K4I Forum Newsletter December 2023
K4I Forum in the European Parliament
We are inviting all innovation stakeholders from Europe to join us on the journey to the European Innovation Area #EIA
K4I EIAS 2023 Highlights
The program of the?15th European Innovation Summit, perfectly reflected the new focus of K4I supporting research and innovation activities and startups that drive the emerging green economy. Discussions on evolving renewable energy solutions, quantum technology and a workshop with ‘Green Pioneers’ from Technical Universities, Entrepreneurship centres, incubators as well as impact investors showed ways towards a sustainable future.
Have a look at what our speakers said at the K4I Forum?
European Innovation Area Summit 2023
For the Green and Digital Transition we need research and innovation because for implementing some of the legislation that we are imposing we still do not have all the necessary technology in areas such as road, air and water transport, ans also in the energy intensive industries.?
For that,?we need to continue investing a lot in research and innovation, demonstration projects, pilots and the scaling up of emerging clean businesses.?This is why?we have already started a campaign, myself and my colleague Christian Ehler, calling for doubling the budget for FP 10.
Maria Da Gra?a Carvalho , Member of the European Parliament, EPP; Portugal, K4I Forum Chair
Europe's journey towards a sustainable and innovative future is driven by our commitment to transforming groundbreaking research into impactful innovations contributing to the European Green Deal objectives.
Through initiatives like the European Innovation Council (EIC), we are empowering startups and businesses to lead the global transition towards a green economy, ensuring Europe remains a beacon of creativity, collaboration, and excellence.
Anna Panagopoulou , Director ERA & Innovation, DG R&I, EC
Taguspark - Knowledge City, the leading science and tech park in the Iberian Peninsula, prioritizes European growth and work-life balance. Emphasizing zero environmental impact, waste recycling, energy independence, and labour dignity, it's set to be Europe's most civic park. Committed to arts and culture, it fosters a vibrant environment for the science and tech innovation ecosystem, reflecting a dedication to excellence and bright minds.
Eduardo Baptista Correia ,?CEO at Taguspark – Knowledge City?
Green Pioneers: Leading the Green and Digital Transition?
Europe is extremely good at generating ideas and visions of breakthrough tech but it is not so successful pushing these ideas into concrete innovations to the market. The European Innovation Council is there to help overcome this paradox.
Marco Giorgini ,?EIC Transition Activities & Business Acceleration Services, ?DG R&I, EC
Many innovative, green solutions need to happen, let us make it in EUROPE now.?
Jochen Brodersen,?Access to Finance,?DG R&I, EC
There are big challenges. The first challenge to create entrepreneurial impact is access to funding. Funding is extremely important in the pre-seed phase and in the early seed phase. The second challenge, in the energy transition, for example, is that there is no appropriate regulation for a great, emerging technology. The third challenge is to build proof points since the innovations are not yet recognized.
Jeroen van Woerden ,?Managing Director at The Gate, Eindhoven University of Technology
The European Institute of Gender Equality published the 26th of October 2023 the report on?"Why gender equality is the 'silver bullet' for meaningful climate action", in which they prove our hypothesis of?female entrepreneurs and female researchers, being more likely to start sustainable businesses than men.?
So, why not review our financial ecosystem, and in particular Venture Capital, to really be impactful? How can?we?measure this impact in the green and digital transition, if 99% of the funds go to male entrepreneurs?
Jara Pascual , CEO and Founder at COLLABWITH
The ACRID Network, comprise 9 associate and candidate countries, more than 144 experts and more than 200 entities. The network, connected with K4I since 2014, and aligned to the EIA Manifesto, emphasizes Research & Innovation, and support the Green, and Digital transition. It underlines the opportunity of linking Western Balkan countries closer to the EU and strengthen cooperation among other in the areas of research & innovation as a major driver of the digital and green transition raising the percentage of pro-european citizens in the pools in these countries.
Ilija Vuchkov ,?CEO at EMKICE KIC
Alternative renewables: Iron Power Technology - present and future
If we speak about decarbonization, there are many, many challenges. First, how to produce enough green energy, then how to make this energy affordable. And one of the biggest challenges: how to store energy. I think that Iron Power Technology is a very exciting and promising solutions?for?the?future.
Franc Bogovi? ,?Member of the European Parliament, EPP, Slovenia? ?
Research and innovation in all forms of energy storage, including for stationary and long-duration applications, are essential to allow the greater penetration of renewable energy sources.??
Vincent Berrutto,?Head of Unit Digitalisation, competitiveness, research & innovation, DG ENER, EC
The warning is that people from outside Europe, like America, Russia, or Asia, are also seeing that this technology is promising and contacting this type of startups. And it's also for you to take care that we don't give everything away to companies or politics outside of Europe.?
