Final Report Summary - ERAIHM (Advancing Research and Cooperation Capacities of IHM NASU towards ERA)
Executive Summary:
The ERAIHM project is designed to reinforce the cooperation capacities of one of the leading research centres of Ukraine - Institute of Hydromechanics of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine (IHM NASU) and enhancing its part participation in European Framework Programmes.
IHM NASU was founded in 1926 and is currently the largest center for research of a wide range of problems in modern fluid mechanics. IHM has a developed infrastructure of experimental tools, which is recognized as Ukrainian national heritage. Based on results of basic research IHM performs vide range of applied investigations in the areas included in such thematic priorities of Fp7 as energy, environment, transport and biotechnology.
The ERAIHM project completed by the consortium of IHM NASU (Ukraine), KTH (Sweden) and TU Delft (The Netherlands) has contributed to capacity building of IHM NASU in designing its research strategy aimed at ensuring coherence of its RTD activities with socio-economic needs of Ukraine, enhancing its cooperation with European Research Centres and participation in the European Framework Programmes. The IHM strategy has been designed based on results of two assessments: firstly, evaluation of IHM scope and quality of research and secondly, overview of Ukrainian Innovation System and assessment of competitive advantage of Ukraine with focus on the scientific areas of IHM NASU.
The ERAIHM project has also contributed to increased linkage of IHM research with economic and social environment of Ukraine through capacity building in participatory backcasting method for stakeholder involvement in the innovation process. The project team has conducted a full-scale backcasting project aiming at creation a more sustainable heating and cooling system in the city of Bila Tserkva (Ukraine) by 2030. Stakeholders from the city participated in all stages of this one-year project through interviews, two creativity workshops and individual consultations. The ERAIHM project proved that participatory methods can be successfully applied in Ukraine, and that Ukrainian research institutes can acquire knowledge and skills to apply these methods. The IHM has got the capacity to act as a node for diffusing participatory methods and innovation systems analysis within the Ukrainian research sector.
The ERAIHM project has resulted in improved internationalization of IHM NASU and its networking capacity with other research centres in Ukraine, ENP and EU. Four international projects in cooperation between IHM and academic and non-academic stakeholders from Ukraine, NIS and EU have been received as a direct result of the ERAIHM project.
The acquired experiences and best practises have been disseminated among research community and professionals in the field of innovation policy and experts in sustainable technology management in Ukraine and NIS.
Project Context and Objectives:
The ERAIHM project is designed to reinforce the cooperation capacities of one of the leading research centres of Ukraine - Institute of Hydromechanics of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine (IHM NASU) and enhancing its part participation in European Framework Programmes.
The Institute of Hydromechanics of NAS of Ukraine (IHM NASU) is a national research center in the area of Fluid Mechanics. The fundamental and applied results obtained by researchers from the Institute provide a significant impact on the Ukrainian industry and economy, in particular, hydroengineering, renewable energy, shipbuilding, aviation and telemedicine. The Institute’s R&D aim at solving environmental problems caused by economic activities, ensuring energy independence of Ukraine and involving industrial companies, SMS and public stakeholders in the innovation process.
The Institute possesses a high-quality research team including 28 Doctor of Sciences and over 60 Candidates of Sciences (equivalent of PhD).
To a considerable degree, the excellence of the IHM research projects is reinforced by its experimental infrastructure allowing the studying of fluid flows in wide velocity range of the flows and moving objects: from low ones (several centimetres per second) to that comparable with sound speed in the water. The IHM experimental complex has the Governmental status of a National Heritage of Ukraine. The Joint Ukrainian-Swedish Laboratory of Sustainable Energy and Environmental Technology is equipped by the modern heat pump equipment that facilitates studies of the physical mechanisms governing the heat-mass transport in complex ground-source heat pump (GSHP) systems in combination with energy storage.
The leading role of the IHM NASU in Fluid Mechanics and Acoustics is supported by publishing of two scientific journals, the “Applied Hydromechanics” and “Acoustic Bulletin”.
