Aiming for the stars: Advancing key technology moonshots for green futures - Insights from workshop

Aiming for the stars: Advancing key technology moonshots for green futures

5 December 2023, OECD, Paris

Insights from the workshop

Aiming for the stars: Advancing key technology moonshots for green futures

5 December 2023, 9h30-18h00

Workshop summary

Overview of the workshop and key takeaways

Workshop overview

Accelerating action on the green transition is becoming more pressing and increased global tensions have highlightedthe vulnerabilities of interdependent value chainsin key strategic technologies. In this context, a set of technologies – such as batteries, semiconductors, advanced computing, renewable energy, advanced manufacturing – have been identified by many OECD countries and beyond as critical to advance on global challenges and societal objectives.

Science, technology, and innovation (STI) policy is increasingly focused on such targeted support to contribute to combatting climate change and strategically build national economic resilience and reduce dependencies. This marks a sharp change from the past where STI policy did not explicitly set directed technology support objectives but stated as key objective providing technology-neutral support towards the STI ecosystem.

The OECD Working Party on Technology and Innovation Policy (TIP) organised the workshop ‘Aiming for the stars: Advancing key technology moonshots for green futures’ to explore how to harness the potential of cutting-edge technologies for these objectives.

The workshop addressed the following key questions:

• Using technology for the green transition: What is the role of STI policy in the development and deployment of technologies for the green transition? How can cross-sectoral and international collaboration in STI be harnessed?

• Making large-scale technology investments succeed: How can large-scale investment projects (‘moonshots’) contribute to transformative change towards the green transition and resilience?

Insights from the discussions feed into the 2023-24 TIP project “Making technology investments succeed: What should STI policies do for skills and capabilities?” This work also contributes to the CSTP’s S&T Policy 2025 initiative and the 2024 CSTP Ministerial Meeting.

Recent related TIP publications and events

The workshop is closely connected to the outcomes of the joint METI-OECD workshop “What makes cocreation work for transitions?” the TIP organised on 24-26 May 2023, as summarised in the conference proceedings. The exchange focused on the large-scale investments that major economies (EU, Japan, Korea, United States) are undertaking to accelerate green innovation and build more resilience. The workshop also highlighted successful initiatives that foster cross-sectoral collaboration on developing and diffusinggreentechnologies, andprovideframeworks to engage with citizens, industry and research organisations.

In addition, this workshop coincided with the launch of two TIP publications:

• The paper “Unlocking co-creation for green innovation” draws insights from 10 international case studies on how universities can contribute to green innovation partnerships.

• The paper “Navigating Green and Digital Transitions” discusses imperatives for innovation policy to realise for the green and digital transitions: coordinated government, stakeholder engagement, policy agility and experimentation, directionality and support for breakthrough innovation.

Key takeaways from the workshop

1. Many countries are investing massively in a selected group of technologies (“moonshots”) in view of building environmental sustainability and national resilience.

Examples include the CHIPS and Science Act as well as the Inflation Reduction Act in the United States, the Hydrogen Valleys created across Europe, and the Green Transformation Bonds in Japan. The continued strength of such investments rivals with levels last seen after the Second World War, as these initiatives are often part of larger industrial or ‘green growth’ strategies or policy packages. Accelerating the green transition has become a primary focus in science, technology, and innovation (STI) policies, coupled with an emphasis on securing a supply of critical technologies prompted by the COVID-19 pandemic and geopolitical tensions.

2. Successful green transitions require that industry and citizens face the right incentives and regulatory conditions to develop and/or adopt green technologies.

While finding ways to combat climate change requires technological advances, the green transition critically depends on businesses and citizens adhering to green transition goals and adjusting their activities accordingly. Regulations and reporting requirements for industry are important to build demand-side conditions. Awareness-raising activities are also needed to make technological progress itself greener by contributing to citizens’ demand for such transformational efforts.

3. Advancing green innovations requires managing risks associated with specific technology choices.

The need for speedy progress has resulted in governments providing support to specific green technologies that are often closely similar across countries. Hydrogen is one such example. Compared to a technology-open focus, such choices require managing potential risks associated with specific technology choices. Criteria used to maintain, adjust or phase out support and assessments consequently become important. The level of risk undertaken may also be a matter of choice, with some investments being potentially riskier if technologies do not succeed (such as e.g. dedicated infrastructures only relevant to them) compared to others (such as e.g. investing in skills formation and network linkages).

4. Examples of experimentation at local level show their potential in helping develop suitable green technology solutions.

Local settings facilitate experimentation of technologies by providing suitable infrastructures. They also have the advantage of facilitating involving citizens, entrepreneurs and other local stakeholders so as to develop most tailored solutions and strengthen their adoption. Examples such as GreenLab in Denmark and Lorraine Smart Cities Living Lab in France illustrate the different possibilities nicely

5. Innovations related to the green transition frequently come from the combination and integration of different technologies, sectors and disciplines

Teams equipped with diverse technological capacities and a robust industry knowledge are best placed to develop such solutions and identify diverse commercially viable applications This is exemplified by GreenCoLab in Portugal, where the application of algae biotechnology is harnessed to enhance the environmental sustainability of industrial processes and outputs across a wide range of sectors

6. The joint governance of supranational, national and local policies must be improved.

Different levels of governance have key roles to play in supporting green technology developments from providing overall roadmaps and shared visions to setting up specific instruments to move from plan to implementation and engagement of stakeholders. Lack of coherence of regulations and fragmentation are all too often a hindrance to advancing in practice on building green innovations and their diffusion.