Mark Cox ,?Program Manager, Eindhoven Institute for Renewable Energy Systems (EIRES), Eindhoven University of Technology
The clean, circular, dense and cost competitive large-scale and long-term sustainable energy carrier Iron power will play a crucial role in the energy transition and will create a leading role for Europe worldwide.?
Philip De Goey ,?Full Professor of Combustion Technology in the Power & Flow Section, Mechanical Engineering Department, Eindhoven University of Technology
Our solution involves to deploy Iron Fuel Technology?, a clean technology that uses iron powder as a CO2-free, safe and grid-independent energy carrier. We are developing the Iron Fuel Technology? for cost-effective mass-scale deployment worldwide, to address 12% of total GHG emissions.
Appel Van Randen ,?Business development & Public affairs, RIFT
领英推荐
The EU is known for a wide spectrum of grant instruments supporting the way to a clean economy. However, most of all, private funding for first-of-a-kind systems of capital intensive clean technologies needs to be de-risked in order to reduce costs of financing for these systems and enable adoption.?
Jan Hubers, RTTP , Manager Public Funding & Public Affairs, RIFT ?
The Role of SMRs in the EUs Energy and Climate Strategy
As we wrote in the report on SMRs, it is very important that we develop this new generations of nuclear technologies. We ask in the report support from the European Commission and it is very promising what we heard from Commissioner Kadri Simson at the nuclear forum in Bratislava, that the Commission will support also these initiatives.
Franc Bogovi? ,?Member of the European Parliament, ITRE, EPP, Slovenia ?
We have started to work on this four years ago, when the focus was very much on large reactors, and the attention of the Commission was more on the renewables. Then we had joint business to business event with the US, we realized that the US was very much about the “let's get the SMR's rolling”.
?We realize that in on the European side, we're researching, we're designing, which is great, but we don't have anything that's ready for to market. So, we came up with ambitious targets to get SMRs deployed in the EU by 2030.
Zuzana Petrovicova ,?Head of Unit Nuclear energy, nuclear waste & decommissioning, DG ENER, EC
To fully decarbonize our societies, we will have not only to provide low Carbon electricity to the grid, but also to tackle the challenge of low carbon Hydrogen and Industrial Heat.?SMRs can play a role to achieve these goals, with more flexible siting possibilities, simpler design and passive safety features.
Pierre Gavoille , Head of SMR R&D Program at CEA ?
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The Nuclear Alliance issued a statement where they consider that 150 GW of nuclear installed capacity is achievable in 2050. SMRs are part of this solution, with about the 50 GW from classic SMRs and around 10 GW, starting from 2040 from AMRs.
Andrei Goicea , Policy Director at Nucleareurope?
?Nuclear energy is a key component for a sustainable global energy system. The integration of SMRs and AMRs will complement the existing offer for large nuclear reactors in such sustainable energy systems. Three key challenges for these reactors are: ensuring bankability, timely delivery, and developing an efficient fuel cycle and waste management strategy.?
Luc Van den Durpel , Founding partner at Nuclear-21?
Deploying a clear, concise, and coordinated regulatory framework at the EU-level is key to ensure the rapid and effective deployment of SMRs and other innovative nuclear technologies.?
Guerric de Crombrugghe , Founding Partner at Nuketech?
We need something that supports the stability of the system as well. This is how we can attain our sovereignty and support EU industry activity in the log term.
We need something that supports the stability of the system as well. This is how we can attain our sovereignty and support EU industry activity in the log term.
Christian Sj?lander ,?CEO at K?rnfull Next
Global Quantum Internet Made in Europe: Translating groundbreaking R&D into world-leading innovation?
Members of the European Parliament, officials from the European Commission, and representatives from member states, academia and industry gathered to chart Europe’s strategies to advance the region’s technological leadership in quantum internet.
The event was hosted by Ivars Ijabs , Member of the European Parliament, and organised by the K4I Forum in cooperation with 荷兰代尔夫特理工大学 .
Maria Da Gra?a Carvalho , Member of the European Parliament, and Gustav Kalbe , Acting Director of DG CNECT C-Digital Excellence & Science Infrastructure of the European Commission, were also present to discuss with other thought leaders and decision makers from other public entities, universities, startups and major industry players in the region.
The EU is known for a wide spectrum of grant instruments supporting the way to a clean economy. However, first of all, private funding for first-of-a-kind systems of capital intensive clean technologies needs to be de-risked in order to reduce costs of financing for these systems and enable adoption.?
Ivars Ijabs ,?Member of the European Parliament, Renew Europe, Latvia
See you on 30 January 2024 at the K4I Forum
New Year Reception
in the European Parliament
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Founding Partner at Nuclear-21
1 年Let 2024 be the year of change … all SMR/AMRs projects shall need to become clear towards tangible prospects during this coming year ensuring delivery of sustainable energy by the early 2030s. But don’t forget that these SMR/AMRs remain and are complementary to the large reactors. Let’s meet during 2024 to deliver on this. Nuclear-21