SET9: NorEUnergy - Establishment of Norwegian-EU networks in the bioenergy field

The NorEUnergy project delivered after its 1 year lifetime, in practically all planned actions. NorEUnergy organised two major workshops on project generation/network building on bioenergy/biofuels and participated actively in a third event, namely "Bioenergidagene", organised by NoBio (Norsk bioenergiforening). The first workshop on project generation/networking building was co-organised in Brussels (April 2016) with the European Energy Research Alliance Joint Program Bioenergy and the FME CenBio. The total number of participants was 31, with reasonable Norwegian participation. The challenge there was that all Norwegian participants represented the research community. The workshop was successfull and resulted in 6 project ideas, three of which were further developed and finally submitted to H2020. Besides, the Norwegian participants established new networks and reinforced the existing ones with relevant European stakeholders both from industry and from academia. Learning from the first workshop, a second event on project development/network building organised in Oslo (June 2017) put major efforts in mobilising and engaging Norwegian industry. These efforts translated into an excellent partipation of industrial stakeholders in the workshop, with 13 participants out of a total participation of around 30-32 participants. One of the reasons for this success was the bitaleral dialogues established with each of the industrial stakeholders explaining in detail the background and objective of the workhsop. One additional elements that contributed to success was to focus on a certain number (8) of H2020 topics with one unique theme: bioenergy/biofuels. Besides these two workshops, NorEUnergy participated actively in the "Bioenergidagene" conference that NoBio (Norsk Bioenergiforening) organised at Gardemoen in November 2016. The project manager, Berta Matas Güell, was given the opportunity to present NorEUnergy to all the participants of the conference. This made it very efficient, as a significant number of major bioenergy-driven Norwegian industries were gathered at that conference.

NorEUnergy will focus on increasing the mobilization and participation of Norwegian actors in the field of bioenergy, as one of the prioritized scientific areas in the new integrated SET-Plan. For this purpose, a list of concrete actions are planned: 1.Identification of the H2020 calls relevant for the Norwegian bioenergy community 2.Individual teleconferences with key national bioenergy associations as pre-step/preparation for open workshops 3.Arrangement of kick-off meeting 4.Participation in national bioenergy-related open workshops/conferences 5.Contact with Brussels-based renowned stakeholders 6.Contact with national and international network channels 7. Contact with the European Commission Social media and newsletters 7. Newsletters The NorEUnergy members involved in these actions represent the Norwegian bioenergy sector in a broad spectre. Additionally, it is planned to establish dialogue with key European/international partners relevant for the realization of Norwegian bioenergy value chains. The fact that the Project coordinator is based in Brussels offers a unique added value to achieve the desired targets.