Introductory remarks

Welcome remarks were provided by the Chair of the TIP, Göran Marklund, Deputy Director General at VINNOVA Mr Marklund highlighted the importance of STI skills and capabilities in advancing on digital and green transitions. He pointed the pertinence of the workshop’s topic given policy debates across the OECD and consequently the key relevance of the 2023-24 TIP project that focuses on those issued.

Alessandra Colecchia, Head of Science and Technology Policy Division, Directorate for Science, Technology and Innovation, OECD, positioned the workshop in the wider set of activities conducted at the CSTP and the OECD at large. She noted the importance of the developing breakthrough technologies without forgetting about their commercialisation and diffusion. Different policy instruments will be needed in order to ensure innovation benefits green development goals.

Caroline Paunov, Senior Economist and Head of the TIP Secretariat, Directorate for Science, Technology and Innovation, OECD, introduced the workshop, and provided context for the workshop, emphasising the need for enabling conditions at macro-, mesoand local-policy levels for technology development for green transitions. As example, she referred to the importance of scaling up successful local green innovation initiatives to addressthegreentransition.Reachingscale,however, requiresbothnationalstrategicplans and instruments to support those innovations and opportunities for local experimentation. Moreover, she pointed to the demonstrated importance of building skills and fostering STI collaborations across different industries, across diverse disciplinary expertise of universities and tapping into demands and contributions of civil society. While widely recognised, the realisation of successful STI collaborations remains challenging.

Session 1. Keynotes. Advancing on the green transition through innovation: perspectives and national initiatives

Session 1 focused on the macro-conditions for green moonshots by focusing on an overview of substantive resources governments and the private sector have pledged following the COVID-19 crisis The keynote speakers (see Figure 1) provided an overview of respective developments in Japan, Brazil, Asian and Europe.

1. Session 1 speakers

Koichi Inoue, Director, Industrial Science, Technology and Environment Policy Bureau, Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI) in Japan, presented the main three STI policypackagestheJapanesegovernmenthasinplaceonenergyandclimate(see Figure 2) These, he explained, constitute a three-pronged approach to pursuing the green transformation, i.e. environmentally sustainable economic growth based on low-carbon secure energy supply to attain carbon neutrality by 2050.

First, the Green Growth Strategy (2020) outlines how the Japanese government aims to support industry and induce private investments in decarbonisation efforts The strategy foresees a policy mix for green innovation that includes grant funding for R&D and technology demonstration projects, tax incentives for capital investments and R&D, policy guidance on green finance and regulatory reforms (e.g. in areas such as hydrogen, offshore wind power, and mobility). It also includes support for international collaboration with developed and emerging countries.

Second, the Sixth Strategic Energy Plan (2021) includes initiatives to ensure energy security, reduce energy costs, and combat climate change in view of the challenge of Japan's low self-sufficiency ratio of energy and reliance on imports of oil and LNG, partially due to the shutdown of nuclear power plants following the 2011 Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami (METI, 2021[1]), and its ambition of achieving carbon neutrality by 2050. The plan includes a variety of policy measures to be implemented until 2030, covering various aspects of the energy supply and demand, such as renewable energy, nuclear power, thermal power, electric system reform, hydrogen and ammonia, resources and fuels, but with a focus on energy efficiency and safety measures, technology upgrades, an expansion of renewable energy.

Third, the Basic Policy for the Realisation of the Green Transition (GX) (2023) provides the overall framework and direction for the green transition in Japan, and the implementation programme “GX Promotion Strategy”, which foresees, among other policies, issuing green transformation bonds [approx. USD 140 billion (JPY 20 trillion)] in 2023 to support investments in non-fossil energy technologies that are still in development, such as carbon capture, use and storage (CCUS) or hydrogen, as well as a carbon pricing

Figure

concept, which would levy a carbon surcharge on importers of fossil fuels, and introduce a nation-wide mandatory emissions trading system.

Source: Presentation of Koichi Inoue

Osório Coelho Guimaraes Neto, Director of the Department of Innovation Programs, Secretariat for Technological Development and Innovation, Ministry of Science, Technology and Innovation of Brazil, discussed Brazil’s STI policies for the green transition. He presented initiatives towards a sustainable economy in the wider policy context, which puts energy efficiency at the heart of bridging (sustainable) energy goals with economic development ambitions (see Figure 3): National energy policy pursues sustainability as oneof three goals nextto energysecurityand energyequity, while policies targeting inclusive growth and addressing national development goals look to enhance economic growth and employment for welfare improvements for Brazil’s wider society.

