Europe’s Energy Future: Efficiency and competitiveness through smart integration

Post date: 
21/02/2014 - 00:00

Competitive, secure and sustainable energy is vital for a thriving European economy and society. In the aftermath of the ambitious European Commission goal-setting for 2030, a high-level round table addressing the current fragmentation challenges and the promises of innovative technologies will place the policy targets on the path of implementation. The high-level round table will be organized on the 19th of March 2014, 16:00-19:00, at the European Parliament, and hosted by Mr. Jerzy Buzek MEP, Chairman of the K4I Forum.

The 2030 targets can only find meaning if:

  •  we manage the sustainable integration of a variety of technologies
  •  we elevate the debates and actions to broader concepts across sectors and national / regional activities and their implications on sustainability and competitiveness
  •  we consider the significant changes in the global context (eg emerging economies, access to energy supply, dependency, technological leadership, Europe’s role and needs)

​This high-level round table could be a landmark for setting some of the directions for a more efficient articulation of a sustainable European energy system highlighting new business models, new opportunities and synergies.

Scope and issues: 

The EU needs new, high performance low-cost, low-carbon sustainable energy technologies being brought to the market. However, the most impact of these technologies in terms of delivery on policy goals, competitiveness and efficiency will be achieved through an integrated strategy for innovation in the energy area.

The Integrated Energy Roadmap is putting forward an action plan that:

  • addresses the energy challenges in a system approach
  • consolidates and aligns the various technology roadmaps
  • covers the entire research & innovation chain
  • identifies pathways for work and synergies between various programmes, stakeholders, instruments, authorities

This roadmap needs however to practically address a series of existing challenges for implementation:

  • how and what to prioritise: short-term, medium-term, long-term
  • what we can learn from each other: across sectors, across borders, along value chain
  • how to create synergies among different instruments, different sectors, different technologies
  • how to balance (sometimes competing) targets considering technological, economic, environmental and social aspects.

For more information, please visit http://www.knowledge4innovation.eu/europe%E2%80%99s-energy-future-efficiency-and-competitiveness-through-smart-integration