Exploring the strengths and weaknesses of European innovation capacity within the Strategic Energy Technologies (SET) Plan
The purpose of this policy report is to explore the strengths and weaknesses of European innovation capacity within the Strategic Energy Technologies (SET) Plan Integrated Roadmap.
The SET Plan Integrated Roadmap groups energy technology priorities in to 13 themes for research and innovation (R&I). As a comprehensive European Energy R&I agenda, the thirteen themes of the Integrated Roadmap have been instrumental to determine the R&I priorities of the Energy Union. The Energy Union R&I priorities have been addressed in the recent Integrated SET Plan Communication, which proposes ten actions to accelerate the energy system transformation that have been identified on the basis of the Integrated Roadmap. Structured around the thirteen themes of the Integrated Roadmap, the aim of this report is to carry out an assessment of energy technology R&I in specific sectors and challenges in the EU. This is done by benchmarking cost, performance and market - readiness levels in relation to other regions of the world using data on the key companies, industries, and research institutes in the EU that are active in a particular area. The analysis is based on available literature and databases and compares the performance of the EU's Energy R&I sector versus other key countries worldwide on the basis of the following key research questions:
1. Based on existing indicators, which indicators can be used to measure the innovation capacity performance of the community in each sector?
2. Who are the key players in the 13 theme areas set out in the Integrated Roadmap, including companies, research institutes, universities and industries?
3. How does the community in Europe benchmark against other leading competitors in the world in the 13 themes?
The SET Plan Integrated Roadmap provides the framework for the assessment of the state of play in each theme in Europe and summarises the challenges. Each Integrated Roadmap theme is discussed in a separate chapter in this policy report. A summary of the methodology employed to gather appropriate data on four key indicators to measure the innovation capacity is described in the next chapter. The four Integrated Challenges and thirteen themes of the SET Plan Integra ted Roadmap are as follows:
- Integrated Challenge 1: Active consumer at the centre of the energy system
Theme 1: Engaging consumers through better understanding, information and market transformation
Theme 2: Activating consumers through innovative technologies, products and services
- Integrated Challenge 2: Demand focus – increasing energy efficiency across the energy system Theme 3: Increasing energy efficiency in buildings
Theme 4: Increasing energy efficiency in heating and cooling
Theme 5: Increasing energy efficiency in industry and services
- Integrated Challenge 3: System optimisation
Theme 6:Modernising the European electricity grid and establishing synergies between the various energy networks
Theme 7:Unlocking the potential of energy storage and conversion of electricity to other energy carriers
Theme 8:Providing the energy system with flexibility, security and cost - effectiveness
Theme 9: Development and demonstration of holistic system optimisation at local/urban level (Smart Cities and Communities)
- Integrated Challenge 4: Secure, cost - effective, clean and competitive supply
Theme 10: Accelerating the development of renewable electricity an d heating/cooling technologies
Theme 11: Enabling carbon capture, CO2 utilisation and storage technologies and increased efficiency of the fossil fuel - based power sector and energy intensive industry
Theme 12: Supporting safe and efficient operation of nuclear systems, development of innovative reactor concepts and sustainable solutions for the management of fissile materials and radioactive waste
Theme 13: Developing sustainable biofuels, fuel cells and hydrogen and alternative fuels for the European transport fuel mix
Each of the subsequent chapters follow a similar structure, starting by describing each integrated challenge and their respective themes and then provide s an analysis of the strengths and weaknesses of each by drawing on publicly available data sources and stakeholder engagement. Each chapter concludes with an overview of Europe’s research and innovation capacity. The report concludes with a summary of the main conclusions from each integrated challenge
Available in:
Regions and themes
Share
Download the full analysis
This page contains only a summary of our work. If you would like to have access to all the information from our research on the subject, you can download the full version in PDF format.
Exploring the strengths and weaknesses of European innovation capacity within the Strategic Energy Technologies (SET) Plan
Related centers and programs
Discover our other research centers and programs
Center for Energy & Climate
Ifri's Energy and Climate Center carries out activities and research on the geopolitical and geoeconomic issues of energy transitions such as energy security, competitiveness, control of value chains, and acceptability. Specialized in the study of European energy/climate policies as well as energy markets in Europe and around the world, its work also focuses on the energy and climate strategies of major powers such as the United States, China or India. It offers recognized expertise, enriched by international collaborations and events, particularly in Paris and Brussels.
Find out more
Discover all our analyses
Can carbon markets make a breakthrough at COP29?
Voluntary carbon markets (VCMs) have a strong potential, notably to help bridge the climate finance gap, especially for Africa.
Taiwan's Energy Supply: The Achilles Heel of National Security
Making Taiwan a “dead island” through “a blockade” and “disruption of energy supplies” leading to an “economic collapse.” This is how Colonel Zhang Chi of the People’s Liberation Army and professor at the National Defense University in Beijing described the objective of the Chinese military exercises in May 2024, following the inauguration of Taiwan’s new president, Lai Ching-te. Similar to the exercises that took place after Nancy Pelosi’s visit to Taipei in August 2022, China designated exercise zones facing Taiwan’s main ports, effectively simulating a military embargo on Taiwan. These maneuvers illustrate Beijing’s growing pressure on the island, which it aims to conquer, and push Taiwan to question its resilience capacity.
India’s Broken Power Economics : Addressing DISCOM Challenges
India’s electricity demand is rising at an impressive annual rate of 9%. From 2014 to 2023, the country’s gross domestic product (GDP) surged from 1.95 trillion dollars ($) to $3.2 trillion (constant 2015 US$), and the nation is poised to maintain this upward trajectory, with projected growth rates exceeding 7% in 2024 and 2025. Correspondingly, peak power demand has soared from 136 gigawatts (GW) in 2014 to 243 GW in 2024, positioning India as the world’s third-largest energy consumer. In the past decade, the country has increased its power generation capacity by a remarkable 190 GW, pushing its total installed capacity beyond 400 GW.
The Troubled Reorganization of Critical Raw Materials Value Chains: An Assessment of European De-risking Policies
With the demand for critical raw materials set to, at a minimum, double by 2030 in the context of the current energy transition policies, the concentration of critical raw materials (CRM) supplies and, even more, of refining capacities in a handful of countries has become one of the paramount issues in international, bilateral and national discussions. China’s dominant position and successive export controls on critical raw materials (lately, germanium, gallium, rare earths processing technology, graphite, antimony) point to a trend of weaponizing critical dependencies.