Project consortium

Country: Ethiopia

The institute is the largest engineering institute with a better staff profile as compared to the other thirty-two public universities in Ethiopia. For young PhD holders and researchers returning from abroad, it is a very preferred environment to work in. It does still play a critical role in supporting engineering education in most Ethiopian universities and beyond. It trains instructors from other universities and delivers courses as visiting professors in their programs. Thus, the quality of education and research at AAiT reflects the national strengths and weaknesses in creativity, innovation, and entrepreneurial culture. AAiT participates in this project through its Center for Energy, which strives to create a strong link, both nationally and internationally, between the experts in the field of Renewable Energy Technologies, Energy Applications, Energy Conversion and Conservation, Energy Management, Energy Auditing and Optimisation and stakeholders.

Specifically, the Energy Center will provide interdisciplinary postgraduate education and short term training in both theoretical and practical aspects of energy technology and power industry management, to meet the following needs. It also identifies consultancy and training needs of the country in the energy sector to devise a sustainable energy development programme in the country. Furthermore, it trains highly qualified technical human power in energy technology, equipped with the required technical skills for planning, installation and operation of renewable energy conversion systems. At last, it trains professionally competent power industry managers with diverse skills in areas like organizational leadership, financial management, human and material resources management, combined with the requisite fundamental technical knowledge in power system and development and utilization of energy resources.

Country: Finland

On 1 January 2010, the Helsinki School of Economics, Helsinki University of Technology and the University of Art and Design Helsinki merged and Aalto University started operating. Aalto University will participate in the project through its department of mechanical engineering which is a leading multidisciplinary research establishment with strong industrial ties with impact on industry and society at large.

The department’s research focuses on developing the next generation of devices, machines and systems. This translates to a focus on new technologies that are more efficient, moredurable and thus more sustainable. The department’s research approaches problems from two directions – energy and mechanics: Energy technology research at the department consists of the study of energy systems, thermodynamics and combustion technology. Within these areas, research delves into industrial processes, heating, energy use in buildings and more. In our work, we use state-of-the-art tools and approaches in modelling, computation and experimental research.

Country: Denmark

Aalborg University is a young university with only 40 years of history. Since its establishment in 1974, AAU has been characterised by a problem-based and project-oriented teaching method (PBL) – also called the Aalborg Model, and by extensive collaboration with the surrounding society. In this project, AAU will participate through its Department of Planning, which works with planning, technology and society and focuses on creating a more sustainable future. The department is interdisciplinary in technical, natural and social science disciplines and presents a unique combination of social and technological understanding where digital and technical solutions merge with the needs of the society.

The department’s research and teaching focus on sustainability including sustainable transition, design, circular economy, consumption and production, environmental assessment, technological assessment, energy planning, marine management, surveying, land use and problem based learning. The department provides research-based teaching in a number of educations. Among these, there are Urban, energy and environmental planning, Techno-Anthropology, Sustainable design and Surveying.

Country: Spain

The Basque Centre for Climate Change (BC3) is an Excellence Research Centre based in the Basque Country (Spain), created in 2008, jointly promoted by the Basque Government and the University of the Basque Country. BC3´s mission is to strategically foster co-production of knowledge relevant to decision making by integrating environmental, socioeconomic and ethical dimensions of climate change. As of 2018, BC3 relies on a multidisciplinary team of 46 researchers and 5 management staff.

For the past decade, our contribution to research of climate change and to the science-policy interface places us in a unique position to offer knowledge, tools and new methodologies that we aim toward action and shared work to design and help to apply policies aimed at sustainable development.

Country: Belgium

Bruegel is a Brussels-based European think tank that specializes in economics. Bruegel is committed to impartiality, openness and excellence. Bruegel is a non-profit international association under Belgian law (AISBL). Its governance and funding model makes Bruegel unique, being the only think tank partly funded by several EU Member States: it is supported by 19 European governments, 35 international corporations, and 12 international institutions. and the Member States. Bruegel also often organises small scale dialogues with key policymakers such as European commissioners or directors-general as well as ministers or heads of international organisations.

Country: Spain

CARTIF is a horizontal, private and non-profit Research Institution, whose main mission is providing innovative solutions to the industry to enhance their processes, systems and products, improving their competitiveness and creating new business opportunities.CARTIF develops R&D projects financed by private companies or through public funds obtained from competitive calls at national and international level. CARTIF also supports public entities (city councils, regional governments…) on high impact projects planning and development.

CARTIF is a multidisciplinary centre that works in multiple knowledge fields focused to many economic sectors: energy, food, industry, construction and infrastructures, health and environment, addressing research lines oriented to the main societal challenges, as industry 4.0, smart grids, smart cities, energy efficiency, cultural heritage, quality of life, circular economy, natural resources and biotechnology.

