Since the start of this year, the Sustainable Scale-Up Foundation and five international partners have been conducting research on the digitalisation and deep-tech innovation ecosystem within the energy transition across the Netherlands as part of WEnnovate, a project funded by the European Commission. 

We aim to foster the transition to local energy communities, addressing issues such as grid congestion in the current energy system. Our final output will consist of action plans that will be presented to the European Commission in November, which will include recommendations to make innovative processes more interconnected, efficient and welcoming to new players. 

Our research thus far has involved numerous interviews with key stakeholders and desk research on relevant aspects such as:

• EU and government-level sustainability agendas

• Policy intentions

• Funding mechanisms

• Stakeholders’ ambitions

• Analyses of (collaboration) opportunities

• Current challenges and bottlenecks

 The initial discussions have already provided precious insights on topics including:

• What do stakeholders think are the most important technological developments for the energy transition?

• What are the main barriers to digitalisation and deep tech?

• How do they see the fastest solutions for acceleration and what do we learn from abroad? 

Now, we are inviting you to join us in sharing our research findings and complementing them with your unique perspectives. Are you involved in the energy transition or have you witnessed the challenges faced by new concepts in the energy sector, socially and digitally? Your knowledge and experiences in the innovation and energy sector are deeply appreciated in this initial round of stakeholder engagement. Together with your input, we can shape realistic and pragmatic solutions within our action plan. 

Join us on April 16th at the Provincie Huis Utrecht for an opportunity to influence decision-makers and contribute to improving the energy innovation landscape.

We are committed to ensuring diverse representation, including input from underrepresented groups, such as women, young professionals, individuals from different nationalities, and socially oriented companies. If you know someone we really shouldn't miss or have relevant research or reports to share, we would love to hear from you. 

Register here to confirm your participation.

For more details about the project, visit: www.wennovate.designterminal.org or refer to “WEnnovate” on europa.eu.