The European Sustainable Energy Innovation Alliance eseia turned 10 years old the 19 November 2019 celebrating together with more than 40 guests at the eseia Brussels Hub in Belgium. On this special occasion, the eseia leadership welcomed distinguished members from the European Commission and from the European Parliament, as well as representatives from more than 20 member organizations in 15 European countries.

The eseia H2020 Phoenix project (2016-2019) organised several staff exchanges between its Consortium members during the period ranging from July to September 2019. The secondments realised during the summer period involved two Experienced Researchers (ERs) and two Early-stage Researchers (ERs) that contributed a total of six PM to the total amount of 136 PM completed by the project so far:

The Sustainable Built Environment D-A-CH Conference 2019 (SBE19 Graz) took place 11-14 September 2019 at the Graz University of Technology (TU Graz, AT) with close to 180 scientific presentations and 400 participants and experts on sustainable built environment involved in the development of the Graz Declaration for Climate Protection in the Build Environment. The document adopted by the delegates during the conference calls politicians and scientists to take action against climate change by setting 13 specific targets for the built environment.

The European Commission held its European Research and Innovation Days at the KANAL Centre Pompidou in Brussels, BE, on 24-26 September. The event, which was set up at the former Citroen factory, gathered 3,000 of Europe’s best researchers, scientists, innovators and policy-makers. The annual European event featured a high-level Policy Conference, an Innovative Europe Hub, and the ‘Science is Wonderful!’ open exhibition.

The Sustainable Built Environment D-A-CH Conference 2019 (SBE19 Graz) took place at TU Graz, AT, 11-14 September 2019. The conference is a part of the SBE series with the theme being transition towards a net-zero carbon built environment. The conference focused on innovative construction products, sustainable buildings, modern design methods and tools, sustainable urban neighbourhoods and future-proof urban development.

The Autumn Edition of the European Energy Innovation Magazine features an interesting article by the eseia Director Brigitte Hasewend on the main obstacles and silos stopping the energy transition to happen as well as the challenges that still need to be faced by governments, industries and society at all levels.

The Commission prepares the implementation of the next EU project funding tool Horizon Europe (2021-2027) with a proposed budget of €100 billion and has opened a consultation in order to collect inputs from all over Europe to build the new Strategic Plan based on the idea of co-design.

DG MOVE of the European Commission presented the ‘STRIA Roadmap Smart Mobility Systems and Services – Priority Actions for Implementation’ document during the validation workshop of the EU STRIA Roadmap ‘Smart Mobility Systems and Services’ organised the 15 May 2019 in Brussels, Belgium, and in which eseia participated actively.

eseia is involved in a continuous process to seek EU funding opportunities for proposal submission in the field of sustainable energy systems and energy transition. Currently, the Alliance prepares together with eseia Member Organisations and external partners two new proposals to the following EU H2020 calls:

On the 3 July 2019, the Phoenix Consortium presented the project achievements during a meeting at the University of Zagreb, Croatia. To date, Phoenix has successfully completed 150 PM and 46 secondees have participated in the project, 16 of them completed or will complete in 2019.

The University of Zagreb (UNIZAG-FSB), Croatia, hosted the eseia International Summer School 2019 at their university campus from 1 to 12 July. The summer school welcomed 15 students from five different countries: Croatia, France, North Macedonia, Romania and Serbia. The eseia ISS 2019 put to work together energy experts with students to find a novel approach to smart energy systems integration and to non-conventional biomass utilisation.

The University of Ljubljana Rector Prof. Dr Igor Papič awarded the project entitled ‘An Innovative Process of Preparing Catalysts for Improved and Cheaper Hydrogen Fuel Cells’ with the Rector’s Award 2019 for the Best Innovation. The selected project enables preparing catalysts for hydrogen fuel cells with remarkable properties. The use of hydrogen fuel cells will play an extremely important role in combating climate change and reducing greenhouse gas emissions.

eseia is pleasured to announce the incorporation of two new members into the eseia Team and gives a warm welcome to Lisa Sebros and Trang Nguyen.

On the 14 June 2019, Energy Materials Industrial Research Initiative EMIRI supported by eseia organised the workshop ‘Shaping the Future Advanced Materials for Energy Transition and Future Mobility’. The workshop took place in the framework of the EuroNanoForum 2019 in Bucharest, Romania, from 12 to 14 June.

The European Commission finalised the evaluation of proposals for the H2020 MSCA-RISE 2019 call. The SUMRISE proposal submitted on 2 April 2019 scored 79.20 out of 100 percent. Due to limited financial resources, the proposal was not selected for funding. Nevertheless, its high quality and good score placed SUMRISE in the first place of the reserve list.

Young generations are the key to technology and science development. Under the TEC2move 2019 event organised from 25 to 27 June in ARS Electronica Center in Linz, AT, the eseia member RIC Regionales Innovations Centrum seeks to raise the awareness of parents and educators in this matter and to encourage kids to interest on science and technology.