Country: Norway

Research Council of Norway, with smaller funding from Government ministries and other national and international programmes or organisations. CICERO researchers regularly published in top academic journals in a range of fields (Science, Nature, etc) and has the highest publication ranking amongst the Norwegian environmental institutes. Communication, stakeholder management and process facilitation is of core importance to CICERO from its founding, with most CICERO projects involving dedicated communication and dissemination activities. CICERO participates in a broad network of national and international research communities: IPCC assessment reports (AR6 WGI vice-chair, SR15 Review Editor, six lead authors), global change programmes (e.g., Future Earth, Global Carbon Project) and EU research (eg Joint Programming Initiatives). CICERO has around 75 staff, 60 of which are research staff, 10 in administration and 5 dedicated to communication.

Country: Greece

E3-Modelling is a société anonyme (S.A.) company, established as a knowledge-intensive consulting company spin-off. The company inherits staff, knowledge and software-modelling innovation of the laboratory E3MLab at the National Technical University of Athens (NTUA).The company specialises in the delivery of consulting services based on large-scale empirical modelling of the nexus economy-energy-environment. The experience of its staff dates back to 1990 and includes internationally renowned milestones, such as the design, implementation and continuous operation of the PRIMES and GEM-E3 models. Since 1990, the consultants of E3-Modelling prepare and publish every 2-3 years a European energy and transport outlook in close cooperation with the European Commission and have supported its major impact assessment studies via the construction of detailed policy scenarios.

The team’s modelling and consulting experience is also serving numerous studies for European governments, professional associations, and large-scale companies in the energy domain. Their consultation expertise focuses on the Design and impact analysis of transition in the energy market and systems, both in the demand and supply of energy, and in the transport sector, towards green and climate-friendly structures and technologies. E3M assesses the transitions from economic, policy and implementation perspectives with emphasis on the functioning of system and markets and the impact of policy instruments on behaviours and market outcomes.

Country: India

Recognising newly independent India’s development needs, a group of ambitious industrialists and radical educators convinced the Planning Commission to approve a new kind of school to train expert managers. It would have a distinct pedagogy, and focus on real-world problems. This was the beginning of the IIMA.IIMA is more than an institution of higher learning; it is a community where people of diverse cultures and nationalities live, work, and play connected by their similarities and enriched by their differences.

The Institute focuses on a) promoting excellence in scholarship by encouraging high-quality research, distinctive and effective teaching, and meaningful contribution to knowledge-creation in a variety of disciplines, b) Educating and nurturing leaders of institutions and entrepreneurial organizations and supporting them in their efforts to create high-quality talent and value, and c) Impacting the world of policy and practice through continuous engagement with alumni and prominent stakeholders, decision-makers and leaders in government, businesses and non-governmental enterprises.

Country: United Kingdom

Imperial College London is a world top ten university with an international reputation for excellence in teaching and research. Consistently rated amongst the world's best universities, Imperial is committed to developing the next generation of researchers, scientists and academics through collaboration across disciplines. Located in the heart of London, Imperial is a multidisciplinary space for education, research, translation and commercialisation, harnessing science and innovation to tackle global challenges.

Country: Ukraine

In 2005, KSE (Kyiv School of Economics)/EERC and the Stockholm Institute of Transition Economics (SITE) established the Kyiv Economics Institute (KEI) to provide scientific economic facts for economic policy-making and changing the policy-making process based on data and facts. The institute’s team consists of 13 research centers and 44 experts, including internationally recognized PhD specialists, programmers, former government officials and consultants.

The main areas of projects are the situation with COVID-19, health care financing, pharmaceutical market, macroeconomics, energy, green transformation, public procurement, creative economy, international trade, agriculture, corporate governance, local government, gender economy. The team of the institute participated in the preparation and updating of the regional development strategy, health care strategy, small and medium business development strategy, investment strategy, as well as in the process of revising the Association Agreement between Ukraine and the EU.

Country: Sweden

Since its founding in 1827, KTH Royal Institute of Technology in Stockholm has grown to become one of Europe’s leading technical and engineering universities, as well as a key centre of intellectual talent and innovation. It is Sweden’s largest technical research and learning institution and home to students, researchers and faculty from around the world dedicated to advancing knowledge. In the IAM COMPACT project, KTH is participating through its Unit of Energy Systems, the research of which is based on a broad system perspective, where energy technology, innovation, and policy are linked to sustainable development. Its perspective is global, and its team collaborates with many countries and world organizations, some of which are IEA, UNDESA, UNESCAP, FAO, World Bank and SIDA.

Country: Greece

The National Technical University of Athens (NTUA) is the oldest, most prestigious and most competitive academic institute in Greece. NTUA will participate in the project through its lab EPU-NTUA (Decision Support System Laboratory). EPU-NTUA is a multidisciplinary scientific unit within the School of Electrical and Computer Engineering, which conducts research and development, scientific / technical support and training activities addressing a wide range of complex research and application problems.

