Innovation, barriers and enablers

We provided research-based knowledge on how industry and research partners manage to collaborate for the enhancement of knowledge and innovation. Through a close collaboration with NTNU Social Research and Nord University, we studied how researchers and companies collaborate in HighEFF and can attain jointly beneficial outcomes in open innovation projects. We discovered that partner alignment happens through practices that are influenced by structured coordination at the partnership level and mainly unstructured coordination at the project level, which led to a paper published in IEEE Transaction on Engineering Management. We also studied how company representatives are able to integrate knowledge developed in research centres into their organisation, and how this is done over different stages of the research centre. This led to a paper published in International Journal of Innovation and Sustainable Development.

To summarise, our research provides important insight to companies and research partners, about how to participate in research centres, and how to manage their outcomes; and to policymakers, about how such engagement should be funded and structured to reach the goals of generating new knowledge and industrial innovations. Furthermore, our research provides insights into political, organisational, and collaborative challenges for energy efficiency innovations and surplus heat exchanges.

A particular focus in 2022 was on dissemination of research from RA5 for industries, policy makers, researchers, and the general public outside of HighEFF through presentations as well as other means of communication such as workshops and podcast episodes. We also explored the changing rhetoric and politics of energy efficiency in the context of the emerging energy crisis in Europe, and how it potentially affects frame conditions for research and industries.

HighEFF PhD student Jens Petter Johansen defended his thesis "Energy efficiency-ing. How an energy efficient world is produced through practices, objects, rhetoric, and politics" in September of 2022. The thesis discusses the implications of moving from a technical understanding of energy efficiency as a measurement or technical quality, to denoting the work of a multitude of actors in developing and implementing technologies, how efficiency becomes represented in numbers and models, and how these are applied rhetorically and politically in the policy domain.

Novel Emerging and Innovative Concepts (NEIC)

Our internal funding scheme allows us to invest in ideas that are not covered by ongoing or enabled activities within HighEFF. The call is Novel Emerging and Innovative Concepts (NEIC) and is built upon the idea that new ideas and innovations are created through collaboration and research within HighEFF. The evaluation criteria and the HighEFF NEIC evaluation committee were set in 2021. The committee is composed of two members from the industry, one from a university and two from the R&D sector. One more member from R&D is invited as an observer.

Two calls for NEIC applications were published in 2022, one in January and one in September. In total, 11 project proposals were received by the two deadlines in 2022, and three projects were funded:

1. Innovative State-of-charge and Output control of PCM-TES systems (SOCTES). The project outlines a new methodology based on ultrasound sensors for controlling thermal energy storage using phase change materials. The aim of the project is to validate and implement highly innovative real-time state-of-charge monitoring and heat output control methods for PCM-TES systems, enabling optimal energy utilisation and reliable heat (or cold) supply. The project is a cooperation between SINTEF Energy Research and NTNU.
2. Monitoring and analysis of a pilot thermal energy storage (TES) unit to supply Air Conditioning (AC) in commercial refrigeration systems (TES-AC). The project aims to demonstrate TES technology developed at HighEFF to reduce the required installed capacity of supermarket refrigeration systems and improve energy efficiency. By shifting the AC load to off-peak hours, valuable flexibility and cost savings for the system owner
   are provided. The project is a cooperation between SINTEF Energy Research, NTNU-EPT and industry partner REMA 1000.
3. Integration of ThermoChemical Energy Storage (ITChES). The objective of the project is to analyse the performance potential of selected steam absorption TCES compounds to recover excess heat in the range of 120-300°C in a lab scale reactor and provide a technoeconomic study for large-scale implementation in industry processes. The project is a cooperation between two SINTEF institutes: Industry and Energy Research.

Dissemination and communication

Higher focus on communication and dissemination for increased research and innovation impact have been the goal for the communications activities in 2022. The focus was to raise awareness of energy efficiency as a key for reaching the target of a maximum of 1.5 degrees of warming. How energy efficiency is part of the big picture is another key point, as well as paving the ground for further research and development of technology to help the industry be more energy efficient. The Centre used newsletters and social media channels such as LinkedIn, in addition to workshops and seminars, for these objectives. Our strategy ensures a widest possible outreach, involvement and cross-sectorial interaction with relevant industry and academia. The dissemination strategy is built up to maximise the use of existing physical meeting points and existing communication platforms and media channels, such as project partners' own communication channels.

Innovation, barriers and enablers

Through a close collaboration with NTNU Social Research and Nord University, we studied how researchers and companies collaborate in HighEFF to develop and implement radical energy efficiency innovations. We discovered that the interplay between collaboration dynamics in the research centre and organisational factors can help explain why such innovations are (or are not) implemented, which led to a paper published in the Journal of Cleaner Production.