3. B z

energy transition in the context of the country’ v p national strategic positioning

DevelopmentGoals

▪ Employmentandincome

▪ Socialinclusion

▪ Reductionofsocioeconomicand regionalinequalities

▪ Economicgrowth

▪ Improvingqualityoflife

▪ Reindustrialization

▪ Combatingclimatechange

▪ Preservationofbiodiversityand environmentalquality

Source: Presentation of Osório Coelho Guimaraes Neto

Figure 2. J p ’ j p y p y f ion (GX)

Figure

’

Mr Coelho also provided details of selected components of Brazil’s green transition policies, including the following programmes:

• The New Growth Acceleration Programme (Novo PAC) seeks to facilitate investments by the federal government, state enterprises and the private sector of USD 287 billion between 2023-2026 across nine areas, of which USD 92.3 billion are allocated to energy transition and security goals. Other areas, such as ‘efficient and sustainable transport’, ‘sustainable and resilient cities’, and ‘education, science and technology’ also include indirect investments in green technology.

• The National Biofuel Policy (RenovaBio) promotes expanding the production and use of low-carbon biofuels in Brazil’s transportation sector through three types of measures: first, national decarbonisation targets and mandatory individual targets for fuel producers that are proportional to their shares in the fossil fuel market; second, biofuel producers can voluntary certify their production and receive, as a result, a score based on the relative carbon intensity (per unit) of their biofuels compared to fossil fuels; and, third, the issuance of tradeable decarbonisation credits (CBIOS) that those biofuel producers can receive based on their abovementioned score and trade them in stock markets. These credits are compulsorily acquired by fossil fuel distributors to meet individual targets for reducing GHG emissions

• The National Hydrogen Programme (PNH2) supports Brazil’s ambition to become the world’s most competitive producer of green hydrogen by 2030 As part of the Triennial Work Plan 2023-2025 of PNH2, Brazil has increased public funds for R&D in low-carbon hydrogen, from BRL 29 million in 2020 (USD 7.2 million) to BRL 200 million (USD 41.1 million) per year in 2025

• The National Fund for Scientific and Technological Development (FNDCT) has recently launched a new range of funding calls for research and technology development programmes with a specific emphasis on technology transfer from basic research into industry, focusing on renewable energy, biofuels, oil and gas, and transport The FNDCT’s 2023 budget (BRL 9.96 billion (USD 2.01 billion)) was nearly doubled compared to 2022 (BRL 5.78 billion (USD 1.17 billion)) and is at the highest level since 2013.

Emma Aisbett, Associate Director (Research) Zero-Carbon Energy for the Asia-Pacific at the Australian National University, started her intervention by reminding the audience of the baseline rationale for green innovation support policies: to address innovation-related market failuressuch as knowledge spillovers, and as asecond-best approach where optimal carbon pricing is unfeasible. She also stressed to the importance of evaluating the whole supply chain of a final product to truly account for their environmental impacts.

She then pointed to important policy imperatives Australia has considered in its green innovation in this regard. Dr Aisbett presented the “Guarantee of Origin” approach of the Australian government, which tracks and verifies emissions associated with hydrogen, renewable electricity and potentially other products, thus certifying products granularly based on the emissions embedded in their supply chain She noted that the 2019 Hydrogen Strategy in Australia made explicit reference to technology neutrality, which meant that “clean” hydrogen could be produced using either renewable energy or fossil fuels (and carbon capture), but that a 2023 Strategy Review has considered increasing focus on hydrogen produced through renewable energy to support the renewables industry.

Mats Engström, Senior Policy Fellow, European Council of Foreign Relations (ECFR), and Senior Adviser, Swedish Institute for European Policy Studies (SIEPS), discussed the

green transition goal through the lens of the EU and national policies towards reaching the target of “70 (near) zero emission steel plants operational by 2030, producing well over 100Mt of green steel per annum” (IEA, IRENA, UN Climate Change High-Level Champions, 2023[2]).

He noted the policy mix at the EU level to reach this target – which includes pricing of emissions, innovation support, and regulation – and how priorities changed with regards to innovation support. The major change was from supporting ‘first-of-a-kind’ green technologies to supporting broader deployment and diffusion of suitable technologies

Mr Engström also highlighted that supranational level can provide overall frameworks, roadmapsandmissions,whilenationalpolicymust provideinstrumentsforimplementation (e.g. research programmes, demonstration support, public procurement, infrastructure planning), especially where coordination across different policy areas is needed (e.g. between STI, skills and infrastructure). Institutional capacity at the national level is also needed to distribute financing risks or create demand through public procurement

Exchanges with the audience focussed on the role of the government in supporting innovation for green transitions, including the need for i) coordinating national and international activities, ii) managing well risks from “picking” technological-industrial solutions and iii) ensuring distributional impacts of progress in this field are addressed

Session 2. Choosing, developing and scaling green technologies: what skills and collaboration capacities are needed?

The panel discussion in Session 2 brought together policymakers, an academic expert and business representatives (Figure 4) to discuss current green technology policy strategies, business and collaboration opportunities and the skills requirements for successful technological transitions towards greener development.

