Renewable Energy Research Partnership Supporting SME Clusters in PV within and across EU Regions

1. Renewable Energy Research Partnership Supporting SME Clusters in PV within and across EU Regions Prof. Dr. Gudrun Jaegersberg Univ of Zwickau /Univ. Of Dresden Saxony/ Germany Jenny Ure School of Informatics Univ. of Edinburgh Scotland/ UK

2. Partner Regions / Univ. Industry, Govt. Core EU Partners • Saxon Region (Germany) • Valencia Region (Spain) • Lombardy Region (Italy) • Scotland (Edinburgh, Aberdeen) Non EU partners • Perth region (W. Australia) • Parana region (Brazil)

3. The Challenge The rapid growth of the PV sector offers economic opportunities for Europe that must be seized now unless they are to be ceded to other regions of the world. The coming years will be decisive for the future role of the European PV industry.

4. SMEs are central to EU economy and innovation in this area, yet they.. are not well supported / integrated in regional or transregional clusters fragmented support by University, in research and training little representation in policy fora and larger operators lack shared technical infrastructure to support consortia, despite EGEE and other EU platforms lack shared strategies standards, practices, protocols that are SME friendly despite development of these for SMEs in some other energy sectors (PILOT, ITF)

5. Problem Context: Builds on previous projects in comparable sectors and regions Benchmarking SME integration and innovation scenarios in the oil and gas supply chain Integrating SMEs in the automotive supply chain to enhance benefits for local SMEs and global operators Aligning distributed technical and human networks in large-scale Grid collaborations Mapping gaps and barriers in socio-technical systems

6. e.g.Benchmarking SME integration and innovation scenarios in the oil and gas supply chain (W. Australia/ Scotland)

7. Benchmarking Evolving Models of Competitiveness and Innovation cost-cutting model - at expense of SMEs in the supply chain (UK LOGIC/CRINE Initiative) innovation based model - dependent on integration and support for SMEs in teh suppy chain (UK PILOT Initiative) http://www.logic-oil.com/ http://www.pilottaskforce.co.uk/

8. Benchmarking Recurring Problem: Solution Scenarios…

9. Benchmarking recurring ‘soft’ problem: solution scenarios e.g.

10. e.g. SME integration and innovation in the automotive industry (Germany: Brazil)

11. Aligning distributed networks to add value. (technical, social, organisational) • Identifying socio-technical and cross-cultural issues in trans-regional collaboration* • barriers to SME integration in the supply chain • addressing these issues through trans-regional research, placement, training networks *Link to refs.

12. Recurring Socio-technical Problem: Solution Scenarios at Different Stages in Supply Chain the distributed human process the distributed technical process

13. Proposal to extend preliminary resarch in these issues in currently emerging trans:regional PV clusters Scotland Saxony Lombardy Valencia Rome

14. Initial findings in partner regions indicate emerging issues such as… Political and Legal factors such as feed in tariffs, tax laws affecting investment/profits Lack of Quality Assurance standards Lack of skills / training Lack of coordination with educational, governmental and industry stakeholders

15. continued.. Lack of unified systems and processes, combined with excessive bureaucracy Lack of a unified voice in lobbying regional and national government Lack of a platform/forum for accessing/disseminating information Emerging clusters leveraging different regional strengths (e.g. Krannich)

16. Issues also evident in other studies Report by the Photovoltaic Technology Research Advisory Council (PV-TRAC)

17. Also - emerging transregional clusters of SMEs are now leveraging different regional strengths in new ways Germany Spain, Italy Engineering & R&D strengths Assembly & Marketing strengths

18. Aims of the Proposal Extend stakeholder analysis of gaps, barriers and explore emerging transregional cluster model Support sharing and reuse of recurring problem: solution scenarios Develop a jointly recognised R&D module (case studies developed by students on placement between partner regions) that can be combined with onsite modules reflecting regional knowledge. Explore requirements for Cloud platforms to provide scalable and SME friendly vehicles for collaboration in R&D

19. 1. Stakeholder analysis To identify gaps, barriers and opportunities to integration of SME clusters with and across regions In particular, for emerging trans-regional ‘brokerage’ models To support collaborative action research with regional stakeholders as a basis for policy within and across EU regions Universities Govt. Organisations SMEs

20. Identifying Costs and Benefits of Different Cluster / VO Structures Pilot research highlighted transient models of SME-led collaboration across regions which could be supported (Link to reports/publications)

21. 2: Mapping Recurring Problems and Solutions at different stages in the PV supply chain Informing research policy and practice through collaborative action research Jan Brunner(2008) Der Spanische Fotovoltaiksektor - Gaps & Barriers (Internal Report, August 2008) In Jaegersberg G., and Ure J.,Project Report.

22. 2:Benchmarking Recurring Problem:Solution Scenarios as beforee.g.PILOT/ITF – WA maturity decline growth UKNorth Sea (Pilot / ITF) WA

23. 3. Joint research and training development to fill skills gap. Leveraging diverse regional expertise to provide competitive online professional development, and knowledge transfer, building on case study placements in partner regions Spain Brazil Germany UK? Italy W. Australia

24. demand for CPD in an evolving, knowledge-based market need for ‘portable’ qualifications/credit transfer need to benchmark ‘best practice’ need for international partnerships opportunities to facilitate adoption of shared standards opportunities for strategic alignment of diverse strengths cost barriers for SMEs in these areas opportunities for transfer of solutions to recurring problems opportunities to learning from regions at different stages of maturity Benefits

25. 4: Explore potential to leverage EU Investment in trans-regional ICT platforms (Grid/Cloud) Develop requirements for SMEs in renewables consortia across regions with the construction industry with partners in other regions with research consortia with project specific consortia EuropeanHPC centres Policy Local centres R&D National/ regional centres Knowledge Transfer through Universities Taskforce: Towards a new level of High Performance Computing facilities for EuropeP.J.C. Aerts, K. Koski, F. Lozano

26. Leveraging earlier EU projects on VOs Karvonen, I. 2005

27. Addressing Strategic EU Issues ‘a paradigm change is needed in which EU values such as Unity in Diversity are preserved in a new social and economic model that supports SMEs’ • alternative models for achieving competitiveness through innovation • sustainable economic, social and environmental renewal • role of SMEs in both of these Lisbon Agreement/GothenburgAgreement /Aho Report to the EC

28. ‘a paradigm change is needed in which EU values such as Unity in Diversity are preserved in a new social and economic model that supports SMEs’