need to:
- align national and regional priorities to the SET Plan
- coordinate SET Plan initiatives with the planning and allocation of Structural Funds.
15 Italian Regions have included Energy
in their Smart Specialization Strategy
Source: PON-GAT (2014)
Supporting Smart Specialization
Strategies (S3) of Italian Regions
Main areas of regional interest
Smart environment
Renewable energy sources
Smart grids
Storage
Energy efficiency
Green building
Water
Waste
Reuse
Technology focus
•
Renewable sources for the production of electricity, heat and chemical potential (eg wind,
solar photovoltaic and thermal, second and third generation biofuel)
•
Conversions from fossil fuels directed to obtain energy efficiency and reduced environmental
load (clean coal and CSS)
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Flexibility to compensate for the variability and uncertainty of supply from renewables
•
Upstream oil and gas industry with particular attention to off-shore
•
Midstream for the production of fuels from oil or synthesis of high quality
•
Smart grid (innovative sensor systems, automation, metering, monitoring systems and
dedicated information)
•
Accumulation management and energy management systems (fixed systems, furniture)
•
Final energy conversions, for recoveries and for the rationalization of the use.
Key issues
- Combining excellence-based criteria with place-based criteria
- Designing an effective governance between national government and
regional governments
Excellence-based criteria
 Peer review process at national and EU level
 Quality criteria fully independent on the localization of projects
 Tend to strenghten the position of strong competitors (Matthew effect)
• countries and regions
• institutions
 Reinforce the geographic concentration of innovation activities («flat world
with spikes»)
Place-based criteria
 Investment into research and innovation as a condition for future growth
opportunities
 Capability building
 Strategic investment to be evaluated in the long run
 Localization of projects as legitimate ex ante project selection criteria
 Less competition
 Some risk of capture by vested interests at local level
Effective governance
The SET Plan creates the reference framework which is to be considered at all
levels in policy making (i.e. research, innovation, cohesion)
The national government issues the national priorities ensuring an overall
consistency with the SET Plan and defining the role of energy within the
national Smart Specialization Strategy (S3)
Regional governments define their own priorities within the regional Smart
Specialization Strategy (S3).
The literature and the experience on innovation policies suggests that the
alignment among different actors is a complex, painful, often frustrating
process. The design of governance must be robust enough to sustain the
alignment effort over many years.
High level political solutions
 High level steering group at national level in charge of monitoring the Smart Specialization
Strategy (S3) in the energy sector ensuring the consistency with the SET Plan
 Membership include national Ministries (Research and innovation/ Economic
development/ Energy), regional representatives (only from regional governmens
interested in co-funding projects), national representatives in the Steering Commitee of
the SET Plan, national representatives in H2020, industry and academia
 Advisory role
 Identification of opportunities for co-funding the national participation to SET Plan
initiatives
 Activation of bottom up suggestions and practices + technology intelligence/ patent
analysis
 Administrative responsibility for managing the Calls rests on Ministries and Regions
 Ministries and Regions are responsible for co-funding of SET Plan
Operational solutions
 Announcement by the national government of thematic priorities (consistent with the
SET Plan), following the advice of the High level steering group
 Thematic priorities are associated to the dates of future Calls
 Political decisions of regional governments to join the national Calls providing regional
co-funding
 Co-funding allows the participation to the drafting of the Call and to the ex ante
selection of projects (with or without vote in the final decision)
 Ex ante selection of projects at national level, based on excellence criteria
 Commitment of regional governments to fund the top ranked projects in which there is
a given threshold of invesment in the regional territory
 Pre-defined share of regional co-funding
 Freedom for regional governments to issue Calls of local interest only