Rebecca Maserumule, Chief Director: Hydrogen and Energy, Department of Science and Innovation, South Africa, presented South Africa’s policy strategies with relevant provision on green technologies, including the Decadal Plan (2022-2031), the implementation plan for South Africa’s White Paper on Science Technology and

Figure 4. Session 2 panellists

Innovation (2019) and South Africa’s Economic Reconstruction and Recovery Plan (ERRP), which are responding to large-scale issues such as climate change, geopolitical development, energy security, and health challenges (see Figure 5).

Source: Presentation of Rebecca Maserumule

Regarding South Africa’s ambitions with regard to hydrogen, she presented the 2020 Hydrogen Society Roadmap (HSRM), which was developed to make sure that the results ofhydrogenRDIdiffusethroughout theeconomy andcontributestoinclusivegrowth With regard to skills, the policy pays specific attention to the impact of hydrogen on existing jobs, specifically in the context of a ‘just transition’, with a recent study examining the question of how to make sure that worker’s skills profiles are up for the transition (such as through nano- and micro-education and digitalisation of the training and vocational education system) and that workers from fossil-fuel industries can meaningfully contribute to a hydrogen economy (see Figure 6), given expected overall job losses and gains through the transition (see Figure 7). South Africa’s Sectoral Education and Training Authorities are in charge of TVET and are funded through the Skills Development Levies.

Figure 5. Thematic priorities of the Decadal Plan of South Africa

Figure 6. Different types of skills profiles in the green hydrogen economy

PanelA.Transitionedskillsprofile

Source: Presentation of Rebecca Maserumule

PanelB.Novelskillsprofile

Figure 7. Forecasts of jobs in the green hydrogen economy (GHE) in South Africa

Source: Presentation of Rebecca Maserumule

Mark Schmets, Team lead sustainable industry, circular economy and international collaboration, Directorate Sustainable Industry, Ministry of Economic Affairs & Climate Policy, Netherlands, described the Netherlands’ innovation and industrial policies aimed at reaching net-zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050 Mr Schmets also presented considerations for government regarding how to choose green technologies to support, which skills and capabilities are needed for the development and diffusion of green technologies, and what role collaboration plays for scaling of green technologies (see Table 1).

Moreover, he explained that the policy mix involved requires supply-side policy instruments, such as subsidies and regulations, complementarily to demand side policies. The regular re-assessment of policies was equally central in the strategy.

Finally, he referred to twelve growth markets that the Dutch government has recently announced, eight of which are directly linked to green technologies, including the following: smart farming, hydrogen, climate adaptation, carbon capture & storage and carbon capture & utilization, sustainable infrastructure and circular materials.

Table 1. Policy considerations for skills and collaboration for green technologies

Which green technologies should be supported? Who is best placed to decide on them? Which mechanisms could be used?

Have a clear industry policy: set the horizon for the future economy

Select a mix of short and long term high impact options

Include societal and economic impact of technology

Be realistic about cleantech as solution. Convince society that tech is needed in addition to pricing

Set technology in context of socioeconomic questions. Does green growth exist?

Assess on strategic autonomy

Deglobalisation of value chains –green tech requires international value chains

What skills and capabilities are needed to optimally develop and diffuse green technologies?

Communication with society

Energy security should go hand-inhand with cleantech development

Greenification of tax incentives

Create a market for green technologies and emerging products

Subsidizing R&D and upscaling must be complemented by market incentives

Exchange questions and expertise between R&D and pilot-demo level

Blended finance facilities like subordinated loan

Education and training for the new jobs – retraining existing work force

Source: Adapted from the presentation of Mark Schmets

What role do collaborative efforts between the public and private sectors play in sealing up green technologies?

Public-private collaboration in: Early stage R&D and across disciplines and sectors

Bridge connections between basic science, upscaling and industry

Develop or adapt regulation –create demand

Business case can block new technologies.

We need to challenge the regulatory burden (complexity, national targets versus EU or global targets, permitting)

Can governments be launching customer?

Afonso Amaral, Carnegie Mellon University, Instituto Superior Técnico, IN+ Center for Technology, Innovation, and Policy Research, spoke about how to improve the impact of public investments in critical technologies. In this regard, he presented a data-driven model that alerts policymakers about supply chain disruptions (Supply Chain Alert NotificationSCAN) that was developed at the European Commission’s Directorate-General forInternal Market, Industry, Entrepreneurship and SMEs, and monitors technologies1 relevant to the EU’s Net-Zero Industry Act (see an example in Figure 8).

Mr Amaral also presented the National Network for Critical Technology Assessment (NNCTA) in the United States, which brings together leading scholars to demonstrate how analytics can help inform Congress and agency leaders on strategic directions for and specific investments in research and innovation. Created in 2023, the first-year goals of the

1 As of the dateof the workshop: Photo-Voltaic Solar Panels,Wind Turbines (onshoreand offshore), Electrical Vehicles Batteries, Heat Pumps, and Fuel Cells and Hydrogen electrolysers

Network were to produce a multi-disciplinary multi-organisational approach for critical technology assessment The resulting report “Securing America’s Future: A Framework for Critical Technology Assessment” builds on pilot demonstrations conducted in four technology areas: artificial intelligence, semiconductors, biopharmaceuticals and energy storage and critical materials.

