Clean and efficient energies for Europe : socio-economic impact of energy research

Abstract

Launched in 1994, the Fourth Framework Programme (FP4) covering research and demonstration aimed to improve the security of energy supply and to reduce the impact of the production and use of energy on the environment, in particular CO2 and the other greenhouse gases. Other important EU objectives were also addressed including strengthening the technological basis of the energy industry (e.g. employment and export potential), improving European social and economic cohesion and contributing to co-operation with third countries. It also supported research on overall energy RTD strategy in the inter-disciplinary area of energy-environment-economy. Six years after the Programme’s launch, at a stage when most of the projects have been completed, and the Sixth Framework Programme is being planned, it was considered appropriate to assess not only the scientific and technical quality of the completed projects, but also their impact on society, the economy and the environment. The present analysis was organised to allow quick feedback for the preparation of the new Framework Programme. This was achieved by convening a panel of ten experts from different Member States. Using questionnaires, project final reports and direct contacts where necessary, the Panel investigated the expected overall impact by examining the scientific and technical results as well as the social and economic impact of a sample of about 90 already finished Non-Nuclear Energy projects, most of them three years ago (time necessary to expect some concrete results), representing in total a e84 million investment by the Commission. The contribution to Community policies, particularly emphasised in the present Framework Programme, as well as the Programmes’s addition to European Added Value were both explored. The results of this impact assessment of about one-fifth of the projects funded under the Non-Nuclear Energy Programme of the Fourth Framework Programme for the period 1994-1998 (better known as JOULE), were analysed and critically reviewed and are presented in this report. Among the main conclusions of the report, it is worth noting that the vast majority of the examined projects have developed new technical advances. Furthermore, the commercial leverage of funded research projects is positive and its major non-commercial impact is on the improvement of the environment and particularly on CO2 emissions. The social and economic impact remains, in general, limited, but could be improved through better understanding and application of the European Added Value principles. The Fifth Framework Programme made a further step towards refocusing European energy research and aiming to provide effective responses to the major challenges facing European society. It is important to fully exploit the experience and the results from the research undertaken under the FP4 since the knowledge generated relates directly to the objectives of the next Energy Research Programme. It also provides the groundwork for launching effective and innovative approaches to implementing the “European Research Area”. Based on the present pilot exercise, the remaining projects of the Non-Nuclear Energy Programme of the FP4 will be assessed to provide a full picture of the impact of the Programme. Finally, the present pilot exercise should help to provide a methodological base for other research programmes to develop quick-response, feedback to decision-makers to allow for the development of better informed research policies and actions. It should also help to bring more quickly the results and socio-economic implications of European research to European citizens, companies and institutions.