Periodic Reporting for period 1 - 2DPLOY (Development of an innovation pipeline to facilitate and promote funding proposals for deployment of low carbon technologies)
Reporting period: 2024-01-01 to 2025-06-30
The 2DPLOY project is designed to tackle one of the most pressing challenges in Europe's energy-intensive industries (EIIs): the transition to low-carbon technologies. Despite their potential to transform industrial sectors such as steel, cement, and chemicals, these technologies face significant barriers, including high investment costs, technological immaturity, regulatory complexity, and intense global competition. To overcome these hurdles, the European Commission has expanded the Innovation Fund (IF), which provides financial support for breakthrough clean technologies. However, securing funding remains a major challenge for EIIs due to the complexity of the application process, which requires detailed technical, financial, and environmental impact assessments. 2DPLOY directly addresses these challenges by developing a structured innovation pipeline that supports EIIs in preparing strong IF proposals.
The overall objectives are:
1: Establish a continuous innovation pipeline for low-carbon technologies within EIIs
2: Develop best practices and support pilot IF proposals
3: Feed 2DPLOY innovation pipeline & share learnings with priority stakeholders
4: Fostering open collaboration and creating synergies
The overall objectives are:
1: Establish a continuous innovation pipeline for low-carbon technologies within EIIs
2: Develop best practices and support pilot IF proposals
3: Feed 2DPLOY innovation pipeline & share learnings with priority stakeholders
4: Fostering open collaboration and creating synergies
Creating the continuous innovation pipeline is one of the most important tasks and deliverable. This pipeline consists of several key steps, including: 1) screening H2020 projects through a prequalification matrix and a 1-hour interview with an expert; and 2) an evaluation commission that aims to select only the most mature projects. 3) The chosen projects will then be able to participate in advanced masterclasses that cover six different topics related to the IF's key requirements, such as degree of innovation, scalability, potential for avoided GHG emissions, and technical and financial maturity. 4) Finally, 2DPLOY will offer personalized guidance and feedback to support the preparation of three sound proposals to be submitted to the IF. The 2DPLOY methodology will be constantly improved through a two-way learning strategy that involves collaborations and synergies with key industrial and EU stakeholders, such as the Innovation Fund, the Directorate-General for Climate Action, Processes4Planet, CleanSteel, Clean Hydrogen Joint Undertaking, Batt4EU, and Clean Energy Transition.
The expected impact of 2DPLOY is substantial. By streamlining the process from R&I projects to deployment funding, the project will accelerate the commercialisation of low-carbon technologies, increase the success rate of IF applications, and drive decarbonisation in EIIs. The methodology developed will not only benefit the initial pilot projects but will be continuously improved and replicated across the EU, creating a scalable model for future funding mechanisms. Through close collaboration with key EU initiatives such as Processes4Planet, Clean Steel, Clean Hydrogen, and Batt4EU, 2DPLOY fosters a structured, cross-sectoral approach to industrial innovation funding, ensuring that breakthrough technologies reach full-scale deployment and contribute to the EU's climate neutrality goals.