We provided research-based knowledge on how industry and research partners manage to collaborate for the enhancement of knowledge and innovation. More precisely, we examined how the activities of firm representatives and centre managers (boundary spanners) might enable knowledge integration between fi rms and research partners. We also examined the role of proximity between companies and university partners in establishing successful collaboration in a research centre and looked into additional effects from participating in university-industry collaboration that might be enhanced by companies over time. Moreover, we contributed with a edited Handbook on Innovation for a Circular Economy, providing knowledge on how companies can manage the circular economy transition. The handbook also includes a chapter on how surplus heat is valuated in local contexts based on the research in HighEFF.

To summarise, our research provides important insight to companies and research partners, about how to participate in research centres, and how to manage their outcomes; and to policymakers, about how such engagement should be funded and structured to reach the goals of generating new knowledge and industrial innovations. Furthermore, our research provides insights into political, organisational, and collaborative challenges for energy efficiency innovations and surplus heat exchanges.

HighEFF student Irina Isaeva defended her Thesis "Managing multiple goals in university-industry collaboration" in December where the purpose has been to survey the university-industry collaboration to achieve the common goals within an FME Centre.

Novel Emerging and Innovative Concepts (NEIC)

Our internal funding scheme allows us to invest in ideas that are not covered by ongoing or enabled activities within HighEFF The scope of the former Novel Emerging Concepts calls was further developed and extended during the autumn of 2021 to also include the innovation aspect. The new call is now Novel Emerging and Innovative Concepts (NEIC) and is built upon the idea that new ideas and innovations are created through collaboration and research in HighEFF. The evaluation criteria and the HighEFF NEIC evaluation committee was set in 2021 The project proposals will be evaluated by an internal group, in addition to two external evaluators from the industry.

Throughout 2021, the novel emerging concept (NEC) call was still valid, and we had one internal call. The result from this call was two applications Biochar from Seaweed for Metal Production received funding, focussing on the utilisation potential of sustainably farmed seaweed from the Norwegian coastline to produce biochar for metal production, and the possibility to use surplus heat from the industry in the processing of seaweed to applicable carbon products. The project is a cooperation between three SINTEF institutions: Industry, Ocean and Energy.

Dissemination and Communication

Our communication goals for 2021 have been to increase knowledge and awareness about energy efficiency in industry, through presenting its impact on sustainability and value creation, with increased use of the Centre's social media channels and newsletter. Focus on visibility of the overall project results and the work performed in HighEFF have been followed up in HighEFF’s communication strategy for 2021. Our strategy ensures widest possible outreach, involvement and cross-sectorial interaction with relevant industry and academia The dissemination strategy is built up to maximise the use of existing physical meeting points (seminars, centre workshops and RA meetings) and existing communication platforms and media channels, such as project partners' existing communication channels.

Innovation, barriers and enablers

Through a close collaboration between NTNU Social Research and Nord University, we studied how researchers and companies collaborate in HighEFF to develop and implement radical energy efficiency innovations. We discovered that the interplay between collaboration dynamics in the research center and organisational factors can help explain why such innovations are (or are not) implemented, which led to a paper currently in review for the journal of cleaner production.

We provided research-based knowledge on how industry- and research partners manage to collaborate for the enhancement of knowledge and innovation. More precisely, we examined how companies coordinate in a research centre in early stages to achieve long term innovation benefits and which internal and external activities company representatives (boundary spanners) might engage in at various stages of a research centre. We also examined the role of proximity between companies and university partners in establishing successful collaboration in a research centre and looked into additional effects from participating in university industry collaboration that might be enhanced by companies. Moreover, we contributed with knowledge on how companies can manage the circular economy transition by getting involved in open innovation.

To summarise, our research provides important insight to companies and research partners, about how to manage outcomes from university-industry collaboration; and to policymakers, about how such engagement should be funded and structured in order to reach goals of knowledge and innovation for environmental reasons.

Novel Emerging Concepts (NEC)

New ideas and innovations are created through collaboration and research in HighEFF. Our internal funding scheme allow us to invest in ideas that are not planned for or that need more investigation before we know if they are worth bringing further. In 2020, 6 applications were received through our third internal novel emerging concept (NEC) call. The NECast and INTERCUR project received funding this year: the former focussing on improving heat recovery from casting processes in the ferroalloy industry and the latter concentrating on the development of evaluation tools for integrated energy systems in industrial clusters to achieve new business opportunities for surplus energy use.

Dissemination and Communication

Our communication goals for 2020 have been to increase knowledge and awareness about energy efficiency in industry, through presenting its impact on sustainability and value creation, with increased use of social media and Newsletter.

Focus on visibility of the overall project results and the work performed in HighEFF have been followed up in HighEFF’s communication strategy for 2020. Our strategy ensures widest-possible outreach, involvement and cross-sectorial interaction with relevant industry and academia. The dissemination strategy is built up to maximise the use of existing physical meeting points (seminars, centre workshops and RA meetings) and existing communication platforms and media channels, such as project partners' existing communication channels.