Operating for more than 25 years, it has a long tradition in scientific consulting, promotion, training and research activities in the areas of management and decision support systems for energy and climate policy, renewables and energy efficiency policies design and cost effectiveness, promotion of clean energy technologies, energy regulation, planning at national & regional level, design and implementation of dissemination and visibility actions, sustainable development and energy conservation.

Country: Italy

Politecnico di Milano is a public scientific-technological university which trains engineers, architects and industrial designers. The University has always focused on the quality and innovation of its teaching and research, developing a fruitful relationship with business and productive world by means of experimental research and technological transfer. POLIMI will participate in this project through its SESAM (Sustainable Energy Systems Analysis and Modelling) team, operating under the flag of the UNESCO Chair for Sustainable Development.SESAM's research goals is to assess the overall impact of energy scenarios and technology roadmaps in the frame of the energy transition requested by the Agenda 2030 and compliant with the different national energy, environmental and economic policies.

SESAM's research focuses on the development and application of models for the analysis of systems and components within the energy field with application in both developed and developing countries. SESAM’s research builds on the well-established potentiality of integrated and cross-sectoral (electricity, heat, transport, etc.) energy system optimisation and simulation models by expanding their domain of application to multiple spatial and temporal scales.

Country: Sri Lanka

At its inception, four faculties, namely the Faculty of Social Sciences and Humanities, Faculty of Management Studies, Faculty of Agriculture and Faculty of Applied Sciences were established and in the year 2006, the Faculty of Medicine and Allied Sciences was established as the fifth faculty of RUSL. The faculty of Social Sciences and Humanities, Faculty of Management Studies and Faculty of Applied Sciences are conveniently located in the Mihintale premises, while the Faculties of Agriculture and Medicine and Allied Sciences are situated in Puliyankulama and Saliyapura respectively. In this project, RUSL will participate through its Department of Electrical and Electronic Technology, which provides consultancy, training and other required technical assistance to the industry.

Country: China

With the motto of “Self-discipline and Social Commitment” and the spirit of “Actions Speak Louder Than Words”, Tsinghua University is dedicated to the well-being of Chinese society and to world development. As one of China’s most prestigious and influential universities, Tsinghua is committed to cultivating global citizens who will thrive in today’s world and become tomorrow’s leaders. Through the pursuit of education and research at the highest level of excellence, Tsinghua is developing innovative solutions that will help solve pressing problems in China and the world. THU will participate in the project through its Department of Electrical Engineering and Applied Electronic Technology, aiming at both international frontier basic research and major needs of Chinese national economic construction, EEA has tackled key problems scientifically in electrical and electrical engineering industries, and won 27 prizes of National Natural Science Award, National Science and Technology Progress Award and National Technological Invention Award.

Country: Kenya

The Technical University of Mombasa has two well established Faculties and two Schools namely Faculty of Applied and Health Science and Faculty of Engineering and Technology and School of Humanities and Social Sciences and School of Business Studies. TUM is participating in the project through the RECCReC (Renewable Energy & Climate Change and Research Center), established as a pioneering unit purposed to build the research infrastructure and develop an innovation ecosystem in TUM.The Centre in TUM will act as the vehicle to address this challenge, by providing the ideas, the reasoning, the means, the tools and the solutions to a more sustainable world. TUM has to move to the future ahead of society in order to prepare the transition to a more sustainable world. TUM has become proactive and anticipative on the coming directions of change and is in a position to at least be part of the transition, if not influence it all together.

Country: Switzerland

Founded in 1559, the University of Geneva enjoys worldwide recognition and ranks amongst the top 100 best universities in the world. A polyvalent institution, it fosters the emergence of inter- and multidisciplinary fields in both research and teaching. It constantly strengthens its links with international Geneva, whilst contributing to the cultural, social and economic development of the region, notably through the promotion of research and its expertise in a wide range of fields. In this project, UNIGE participates through its Renewable Energy Systems group, which uses energy systems modeling and technology assessment tools in order to support transition to renewable energy at all spatial scales, from neighborhoods and municipalities to countries and continents.

In this context, UNIGE applies new modeling techniques and interdisciplinary scenario methodologies in order to develop and evaluate innovate approaches to quantitative foresight and to support decision making under deep uncertainty. It also searches for system-level energy solutions that are techno-economically feasible, environmentally desirable, acceptable and realistically implementable in the society. Its perspective is thus different from most of our peers because we go beyond techno-economic solutions to the real-world ones.