Figure 8. The SCAN monitoring system applied to solar panels

Scoreboard for early warning monitoring of solar panels supply chains using critical raw materials

Note: For indicators in Block 1, the authors rely on high-frequency customs data and compare the average for March/April/May 2022 with the average of the same period of 2021, 2020 and 2019. For the first indicators in Block 2, the authors use the most up-to-date information using trade data (COMEXT 2021) and for the fourth indicators, they use trade (COMEXT) and production (PRODCOM) for 2019, to avoid abnormal statistics resulting from the first year of the pandemic. Indicators in Block 2 allow to identify products with an important ex-ante risk of disruptions. Those products with a high risk are highlighted with two asterisk (**) and those with a medium risk are highlighted with one asterisk (*).

Source: GROW A1 calculations on the European Commission customs database, COMEXT and PRODCOM, as reported in: European Commission, Directorate-General for Internal Market, Industry, Entrepreneurship and SMEs, Amaral, A., Connell, W., Di-Comite, F. et al. (2022[3]), “SCAN” (Supply Chain Alert Notification) monitoring system, https://data.europa.eu/doi/10.2873/493232;

Jayson Myers, CEO, NGen (Canada’s Global Innovation Cluster for Advance Manufacturing) presented the work of NGen in building ecosystems to foster the development and commercialisation of advanced manufacturing technologies The focus is set on building effective public-private technology collaborations that involve researchers, technology providers, manufacturers and skills development organisations. NGenprioritisesprojectsthat bridgetheknowledgegapsonthesideofresearch institutions and technology companies - who often do not know how their technologies can be applied in integrated industry solutions - and industrial customers - who do not know about potentially useful technologies. The acquisition of skills from research institutions for industrial customers to apply useful technologies are another benefit of collaborations.

Igor Sauperl, Manager Business Development, Large Engines Competence Center, presented “HyMethShip” , an international consortium of 13 research and industry partners (see Figure 9) that focuses on developing technologies for green hydrogen-fuelled combustion solutions to reduce ship emissions (de Silva et al., 2023[4]). He stressed the need to develop technological solutions that respond to businesses’ needs by validating the commercially viability of proposed inventions.

9. Collaboration and y f w f p j “Hy S p”

Collaboration │ HyMethShip

MUW

Source: Presentation of Igor Sauperl

Ebbe Kruse Vestergaard, Research Director of GreenLab, Denmark, spoke about the activities of GreenLab, a green industrial park and R&D facility located in the Skive municipality of Denmark that focuses on research, development activities and the commercialisation of green energy generation, storage, and sharing solutions (Figure 10) (de Silva et al., 2023[4]) Rather than focusing on specific technologies, GreenLab’s goal is to foster overall technology readiness and solutions for the green transition,

GreenLab is licensed as a regulatory test zone, which helps accelerate the development of new technologies, and exposes research projects to real physical work environments and industrial problems.

Moreover, GreenLab uses specific green technologies itself, such as its own smart grid solution SymbiosisNet, which makes it possible for the businesses active in the park to share excess energy amongst each other. For this and other circular economy approaches to work, local engagement with a variety of STI actors is key.

Figure

The project has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020research and innovation program under grant agreement No 768945

INNIO Jenbacher

SE.S

HOERBIGER Fraunhofer IKTS

Screentec

EXMAR SSPA

Chalmers University of Technology

GrazUniversity of Technology

Lloyd‘s Register

MEYERWerft

Colibri

LEC

ProjectCoordinator

Source: Presentation of Ebbe Kruse Vestergaard

The discussion with the audience focussed on i) the importance and challenge of successful interdisciplinarity withinthe projects and initiatives, ii) the existing or potential disruptions to technology development and diffusion arising from bottlenecks in availability of some skills in industry and iii) the trade-off between technology neutrality and industrial policy.

Session 3. Societal support for green innovation: engaging citizens and universities in local solutions

Session 3 brought together experts and researchers involved in co-creation to discuss citizen and university engagement to find local solutions to green technology development (see Figure 11).

Figure 11. Session 3 panellists

Figure 10. Overview of GreenLab industrial park

Mauricio Camargo, Professor at Université Lorraine, France, and Laurent Dupont, CoFounder & Scientific Manager of the Lorraine Smart Cities Living Lab, presented the Lorraine FAB Living LAB concept and its Green FabLab projects (de Silva et al., 2023[4]). The initiative aims to facilitate user-driven innovation on the local scale and bottom-up approaches to technology development. This involves activities that engage citizens in experimenting with new green technologies, such as smart meters or plastic recycling (see example in Figure 12). The speakers emphasised the need for multidisciplinary and crosssectorial approaches when applying new technologies on a local level because specialised expertise beyond the technology is often needed. This includes expertise in the fields of regulation or project management.

