Joint Meeting Nov 2018

The S3PEnergy held its second joint partnerships' meeting in Bilbao during the afternoon (14:00 – 18:00) of the 28th of November 2018. This meeting brought together members of all S3PEnergy partnerships, offering cross-partnership learning opportunities as well as the chance to discuss topics of interest to the S3PEnergy. The event was co-organised by the Basque Country.

S3PEnergy thematic partnerships share regional energy-related research and innovation priority areas. Within partnerships, stakeholders work together in order to translate specific smart specialisation areas of interest into concrete investment projects through connecting their regional innovation ecosystems. The interregional collaboration of these partnerships contributes to a strengthened knowledge and innovation based system, which can lead to new paths of development and improved participation of regions' position in global value chains.

The meeting built on the work done by the S3PEnergy on previous meetings, particularly on the S3PEnergy High Level Event held in January and the S3PEnergy working meeting held in June in Brussels within the context of the European Sustainable Week - EUSEW 2018. It offered partnership members as well as experts and Commission representatives (JRC, REGIO, ENER, RTD) the opportunity to analyse the progress made by the S3PEnergy so far as well as enter into discussions on topics of particular importance to partner regions, particularly regarding the new programming period.

Please find here the agenda for all these events, which includes the S3PEnergy Meeting.

Session I: The S3PEnergy Partnerships

Presentation of the S3PEnergy partnerships' progress:

• Bioenergy partnership, Eero PURONTAUS, Regional Council of Lapland (FI), and Rafael Ayuste, Regional Energy Agency of Castile and Leon (ES)
• Smart Grids partnership, Christine LOUSSERT, South Region (Sud Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur) Council (FR)
• Solar  Energy partnership, Pedro GUILHERME, Commission for Coordination and Regional Development of Alentejo (PT)
• Presentation of the Heating and Cooling Initiative's, Johan CARLSSON, Joint Research Centre (JRC), European Commission

Presentation of the S3PEnergy pilot's progress:

• Sensing and Remote Monitoring pilot for the Marine Renewable Energy partnership, José I. HORMAECHE, Basque Energy Cluster (ES)
• Smart Campus pilot of the Sustainable Buildings partnership, Joaquín VILLAR, Andalusian Energy Agency (ES)

 
Session III: Interactive Discussion: Discussing opportunities for the future

S3PEnergy: State of play and reflections for the future
Moderated by Fernando MÉRIDA, Joint Research Centre (JRC), EC
 

• Boosting interregional cooperation with S3 - Preparing the future, Laurent DE MERCEY, Directorate-General for Regional and Urban Policy (DG REGIO EC)
• EU Clean Energy Package, Giulia MELICA, Directorate-General for Energy (DG ENER EC), European Commission
• The Seal of Excellence, Carmen MADRID, Directorate-General for Research and Innovation (DG RTD EC)

 
Session II: State Aid in Regional Energy Investments
 

• State aid rules in the RIS3 context: presentation of new tools to facilitate the application of State aid rules in the Energy sector, Palma MUÑOZ MORQUILLA, State Aid Expert, Agency of Innovation and Development of Andalusia (IDEA)

This S3PEnergy Joint Partnerships Meeting was preceded by:
 

• 26 November: Basque Industry 4.0                                             

The Basque Industry 4.0 Conference was launched in 2014 and today is a multidisciplinary event where strategy, opinions, technology, experiences and workshops are combined and networking is promoted, making it suitable for companies in any sector. For further information, please visit the event page.
 

• 27 November, AM: S3P Industrial Modernisation Steering Committee Meeting

The Steering Committee meeting of the S3P-Industry took place in th emorning of the 27th of November 2018, offering the fourth occasion to further build the community of the S3P-Industry. More info here.
 

• 27 November, PM: S3 Thematic Platforms Conference "Working Together towards Joints Investments"

The idea behind the joint event is that cooperation between partnerships across the three thematic platforms (S3P Energy, IM and Agri-Food) can further support the knowledge base of regional innovation systems, enhancing the potential for upgrading products, improving participating regions' position in global value chains, and leading to new opportunities and growth. New paths of development could be created through inter-partnership collaboration on business/research opportunities, policy tools, effectively leading to inter-platform joint initiatives of innovation.

The joint event proposed an open and interactive discussion on the ways of exploring the future of the thematic approach to S3 and collaboration opportunities across the three thematic platform's partnerships. More info (including the presentations) is available here.
 

• 28 November, AM: S3P Agri-Food Working Committee Meeting

This event focused on the progress of the S3P Agri-Food partnerships, issues and challenges faced and ways to overcome these. The ongoing partnerships were offered an opportunity to discuss their current progress, any specific pilots/ projects supported by the partnerships as well as the past/future activities of the Thematic Platform for Agri-Food.  More info here.