Country: Greece

The University of Piraeus Research Centre (UPRC) was founded in 1989 as part of the University that offers administration and legal support to basic and applied research, carried out by the staff of the University of Piraeus, in national and international contexts. The high quality of research and consulting work carried out to-date by the UPRC has led to a large volume of collaborations either in international frameworks (e.g., EU-funded projects) or undertaken on behalf of large domestic companies, institutions and Ministries. UPRC is participating in this project through its TEESLab, the energy modelling, strategy and policy analysis laboratory of University of Piraeus. Its research focuses on the techno-economic analysis of energy systems, and the support of effective energy and climate policy design. We employ a collection of approaches and tools to enable the quantitative and the qualitative assessment of critical issues governing the future evolution of the energy system. Our main strength is the combination of senior highly-experienced experts and younger, highly skilled and motivated researchers, all working on new ways to integrate quantitative modelling with systems analysis and management methods. TEESLab has been contributing to international research by participating in an increasingly more diverse range of EC funded research and innovation projects.

Country: United States of America (USA)

The University of Maryland is one of the world’s premier research institutions. With its strategic location and scores of partnerships with government and businesses, UMD conducts groundbreaking research on some of the biggest challenges facing our global community, including cybersecurity and terrorism, bioengineering, public health equity, food safety and climate change. It strives to discover new knowledge and put it to work through innovation and entrepreneurship, advancing economic development and transforming lives. In this project, UMD will participate through the CGS (Center for Global Sustainability), which utilises a collaborative, interdisciplinary approach to deliver research, education, and engagement for policy impact.Through analysis for ambition and collaborative action, CGS is helping drive the global engine of ambition critical to meet goals related to climate, development, and sustainability. This is done by integrating field-leading research, applied assessment, and policy analysis; and implementing it through partnerships and engagement at all scales.

CGS was created in response to the global need for integrated analytics and engagement to support higher ambition in achieving climate, development, and sustainability goals. In doing this, CGS fills a critical gap to link robust technical capacity closely to decision-making at all levels. CGS is committed to fostering a just, equitable, diverse, and inclusive world both within our community and through collaborative research and action on local and global scales.CGS has a growing portfolio of projects integrating analysis for ambition and collaborative action. As we look to expand our activities to serve this global mission, our vision for impact includes specific, new partnerships and programs in the following areas:Fuse subnational with national action to raise global ambition, Support ambitious climate mitigation strategy analysis linked to decision-making, Scale-up climate finance based on bottom-up actions and collaborative engagement Integrate climate resilience in local communities, Advance equity, diversity, and inclusion in sustainability, climate, and energy, and Catalyse universities’ thought leadership, educational and convening power.

Country: Spain

UVa has a long historic development that has led the eight hundred times University of Valladolid to be constituted as one of the most important Higher Teaching Centers of Spain, rich in teaching and remarked in many fields of research. Nowadays, 24 centres in the Campus of Palencia, Segovia, Soria and Valladolid teach more than eighty degrees, besides numerous Programs of the fourth cycle and Postgraduate courses. UVa will participate in IAM COMPACT through GEEDS (The Group of Energy, Economy and Systems Dynamics), formed by a group of professors and researchers with previous experience in the field of environmental issues and personal involvement in ecology and development cooperation. Therefore, we want to bring our concerns as citizens of the world to academic research at the University.

The group’s lines of research focus on energy and the economy, as key factors of technology and life, and on Systems Dynamics, as the most appropriate tool to analyse the complex relations between the variables that influence sustainability and development, with a systemic vision.One of its aims is to strengthen the link between university and society and therefore our interest lies in the dissemination of the results, contact with social organisations and the choice of research topics of interest to society.

Country: Germany

The Wuppertal Institute sees itself as a leading international think tank for sustainability research focused on impacts and practical application. The organisation's activities are centred on developing transformation processes aimed at shaping a climate-friendly and resource-efficient world.Building on the foundations of traditional scientific work, focused on individual disciplines, an interdisciplinary approach is taken to addressing sustainability problems. The Institute pursues science on a transdisciplinary basis: rather than being merely an observer, the scientific community plays an active part in the transformation processes. Transformative research (transition research) and work in real-world laboratories constitute the Institute's conceptual framework.

The Wuppertal Institute's research projects focus on the stakeholders who are actively involved on the ground and are usually conducted in close cooperation with them. The Institute sees itself as an intermediary between the worlds of science, industry and politics. Therefore, it takes the future application of its research into consideration in order to ensure that the findings are of great practical benefit to decision makers.All of the Institute's research projects are highly innovative. Its work is also concerned with analysing the effectiveness of innovations in regards to achieving the climate protection and resource efficiency goals. Innovations that facilitate systemic advances (next-level innovation) are of particular interest. They would appear to be essential to achieving the core Sustainable Development Goals in good time; however, they are often associated with intentional and sometimes unintentional structural changes.