The eseia Strategy 2030 Workshop was successfully conducted at Pössnitzberg, Austria, 17 May 2019 by members of the eseia Governing Council, President Harald Kainz (TU Graz), Treasurer Brian Norton (TU Dublin), Vice-President Josef Fürlinger (RIC-BPR), and eseia Director Brigitte Hasewend (eseia), and selected experts including Michiel A. Heldeweg (UTwente), Michael Bongards (TH Cologne), Markku Huhtinen (Savonia University), Goran Krajacic (UNIZAG), and Spomenka Kobe (JSI).

With a large crowd of young people and their senior staff invited by Dr. Uwe Trattnig, Head of the Institute of Energy, Transport, and Environmental Management of FHJ celebrated 20 years 8 May 2019.

The European Parliament elections taking place 23-26 May 2019 represent a renewal process in Europe’s policy course in which all of us have the opportunity and the right to contribute to making a change.

The University College Cork (IR) Rector and eseia Member Michael Murphy has been elected President of the European University Association EUA on 11 April 2019.

The Confucius Institute at the University of Graz (AT) and the Institute Headquarters (Hanban) China are calling for young leaders in the fields of economy, politics, science and technology, society and media within the EU to participate in the top class project "1st Belt & Road - EU Young Leaders' Visit to The People's Republic of China".

The BET Consortium organised its Final Conference with participation of the European Commission and 30 partners in Brussels, 9 April 2019. The two-master’s programmes on Biorefinery Engineering BRE and Bioresource Value-Chain Management BVM would continue after the project finalisation as stressed by the two Rectors from TU Graz (AT) and UTwente (NL), Harald Kainz and Thom Palstra, at the opening of the event.

Autonomous vehicles and artificial intelligence stand at the front of the topics addressed by universities, research organisations and technological companies worldwide as transportation is entering a new era. The seminar Mobility as a service and autonomous vehicles-trends and developments in EU organised the 7th of February by the Tallinn University of Technology the Estonian Research Council, the Permanent Representation of Estonia to the EU and the City of Helsinki pointed at the main aspects that lead the discussion.

The great work undertaken by the Phoenix project during the last years has been recognised in a brochure on Croatian Success Stories in the framework of R&I funding opportunities under Horizon 2020 for the period 2014-2020 by the EC, the Ministry of Science and Education of Croatia, and the Agency for Mobility and EU Programmes.

From 25 to 28 February 2019, 35 participants from 9 European countries, North America and Africa learnt, discussed and experimented on innovative forms of biobased products and biorefinery processes at WoodKPLUS in Linz, Austria.

Members of the eseia Focus Group on Smart Mobility are involved in a number of novel smart urban mobility projects that aim to develop new governance and business models, propose changes to the legal framework, integrate new technological systems, manage big data, and reconquer urban space to enhance the life style of European citizens.

On 29 January 2019 the ERA-Net Smart Grids Plus project CESEPS held its Final Meeting at the Austrian Institute of Technology (AIT) in Vienna. The CESEPS consortium has been coordinated by Prof. Angèle Reinders from UTwente in the Netherlands and Prof. Fickert from TU Graz on the Austria side.

The Tallinn University of Technology organises the seminar “Mobility as a service and autonomous vehicles- trends and developments in EU” together with the Estonian Research Council, the Permanent Representation of Estonia to the EU and in collaboration with Helsinki City.

eseia aims to submit a proposal to the forthcoming European call Marie Sklodowska-Curie Action Research & Innovation Staff Exchange (MSCA RISE): SUMRISE on the topic of Smart Urban Mobility Research and Innovation System Exchange.

The EIT Governing Board designated as future EIT KIC UM the proposal MOBILUS coordinated by Ajuntament de Barcelona.

Since 2016, Aalborg University, the University of Twente, and eseia have successfully contributed to advancing new energy technologies’ integration at the Insitute of Fluid Flow Machinery of the Polish Academy of Sciences in Poland.

On 14th November, BET project partners held a progress project meeting in Brussels to reflect on the previous 3 months. The deadline for registration to the BET master programme at TU Graz for the period 2019/2020 is open till 15 December.

As a European association, eseia takes very seriously on data protection. Therefore, our data policy statement, last modified May 2018 according to the European GDPR, has been reviewed and updated with specific outlines regarding the legitimacy of data use.

After the joint submission of the wemove2zero KIC on Urban Mobility, the eseia Focus Group Smart Mobility seeks Expressions of Interest for new H2020 Project opportunities.

In 2018, 120 PM have been completed under the People for the European Energy Mix –Phoenix- project. The total number of secondees until the end of the year is 42.

Get to know now eseia’s last incorporations as well as their capacity to advance Renewable Energy Systems within Europe by 2030.

With the 2030 Climate & Energy Targets as the framework, the European Commission, DG MOVE, held a two-day forum to develop the new EU Strategic Transport R&I Agenda (STRIA) in Graz, 26-27 November.

