Horizon 2020

Successful regional research and innovation (R&I) policies are needed to bring forward sustainable and economic development with increased inclusiveness and improved quality of life. A new methodological approach is needed that takes into consideration the trends in smart cities, transport and energy as fundamental guides for successful regional development. The RRI2SCALE project will identify the level of integration of responsible research and innovation in four European regions: Vestland (Norway), Overijssel (The Netherlands), Kriti (Greece) and Galicia (Spain). The project also promotes dialogue to consider citizens' perceptions for a new democratic model of governance within the regional ecosystems.

The overall objective of EERAdata is to develop, explore, and test a FAIR (findable, accessible, interoperable, re-usable) and open data ecosystem for low carbon energy research. This new data infrastructure is established through the broad involvement of the energy research community in a series of workshops. EERAdata also implements an open platform for uniform and seamless access to energy data and establishes a pool of experts to facilitate a mental shift in the community. By linking to national initiatives, the European Open Science Cloud, the Research Data Alliance and others, the project builds a critical mass to explore the prospects of large-scale FAIR and open energy data. HVL is the project coordinator.

The role citizens can play in the low carbon energy transition process is critical, and social innovation can boost citizens’ participation. Collective action initiatives (CAIs) encourage citizens’ mobilisation and ensure the public’s contribution in this transition process. However, there is a lack of understanding regarding CAI development and potential. The COMETS project will investigate CAI evolution and contribution in the energy transition efforts at EU and national level in six countries. The project will enrich the scientific understanding of the incentives and aspirations of CAIs, its limitations, as well as its historical and future performance in the energy transition.

The PIONEERED project will specify research-informed policy standards and identify innovative policies and practices to reduce inequalities in accessing education. The project will identify emerging and existing sources of educational inequalities from early childhood to tertiary education, design pioneering policies and practices of reaction, incorporate the findings, and determine the most adaptable instruments and innovative policies to apply across Europe. PIONEERED will analyse national policies addressing inequalities, analyse new and existing relevant data, and conduct research in schools and informal education centres.

The main aim of the DRES2Market project is to develop a comprehensive and affordable approach to facilitate the effective participation of distributed generation based on renewable energies in the electricity markets, enable to sell excess of production in the wholesale market and supply balancing and reserve services according to market criteria and system operation needs. DRES2Market is focused on overcoming the existing technological and regulatory barriers.

The RiskGone project addresses the need for a new framework for risk governance for engineered nanomaterials. The project will recommend adjustments to current guidelines and develop nano-specific guidance documents for the risk assessment of ENMs. It will evaluate, optimise and pre-validate standard operating procedures and test guidelines and integrate them into a framework for risk governance. Relying on current strategies for risk assessment of conventional chemicals, this new framework will comprise modular tools, taking into account ethical aspects and societal risk perception.