Figure 12. Plastic recycling as an example of engaging users in technology demonstrations

GreenFabLabasademonstrator: Plasticrecyclingthroughdistributedclosedloopcircuits

http://lf2l.fr/projects/green-fablab/

Santander,P.,CruzSanchez,F.A.,Boudaoud,H.etCamargo,M.(2020).Closedloopsupply chainnetworkforlocalanddistributedplasticrecyclingfor3Dprinting:aMILP-based optimizationapproach.Ressources,ConservationetRecyclage,154,121602

o Smallscale:2kmradius(neighborhood scale)

o Lowprocessingcapacity,

o Technologies:cheap,easytouse

o Activeroleofusersandlocal communities

12 02/01/2024 UL-ERPI-ENSGSI-LF2L

Source: Presentation of Mauricio Camargo and Laurent Dupont and Santander et al. (2020[5])

Muthu de Silva, Professor in Innovation and Entrepreneurship, Birkbeck, University of London, highlighted further examples of university-led co-creation initiatives that engage citizens in innovation, explored in the recent OECD publication “Unlocking co-creation for green innovation” (de Silva et al., 2023[4])

Several initiatives implement innovative mechanisms, such proposing games aimed at understanding local problems to engage the younger generation, or a data gathering tool installed in a neighbourhood, which provides environmental data for researchers and citizens to analyse together, providing for engagement and potentially fostering changes in citizen behaviour towards their environment

She also described the different funding arrangements of such co-creation initiatives, such as initial government funding, university-industry partnerships, and membership-based funding at the local level, as well as the different roles played by universities in co-creation (see Figure 13).

Figure 13. The unique role played by universities in co-creating green innovation

Anchoringactivitiesin regionalecosystems

e.g.LowCarbonEco-Innovatory, UnitedKingdom

Trustedmediatorbetween citizens,governmentand industry

e.g.Aspern.mobil,Austria;NEWRAIL,the Netherlands;CentreTERRE,Canada

Greentransition/innovation skills

e.g.GreenCoLAB,Portugal;LowCarbon Eco-Innovatory,UnitedKingdom

Researchinfrastructures andnetworks

e.g.MIT-ledfusiontechnologyinitiative, UnitedStates;GreenCoLab,Portugal; Aspern.mobilLab,Austria

Diversedisciplinaryexpertise andknowledge

e.g.MIT-ledfusionenergyco-creationinitiative, UnitedStates;GreenLab,Denmark;Centre TERRE,Canada

Source: Presentation by Muthu de Silva based on de Silva et al. (2023[4])

Robert Bezemer, Senior Project Leader, Organisation for Applied Scientific Research (TNO), Netherlands, presented the NEWRAIL initiative consisting in installing solar panels on new noise barriers along railway lines. The importance of engaging the local community was illustrated at the demonstration phase of the project. The project’s location had to be changed as the local community objected to the initially chosen location (not to the solar panels themselves). At both the original and the new location there was considerable local support when the municipality could directly benefit from the use of the renewable energy generated by the project.

Lasse Bundgaard, Researcher, Université Gustave Eiffel, spoke about the role of cities in fostering green co-creation and innovation, highlighting the complexity of advancing on societal transformation within existing and often constraining structures, such as vested interests of some actors and different layers of policy set out to support the status quo. Social and organisational change are required. He also argued that a sustainable future is consequently normative and socially negotiable, requiring effective partnerships between government, industry, research and citizens

Mr Bundgaard also described the project “Mission-Oriented Science with and for Society (SwafS) to Advance on Innovation through Co-creation (MOSAIC)”, which supports cities in the goal to reduce and eventually eliminate greenhouse gas emissions. He stressed the importance of engaging citizens and provided examples of where the design of such citizen participation processes was suboptimal to best engage

The discussion that followed focused on how to frame policy issues best to engage citizens on a local level One such example is providing for physical spaces where citizens can experience demonstrations of new technologies and imagine different futures ‘Speaking the local language’ as also emphasised as key for citizens to engage with projects aimed at leveraging technologies for greener futures. At the same time, building the conditions for local experiments to inform national and international policies aimed at building green futures.

Another question raised was about ways to stimulate more entrepreneurship for change, emphasising that public officials and citizens can also act entrepreneurially and support private sector engagement.

Session 4. Breakout discussion. How can technology ‘moonshots’ deliver on the challenges of the green transition

During this breakout session, workshop participants explored the topic of large-scale technology investment and green STI strategies ('moonshots’) and their potential to drive transformative change. Deliberations were guided by the following questions:

• What is the most relevant example of technology investments or green STI strategy from your country?

• What conditions were necessary for the investment/strategy to be successful?

• Which challenges need(ed) to be overcome? What approaches/solutions were employed?

Participants exchanged about green STI initiatives and large-scale technologydevelopment initiatives targeting strategic technologies from variety of countries. Table 2 presents some of those initiatives and challenges discussed during the session.

