Scaling-up sustainable construction through value chain innovation –

EU support

12th European Forum on Eco-innovation – Amsterdam

25-26 April 2012

Maud Skäringer

European Commission, Regional Policy DG

Thematic Coordination and Innovation Unit

Relevant EU support programmes 2007-2013

• 7th Framework Programme for Research

• and Technological Development (FP7), including support for

• Public-private partnership "Energy-efficient Buildings"

• Competitiveness and Innovation Framework Programme (CIP), including support for

• Eco-innovation

• ICT for energy efficiency

• "Intelligent Energy Europe"

• LIFE+ Programme, including support for

• Environment Policy & Governance

Cohesion Policy 2007-2013

Investment policy supporting Europe 2020: growth, jobs, quality of life and sustainable development

Convergence objective. Regions with GDP per capita below 75% of EU average. 82% of funds spent on this objective.

Regional competitiveness and employment objective.

Total: € 347 billion of EU funds

Functioning of Cohesion Policy 2007-2013

• European Commission and Member States

negotiated / agreed National Strategic

Reference Framework (NSRF) and Operational

Programmes (OPs) at national and/or regional

level for 2007-2013.

• Member States alone select and implement the

projects in line with priorities of the OPs

(principle of ‘shared management’).

• Major Projects: Investments of more than € 50

million are submitted and approved by the

Commission.

Functioning of Cohesion Policy 2007-2013

• Overall co-financing rate of 50%

(competitiveness regions) or 75/85%

(convergence regions).

• Different rates for "revenue-generating" projects.

• EU funds always completed by

national/regional/EIB funds.

• Programmes managed by "Managing

Authorities" (MAs) at national/regional level.

Often national or regional Ministry for

finance/economy/regional development.

Cohesion

Policy funding

for research &

innovation

2007-2013:

€ 86 billion

Cohesion Policy

R&I support over

total support:

4% in 89’-93’

7% in 94’-99’

11% in 00’-06’

25% in 07’-13’

= 105 billion 30% of Cohesion Policy funding

-2013

Renewables 4.8 bilion

Energy Efficiency 4.6 billion

Energy Efficiency in the "Recovery Package"

• Amendment to European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) regulation (May 2009)

• Up to 4% of the national ERDF allocation can go to energy efficiency and renewable energy in housing

• Member States define eligible categories of existing housing, to support social cohesion

• Further regulatory amendment to facilitate the use of innovative financial instruments in this area (June 2010)

Why focus Cohesion Policy support on Sustainable Energy in Buildings?

A WIN-WIN-WIN OPPORTUNITY:

Regional Development/Social Cohesion/Energy Savings

• Creating new and sustainable jobs;

• Building local and regional capacities;

• Creating local opportunities for R&D and innovation;

• Lowering energy consumption and improving security of energy supply;

• Reducing energy costs and alleviating energy poverty;

• Improving the quality of residential/public/ commercial buildings;

• Reducing greenhouse gas emissions and improving the local environment.

Refurbishment of social housing France

Refurbish most energy consuming social housing units

Be exemplary and trigger a multiplier effect

Affect a large number of dwellings (some 110 000 foreseen)

Early results show creation / maintenance of local jobs, mainly in SMEs, and heating fees reduced by 40% on average

Revolving fund for energy efficiency in housing Estonia

Switch from grants to a revolving fund KredEx (Credit and Export Guarantee Fund of the State) supports this Innovative scheme, help from KfW Started 06/2009 03/2011: 231 contracts with multi-apartment buildings, total 18,4 million (average 81.100, saving 33%)

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Cohesion Policy 2014-2020 A menu of thematic objectives proposed:

Research & innovation

Information and communication technologies (ICT)

Competitiveness of Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (SMEs)

Shift towards a low-carbon economy

Climate change adaptation & risk prevention and management

Environmental protection & resource efficiency

Sustainable transport & removing bottlenecks in key network infrastructures

Employment & supporting labour mobility

Social inclusion & combating poverty

Education, skills & lifelong learning

Institutional capacity building & efficient public administrations

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Less developed regions More developed & transition

regions

PROPOSED FOR 2014-2020: MINIMUM SHARE OF ERDF INVESTMNETS ON:

- Shift towards a low carbon economy - Research & innovation

- Competitiveness of SMEs

No more ceiling for investing in energy in housing (currently max 4% of ERDF) Minimum EUR 17 bn for low carbon economy in 2014-2020 (increase from 2007-2013 when EUR 9.3 bn spent on EE and RES)

80%

20%

50%

6%

Proposed ex ante conditionality: Research and

Innovation Strategies for Smart Specialisation

National/regional strategies which are integrated, place-based

economic transformation agendas that:

1) Focus policy support and investments on key national/regional

priorities, challenges and needs for knowledge-based

development;

2) Build on each country's/region’s strengths, competitive advantages

and potential for excellence;

3) Support technological as well as practice-based innovation and aim

to stimulate private sector investment;

4) Get stakeholders fully involved and encourage innovation and

experimentation;

5) Are evidence-based and include sound monitoring and evaluation

systems.

= evidence-based: all assets

= no top-down decision, but dynamic/entrepreneurial discovery process inv. key stakeholders

= global perspective on potential competitive advantage & potential for cooperation

= source-in knowledge & technologies etc. rather than re-inventing the wheel

= priority setting in times of scarce resources

= getting better / excel with something specific

= focus investments on regional comparative advantage

= accumulation of critical mass

= not necessarily focus on a single sector, but cross-fertilisations

What is Smart Specialisation ?