Innovation, barriers and enablers

In addition to following up other initiated activities, the main objective of 2018 was to conduct data collections. In order to cover the wide range of topics framed by the label "society", the following collections was conducted:

1. Document studies (in connection to both interviews and case studies), based on available, public documents and mainly used as contextual data for preparation and further analysis.
2. A media discourse analysis on "industrial energy efficiency", an in-depth analysis (both coded and analyzed) covering 310 newspaper articles.
3. A total of 47 interviews, involving both university partners, industry representatives, and other relevant stakeholders.
4. Site visits involving tours of local industry sites and on-site interviews.
5. Two main case studies have been identified and has been followed closely throughout the year.
6. Two workshops within the HighEFF consortium have been conducted each involving 2-3 groups (5-10 participants in each group) of both industry and university partners, and two externally organized industry workshops in connection with one of the case studies.
7. Two HighEFF seminars have been conducted including presentations from university and industry partners as well as plural discussions. On the basis of these data collections, we have increased our knowledge of, and published articles about such topics as,
   a) how policies are legitimized and debated in the public, and who are the core actors in the public energy efficiency discourse,
   b) new and innovative takes on barriers and drivers of energy efficiency,
   c) the potential and challenges related to innovation in FME centers in general,
   d) how energy efficiency works in different industrial clusters,
   e) how contextual conditions affect business models for industrial clusters and for energy sharing in general, and
   f) variability and resilience in industrial symbiosis for energy exchange.

Novel Emerging Concepts (NEC)

The first call for NEC was launched in February 2019. In total 6 applications were received covering a broad part of the scientific challenges in HighEFF. At the end, the project Organizing shared resources and alternative business models was given the opportunity to present the project ambitions and initiate the work. The allocation of funding through NEC will also continue in 2019 with some minor adjustments of the call regarding objectives and guidelines for the funding.

Dissemination and Communication

In 2018, the website was revised to comprise all necessary sections for an efficient communication of project results and the Centre as a whole. A goal was to improve the website to be more attractive for the HighEFF Consortium and the general public, e.g. by giving information on forthcoming workshops, seminars, project content and partners, relevant conferences and news using blogs and newsletters, in addition to actively disseminate all open results from ongoing research.

Dedicated dissemination events arranged by HighEFF was the Annual Consortium meeting in May and The Cross-Sector Workshop in October.

The Dissemination and Communication plan was updated in accordance with planned activities in 2018. We had 11 blog articles, 4 newsletters and 23 videos. This resulted in higher digital visibility for HighEFF. For more details – see the Communication-chapter in this annual report.

Innovation, barriers and enablers:

A first survey of innovation potential and cooperation relations in HighEFF has been conducted. This has included an literature review, interviews of researchers and industry representatives, and resulted in input to centre innovation structures and roadmaps, further management of industry/research collaboration and new cooperation arenas especially between RAs 4/5/6. We have also conducted case studies that include, among other things, document studies, interviews and industrial visits, which resulted in an article on the sociotechnical aspect of energy sharing in heterogeneous constellations. A case study on regulatory frameworks (such as emission trading) for industrial clusters that share CO-gas was also conducted, the results of which appear in an article in addition to a pentagon analysis of organizational dependencies in industrial clusters.

Novel Emerging Concepts (NEC):

Novel emerging concepts produced through cooperation between HighEFF partners and research assignment, will be actively looked for and handled. To build upon the innovation task force in the Centre, HighEFF has allocated 1.5 MNOK/year for funding of NECs related to the research and innovation objectives within the Centre. Evaluation procedures for spin-offs and novel emerging concepts have been developed and agreed on. The procedures for evaluation of the Concepts and execution and follow up on Concepts that have been granted support is prepared. In short, the report describes 5 stages for handling the Concepts; (1) The Call, (2) The Evaluation, (3) Plan and Budget Approval, (4) Concept Execution, and, (5) Post Project. First announcement will be in Q1 /2018.

Dissemination and Communication:

A first outline of the Dissemination and Communication plan is finished, and will be actively used and updated every year. The content is based on close cooperation with SINTEF ER's communication staff and RA5. The HighEFF Website is established (www.higheff.no) showing relevant news and upcoming events, in addition to HighEFF results. Dissemination standards and design, such as HighEFF logo, PP-template, deliverable template, are available. In total 13 blog articles and 4 newsletters (Highlights) were published during the first period of FME HighEFF. Our ambition is to increase these numbers even more in 2018.

Deliverables Society RA5 

• A QUESTION OF POWER - The Politics of Kilowatt-Hours (pdf)
  by Torgeir Kolstø Haavik, Jens Olgard Dalseth Røyrvik, Catharina Lindheim