Table 2. Green STI strategies and technology-development initiatives and their challenges discussed during the workshop session

By technology area

Hydrogen

Advanced manufacturing

Semiconductors

Batteries

Other technologies

Green STI strategies

Strategies and projects discussed

H2FUTURE project (Austria)

Hydrogen strategy (Germany)

Hydrogen support framework (Switzerland)

NGen – Global Innovation Cluster for Advanced Manufacturing (Canada)

Digitalization of Supply Chain in Swedish Additive Manufacturing (DiSAM) (Sweden)

Advanced Manufacturing Technology Transfer Centers (Switzerland)

High-Value Manufacturing Catapult (United Kingdom) “ ” (United Kingdom)

Important Project of Common European Interest on Microelectronics (European Union)

Driving the electric revolution challenge (United Kingdom)

CHIPS and Science Act (United States)

Oneida Energy Storage site (Canada)

Gigafactory in Skelleftea (Sweden)

Battery Strategy (United Kingdom)

Inflation Reduction Act (United States)

Quantum flagship programme (Finland)

Carbon Capture and Storage: Northern Lights project (Norway)

Strategic Project for Economic Recovery and Transformation (PERTE) for the industrial decarbonization of the manufacturing industry (Spain)

Fusion power industry partnership (United Kingdom)

Future R&I Strategy (Germany)

National Biodiversity Future Center (Italy)

Technology roadmaps in cutting-edge technologies (Korea)

Plan for energy conservation and emissions reduction

Green Mineral Strategy (Norway)

National Plan for Climate and Energy (Spain)

Climate Action Implementation Plan (Sweden)

Net Zero Strategy (United Kingdom)

Challenges discussed

• High amount of energy needed to produce hydrogen may be an issue for feasibility of carbon reduction targets –non-renew ‘ ’ ?

• Technology is both still in development and already in pilot programmes being deployed – dual efforts are needed

• Building (pipeline) infrastructure and integrating hydrogen transport into existing energy networks, esp. across borders

• Raw material shortages

• Uptake of technologies: large manufacturers have already done so for a while, but small actors have trouble participating – an ecosystem challenge

• Skills challenge is an international problem, and aiming to ‘ ’ of competition and might exacerbate skills challenges over the short-to-mid-term

• Volatile supply chains for raw and intermediate goods subject to geopolitical developments

• Procurement of necessary minerals in ethical ways

• Attracting talent to place in which battery factories are located can be a challenge and needs investment in local infrastructure

• Some technologies discussed are still in early development stage

• Scaling and commercialisation challenges – in some cases previous pilot initiatives have failed

• Setting comprehensive targets is only one part of the green innovation policy formulation, but integrating different sectoral green strategies for a holistic policy implementation framework is not always easy

• Public acceptance of green transition measures as a challenge: popular agreement on goals, but sometimes resistance to actual measures at the local level

Note: This table displays only projects and initiatives discussed during the workshop, it does not represent a comprehensive list of project or initiatives in the respective countries, nor does it suggest other countries not displayed here do not have relevant projects or initiatives.

Source: Input by participants at the workshop

Session 5. Impact counts: commercialising and scaling green technology initiatives

In session 5, panellist (see Figure 14) discussed challenges as well as strategies and examples in scaling and commercialising sustainability- and biodiversity-focused innovations

14. Session 5 panellists

Julie Olivier, Science-Policy Officer, Project Management Jülich for the German Federal Ministry for Education and Research, discussed the Sustainable Blue Economy Partnership, the ‘blue arm’ of the European Green Deal, an initiative from 25 countries and the European Commission to pool research and innovation investments and align national programmes towards research and innovation of the European sea basins (Mediterranean, Black Sea, Baltic and North Sea) and the Atlantic Ocean.

A strong focus of the programme is on the diffusion of green ocean-related innovation, with business readiness being just as important as technology readiness to facilitate market uptake(seeFigure 15). MsOlivierelaboratedonthedifferentbottlenecksforocean-related green innovation that the programme is aiming to address, such as:

• Finance gap. The underestimation of commercialisation costs causes a ‘financial valley of death’ (see Figure 16), which is addressed by BlueInvest, an EU initiative supporting SMEs and start-ups in fundraising and market readiness and building investor capacity through dedicated financial instruments such as the InvestEU Blue Economy Fund (BlueInvest, 2023[6])

• Governance bottlenecks. These include incoherent regulation (e.g. a marine drone may be certified technologically, but has not been added to port regulations) and fragmentation (e.g. failure to upscale aquacultures due to administrative burdens in licensing), which are addressed by innovative governance tools, such as co-design of standardisation and regulation.

Figure

Figure 15. Ensuring a comprehensive approach of innovation with business knowledge Business readiness level and technology readiness level

Source: Presentation by Julie Olivier; source noted in presentation: Innovation Norway (2023)

Figure 16. Different funding available depending on the R&I stages

Source: Presentation by Julie Olivier; source noted in presentation: Doussineau et al. (2018[7])

Manuel Heckmann, Venture Partner, Greencode Ventures Oy, spoke about the venture capital investment activity in green innovation, and his view on how to commercialise green innovations. He emphasised that the market of green innovation is significant and keeps growing (see Figure 17). (Corporate) investors in green technologies are usually either generalist funds which have business knowhow but usually not a deep experience in green technologies, or specialised funds with deep knowledge of one sector. However, much of the green innovation is happening at the intersection of different sectors, such as energy and mobility or construction and energy, and interdisciplinary teams and initiatives are needed not only to develop technologies,but also to understand whichinnovations have a solid business case given the complex requirements and conditions of the respective sectors.