Horizontal issues and policy delivery

instruments for the strategies

Green Growth: Only sustainable is smart – Eco-innovation and Energy efficiency

Digital agenda: enabling knowledge flows throughout the territory –connected regions

Clusters for regional growth: business ecologies that drive innovation

Innovation-friendly business environments for SMEs: good jobs in internationally competitive firms

Social Innovation: new organisational forms to tackle societal challenges

Stronger focus on financial engineering: not only grants

Lifelong Learning in research and innovation: support knowledge triangle (KICs) and university-enterprise cooperation

Key Enabling Technologies: systemic potential to induce structural change

Research infrastructure/centres of competence: support to ESFRI and EU wide diffusion of leading edge R&D results

Creativity and cultural industries: innovation beyond technology and outside manufacturing

Public Procurement for market pull: pre-competitive PP to open new innovation friendly market niches

Innovation for Green Growth

“A green growth strategy is centred on mutually reinforcing aspects of

economic and environmental policy. It takes into account the full value of

natural capital as a factor of production and its role in growth […] By

pushing the frontier outward, innovation can help to decouple growth from

natural capital depletion.”

OECD, Towards Green Growth, May 2011

Innovation and Green Growth are interdependent: two

sides of same coin!

Develop regional strategy/approach to foster green growth

though innovation

Key areas such as energy efficiency and renewables, eco-

innovation, resource efficiency, water, transport, eco-

construction, bio-based products…

Innovation for Green Growth

Upcoming Guide by DG REGIO on “Innovation for Green Growth” will provide practical guidance on HOW regions can build synergies between innovation and

green economy to boost growth, jobs and preserve the environment

The programme, North-West England: eco-innovation in practice Environmental advice, training and support to SMEs to improve resource efficiency and reduce waste. Good practice exchange and development of synergies with ERDF support.

Over 3600 businesses benefited; 190.000 tonnes of CO2 saved; 3.000.000m2 of water saved; over 700 people developed specific skills

www.enworks.com

Upcoming Guides by DG REGIO on: Green Public Procurement in water infrastructure development

Carbon Evaluation tool of regional programmes: enable regional authorities to

assess the CO2 impacts of investments

Clusters for regional growth

European Cluster Alliance: http://www.proinno-europe.eu/project/eca

Cluster Innovation Platform: http://www.europe-innova.eu/web/guest/cluster-cooperation/cluster-innovation-platform

European Clusters Observatory: http://www.clusterobservatory.eu/index.php?id=1&article=25

Cluster links over Europe (CLoE, Karlsruhe 2005): www.clusterforum.org/en/about_cloe.html

Pilot project of the Regions for Economic Change initiative - Good

mixture of developed and less favoured regions.

Development of an action plan for each of the 11 regions.

Sustainable impact on the institutional regional actors in the "cluster

scene" + the entrepreneurs who want to go international;

Transnational contacts between clusters continue after the conclusion

of this project, 20 clusters + initiation of many activities under FP7

Regions of Knowledge and CIP programmes.

Budget: €1.808 million (of which €800.000 ERDF)

«Approximately 20% of all European Cluster Programmes in the EU were financed by Structural

Funds… » (Oxford Research 2008, « Cluster Policy in Europe »)

Green Building Cluster of Lower Austria

Connects construction and building professionals with researchers to address challenges such as climate change and enables innovation through cooperation.

Involves about 200 members, of which 80% SMEs. Other members include larger companies, research and education institutions and associations. Companies active in all areas of energy efficient and sustainable building, refurbishment, energy management and energy technologies.

RegioStars awards finalist 2011

ERDF co-financing: € 937.370

http://www.ecoplus.at/en/ecoplus/cluster/green-building

Clusters for regional growth

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Relevant EU support programmes More information

7th Framework Programme for Research and Technological Development (FP7): http://cordis.europa.eu/home_en.html

Public-private partnership "Energy-efficient Buildings":

http://ec.europa.eu/research/industrial_technologies/energy-efficient-buildings_en.html

Competitiveness and Innovation Framework Programme (CIP): http://ec.europa.eu/cip/index_en.htm

Project examples – Sustainable construction:

http://www.insulatfh.eu/index.cfm/page/home

http://www.numix-ecoinnovation.eu/page/198/About_numix.html http://www.curapipe.com/page.asp?id=54&title=LEAKCURE%20Project

http://gamlemursten.dk/uk

LIFE+ Programme: http://ec.europa.eu/environment/life/about/index.htm

Project examples – Sustainable construction:

http://www.s-house.at/cgi-bin/news.pl

http://enba.rma.at/

Practical Guide to EU funding opportunities for Research and Innovation: http://cordis.europa.eu/eu-funding-guide/home_en.html

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Cohesion Policy More information

Cohesion Policy Project Examples: http://ec.europa.eu/regional_policy/projects/stories/index_en.cfm

Policy Learning Database:

http://ec.europa.eu/regional_policy/cooperation/interregional/ecochange/studies_en.cfm?nmenu=5

Expert Evaluation Network reports on RES and EE in housing: http://ec.europa.eu/regional_policy/information/evaluations/index_en.cfm#1

Workshop and Conference on Energy Efficiency November 2011:

http://ec.europa.eu/regional_policy/conferences/energy2011nov/index_en.cfm

COCOF technical meeting on sustainable energy March 2011: http://ec.europa.eu/regional_policy/conferences/energy2011/index_en.cfm

Regions for Economic Change Conference May 2010 Energy efficiency workshop (2A):

http://ec.europa.eu/regional_policy/conferences/sustainable-growth/programme_en.cfm?nmenu=4

Commission proposals for Cohesion Policy 2014-2020: http://ec.europa.eu/regional_policy/what/future/index_en.cfm

Smart specialisation platform:

http://s3platform.jrc.ec.europa.eu/home

List of Cohesion Policy funds Managing Authorities: http://ec.europa.eu/regional_policy/manage/authority/authority_en.cfm