The two-day EU conference in Vienna, held under the Austrian Presidency of the Council of the European Union, supported European and international research and innovation in order to develop solutions for future energy demands and meet the EU’s objectives on energy transition for 2030 and 2050.

On 13th November 2018, eseia held the Proposal Workshop together with the General Assembly Meeting in Brussels and presented four proposals for EU funding project calls.

The BRACELET proposal for H2020-WIDESPREAD-03-2018 call on the topic of twining aims to advance early stage and expert researchers expertise on smart energy as well as to contribute to urban and industrial energy transition in Croatia. 4 organisations from Austria, Croatia, and Denmark, including eseia, will provide FSB UNIZG, with knowledge and resources through staff exchanges and additional activities.

eseia is pleased to welcome new members with the desire and the capacity to advance sustainable energy systems all across Europe. Get to know their vision, expertise and how can they contribute to the association´s mission.

During the eseia Business Meetings, the alliance performance in 2018 was analysed while new challenges and goals for the coming period 2019 were set. Among the highlights, the association has adopted the Work Programme and Budget 2019 and presented 8 new members.

Phoenix partnership presented an overview of the project achievements during the last Progress Meeting in Brussels. Since its start, 24 experienced researchers, 16 early stage researchers, and 2 managerial secondees have taken part on the Phoenix project.

SuPREME ISS 2018 on Macro and Micro Scale Energy Systems was organised by eseia on August 2018 gathering participants from different countries. For more than a week, students were trained by experts on the Energy Conversion and Renewable Resources Research Centre KEZO in Poland, building international networks and acquiring professional experience in order to advance their career profiles.

From 17th to 19th October 2018 international students with a background in engineering had the opportunity to work at the :metalobon pilot plant installation in Germany and gained valuable hands-on experience with key technologies at the research lab.

Twinning project SuPREME, led by the IMP PAN, reached its Final Conference in Jablonna, PO, with rewarding outputs. In total, eseia has organised three Summer Schools during the lifetime of the project, which aligned with larger EU strategies in Energy Transition to introduce sustainable systems based on RES in Poland. SuPRME has successfully involved several external partners.

From 23 to 24 of October the Confucius Institute, University of Graz and TU Graz held the fourth China Forum to celebrate the success of the EU-China cooperation. Aiming to make a reflection on the ways in which both countries can work together to enhance innovation and development, the European Sustainable Energy Innovation Alliance –eseia- presented its vision and main projects during a workshop on Sustainability.

30 professionals, researchers, master and PhD Students, from 11 different countries explored the complex topic of biorefineries´ processes and sustainability in interactive lectures, workshops, and technical site visits at the eseia ISS 2018 hosted by LNEG in Lisbon between 9-21 July.

33 businesses, of which 4 clusters gathering 400 companies, 20 SMEs and 9 international businesses, 7 urban regions of which one alliance of 200 cities, 29 Higher Education Institutions (HEIs), 6 Research Organisations (ROs) joined eseia to promote smart mobility in urban regions in Europe

Over 30 papers presented in the fields of smart energy systems in cities and regions, with significant contributions from eseia members, from DIT, LNEG, TU Graz, to the Cyprus Institute, and Transylvania University of Brasov

A full innovation cycle partnership of 20 core KIC partners and 77 associated partners, via the eseia membership, will tackle urban mobility issues and promote the health, welfare and quality of life of the European people

Collaborations with China, Brazil, and Moldova, are at the core of the two RISE and RIA proposals eseia has submitted at the beginning of 2018 to innovate smart-cities and promote nature-based solutions

Parties interested in joining the two-stage H2020 calls LC-NMBP-27-2019 and CE-NMBP-25-2019 have time until 15th May to contact eseia and IMP-PAN.

Strengthening bilateral cooperation between EAS and the University of Zagreb on multilevel governance (MLG) energy planning to policy for development of smart regions and advanced integration of non‐conventional biomass sources.

Fast, comfortable, cheap, inclusive, sustainable, and fun the pillars of the solutions developed by eseia in “wemove2zero” to ensure Smart Mobility in Europe in the framework of EIT´s KIC-UM.

Sustainable built environment, energy production technologies are some of the competences the Cyprus Institute and the Savonia University of Applied Sciences are bringing in, expanding the competences of the Alliance

Fast, cheap, comfortable, inclusive and sustainable the distinctive features of future mobility identified by academia, business, and research at the eseia Workshop on Urban Mobility.

Digitalization and robotization the new trends for the creation of a modal public transport system based on 4 “e”: environment, economy, equity and effectiveness.

In 2017 the Green Energy Innovative Biomass Cluster (Bio-C), Romania, and theUniversity of Zagreb exchanged their researchers to refine and build their skills in the field of bioresources.

"BioEnergyTrain Project, Advancing Cooperative Education of Bioeconomy in Europe"

Collaborations with China, Brazil, and Moldova, are at the core of the two RISE and RIA proposals eseia has submitted at the beginning of 2018 to innovate smart-cities and promote nature-based solutions