Figure 17. The green transition market is accelerating

Source: Presentation of Manuel Heckmann

Simone Mazzola, COO, 3Bee, presented the approach of the company, which deploys technologies to monitor the natural ecosystems. Through tools such as remote sensing, IoT microphones tracking pollinators, and using bees as biomarkers, 3Bee gathers data about biodiversity to help companies with a strong biodiversity footprint prioritise and design interventions for biodiversity conservation and restoration on their sites. This datagathering effort has allowed 3Bee to develop an innovative biodiversity monitoring protocol (Element-E). Such methodology also facilitates the implementation of policy frameworks intended to have companies report on their biodiversity impact and fulfil obligations on land use and habitat quality, and quantify their impact through new policy instruments, such as biodiversity credits. While 3Bee already monitors approx. 50,000 hectors across Europe, Mr Mazzola underlined that using technology for biodiversity monitoring is a growing field, given new regulatory and reporting requirements, and a growing interest of companies to have a local and quantified impact on their immediate environment, particularly in the agricultural, energy, infrastructure, and mining sectors.

Hugo Pereira, General Manager at GreenCoLab, Portugal, presented the approachto scale the impact of GreenCoLab to drive innovation in the field of algae biotechnology, i.e. the application of biotechnological techniques to use algae for the production of valuable products or for environmental purposes. By pursuing a decentralised and connected production approach (i.e. the production of algae next to other industries to reuse the water and nutrients produced by them) (see Figure 18), GreenCoLab contributes to green

transition goals across different sectors. Key challenges for GreenCoLab include that this emerging sector has high R&D needs, the high production costs of algal biomass restricts their commercialisation to niche markets, and low acceptance of products in mass consumer markets. These have so far been addressed by relying on collaboration with industry, such through co-funding R&D projects, to integrate algae production in industrial processes to combat pollution.

Figure 18. Decentralised production approach and connected process impacting the green transition across sectors

Source: Presentation by Hugo Pereira

Rami Tzafon, Technology Transfer Officer, Technological Infrastructure Division, Israel Innovation Authority (IIA), presented the Israel Graphene Consortium, an example of the IIA’s consortium funding programme for academic-business R&D collaborations. The Israel Graphene Consortium manufactures large area twisted layer graphene (a material with properties including exceptional strength, electrical conductivity, flexibility and thermal properties) to decrease the heat regeneration of printed circuit boards used in data processing servers in order to reduce the substantial energy costs and carbon emissions associated with cooling data centres across the world (see Figure 19). Mr Tzafon highlighted the importance of complementarity of the different partners in the consortium:

AIMING

a university invented the technology, a local company produces the technology, and large multi-national chipmaking company is integrating the technology in their products at a large scale.

Figure 19. Data centre energy use

Source: Presentation of Rami Tzafon; Deutsche Welle (2022[8])

The discussion focussed on the importance of measurements – including the impact of technology on environment, but also key evaluation metrics for commercialisation, including the government’s role in shaping business metrics with sustainability indicators; the role of venture capitalists along the innovation cycle (early- vs. late-stage financing); how governments can better channel (seed) funding for green innovation-focussed startups (such as by information one-stop-shops); and the trade-off between the environmental and social risks of not enough green innovation with the financial risk of investing in potentially non-viable green technologies.

References

BlueInvest (2023), Investor Report: An Ocean of Opportunities, European Commission, Directorate-General for Maritime Affairs and Fisheries, https://oceans-andfisheries.ec.europa.eu/news/blueinvest-new-investor-report-features-ocean-investmentopportunities-sustainable-blue-economy-2023-03-09_en. [6]

de Silva, M. et al. (2023), “Unlocking co-creation for green innovation: An exploration of the diverse contributions of universities”, OECD Science, Technology and Industry Policy Papers, No. 163, OECD Publishing, Paris, https://doi.org/10.1787/b887f436-en

Doussineau, M. (2018), Stairway to Excellence: Drawing funding and financing scenarios for effective implementation of Smart Specialisation Strategies, Publications Office of the European Union, 2018, https://doi.org/10.2760/422868.

European Commission/DG GROW, A. et al. (2022), “SCAN” (Supply Chain Alert Notification) monitoring system, Publications Office of the European Union, https://data.europa.eu/doi/10.2873/493232.

IEA, IRENA, UN Climate Change High-Level Champions (2023), The Breakthrough Agenda Report, United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, https://racetozero.unfccc.int/system/breakthroughs/?_gl=1*1y37dzw*_ga*MjAzODAxNTg2M S4xNjk4MzMzNzQy*_ga_7ZZWT14N79*MTcwMzI1MTM0MC4zLjAuMTcwMzI1MTM0M y4wLjAuMA..

METI (2021), Understanding the current energy situation in Japan, Agency for Natural Resources and Energy, Ministry for Economy, Trade and Industry (METI), https://www.enecho.meti.go.jp/en/category/special/article/detail_171.html.

Rooks, T. (2022), Data centers keep energy use steady despite big growth, Deutsche Welle, https://www.dw.com/en/data-centers-energy-consumption-steady-despite-big-growth-becauseof-increasing-efficiency/a-60444548

Santander, P. et al. (2020), “Closed loop supply chain network for local and distributed plastic recycling for 3D printing: a MILP-based optimization approach”, Resources, Conservation and Recycling, Vol. 154, p. 104531, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.resconrec.2019.104531

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