ERA-Net SG+ Kick-off and Meetings in Split

ERA-Net SG+ is an initiative of funding agencies from 21 European countries and regions. Its goal is to enable joint funding of RDD projects in the area of Smart Grids and beyond. The initiative launched its 1st joint call for transnational projects in 2015; 21 projects were selected for funding in early 2016. As the projects are starting in 2016, the Support Team of ERA-Net SG+ organised a joint kick-off to enable smooth cooperation between funded projects and the initiative as well as to provide a package of tools, services and coaching for their project dissemination and communication. 

Representatives from 19 ERA-Net SG+ projects followed the initiative’s invitation to Split. They were introduced to the ERA-Net SG+ initiative, the ERA-Net SG+ Knowledge Community as well as to related services. The Knowledge Community has been initiated to facilitate the exchange between experts in the field of Smart Grids, clustered by 5 thematic Working Groups, as well as to enable project consortia to build their RDD efforts on results of former projects and existing knowledge.

Day 1 focussed on introducing ERA-Net SG+ funded projects to the initiative. After a welcome by the event’s host, Maja Raijcic from the Environmental Protection and Energy Efficiency Fund, Michael Hübner as the coordinator of the ERA-Net SG+ initiative gave a general introduction to the background, the objectives and the structure of the initiative. The responsibilities in managing ERA-Net SG+ funded projects were presented by Mimmi Magnusson, member of the ERA-Net SG+ Call Management. The activities and services of the Support Team as well as the Knowledge Community were presented by Ludwig Karg, head of the Support Team. Michele de Nigris, deputy-head of the Support Team, and Karina Barnholt Klepper from the Call Management gave an introduction to project evaluation and monitoring processes of ERA-Net SG+. Furthermore, instructions were given by Teija Laitinen and Helena Geißler from the Support Team on how to work with the Knowledge Sharing platform expera.

After these introductory presentations, all ERA-Net SG+ projects gave 99-seconds presentations of their projects and positioned themselves within the broader scope of the initiative. Additionally, participants mapped their own projects with the three layers of ERA-Net SG+, discussed their roles in the ERA-Net SG+ Working Groups, and classified different questions of the Living Documents according to their importance and urgency.

On Day 2, the Support Team organised a communication seminar for representatives of the funded projects. Participants received practical guidance and coaching on how to conduct effective communication and dissemination for their projects. Parallel to this, ERA-Net SG+ funding agencies met to elaborate sound strategies and Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) for the evaluation of projects. In the afternoon, the meeting of ERA-Net SG+ Working Groups started with a joint meeting of all Working Groups and a short introduction to each of their discussion topics. Afterwards, Working Groups split up into parallel sessions to discuss the most important and urgent questions related to related sets of Living Documents (which constitute a compilation of the current state of knowledge in the field of smart grids).

On the last day of the three-day event, cross-cutting sessions were held between the following Working Groups in order to discuss overlapping topics:

All Working Groups agreed to continue the cooperation on overlapping topics and to further exchange their knowledge. An idea came up to collect best practices from the respective areas.

All in all, the event was great success and participants appreciated the many networking possibilities and joint forces that were established between the participating partners, including funded projects, working groups as well as cooperating funding agencies and other stakeholders of ERA-Net SG+. Fruitful discussions had been going on during those three days, including in-depth knowledge exchange and new input for our ERA-Net SG+ Knowledge Community.