Traditionally, the IHM NASU has close relations with Ukrainian Universities supporting the quality assurance of engineering education in the country. The experimental laboratories of the IHM NASU are used for training of students from various engineering faculties of the country.
The IHM NASU is the main organizer of the international conferences on Underwater High-Speed Body Motion, Computer Fluid Dynamics, modern problems of Acoustics.
The Institute has established research cooperation with research centers from the USA, Germany, Sweden, the Netherlands, China, Korean Republic and the NIS countries. The high quality of scientific research at the Institute provides a solid ground for its participation in the international projects of the European Framework Programs and the bilateral projects with research institutions from the Member States.
IHM NASU is striving to be a dynamic organization able to change the directions of its R&D activities according to the modern research and development trends and socio-economic needs of Ukraine. Wider participation in European R&D projects, including the Framework Programs will support the high level of scientific research of the Institute, attract young scientists and prevent the brain drain.
Therefore, the overall objectives of the ERAIHM project are:
1. To develop a strategy of IHM NASU aimed at ensuring coherence of its RTD activities with socio-economic needs of Ukraine, enhancing its cooperation with European Research Centres and participation in European Framework Programmes.
Research centres all over the world have a unique responsibility to take scientific advances forward into society, supporting existing companies as well as laying the foundations for emerging industrial sectors and enabling sustainable local and regional development. At a research centre, excellence in basic research must be matched by excellence in applied research and excellence in knowledge transfer, dissemination and exchange. Strategic planning, resource management and approaches for knowledge exchange and/or technology transfer determine the eventual impact of technical research; how the work is taken forward to its selected communities of interest; and how the center plans to develop excellence in RTD activities. A strategic ability to navigate multiple demands in order to produce outstanding results is the defining characteristic of a successful research group. Therefore, the IHM strategy is to be based on results of two assessments:
- firstly, evaluation of IHM scope and quality of research
- and secondly, overview of Ukrainian Innovation System and assessment of competitive advantage of Ukraine with focus on the scientific areas of IHM NASU.
2. To develop and implement training modules at IHM NASU to build capacity in participation in Fp7 and to facilitate involvement of stakeholders in innovation process.
As a research center, IHM bears responsibility to disseminate its research results out into industry and society. Such responsibility must be carefully managed and include the awareness and understanding of technology’s long-term effects. In the process of developing new technologies, many stakeholders play a role, representing various interests. In order to generate the resources that are required for a major technological change, it is important to develop a high degree of consensus among stakeholders, in an open and interactive process. Ukrainian research centers have limited experience in stakeholders involvement into innovation processes and lack competences in using modern methods for facilitating sustainable innovations. Within the ERAIHM project the Interactive Backcasting has been chosen as a method that both creates consensus on future goals for technological development and guides the innovation process over time. The training module on Interactive backcasting is based on the experience of successful application of the method by EU partners and related competences of the IHM staff identified at the beginning of the project.
For the training on the Fp7 the identified competence gaps and training needs of IHM staff serves as an input for development and implementation of the training modules. The training modules on the Fp7 for research managers and young researchers at IHM NASU will be based on experiences of the project’s EU partners as well as best practices of participation of Ukrainian Research Centres in FP7.
3. To develop a Communication and dissemination toolkit for improvement of IHM visibility for Ukrainian and European research centres and stakeholders, networking, dissemination and exchange of scientific information and design of joint RTD activities.
The ERAIHM project aims at supporting IHM NASU with finding strategic partnerships with European Universities and non-academic organizations within the areas of IHM’s high research potential identified during the self-evaluation, publications survey and consultations with the project partners and external reviewers. Thus, the project puts large focus on dissemination activities related to communication and networking with external stakeholders; dissemination of information on project content and deliverables; improvement of IHM visibility for Ukrainian and European research centres and stakeholders; networking for exchange of scientific information and design of joint RTD activities. The tasks for achieving this objective are:
- Developing communication and dissemination plan for efficient reach of various stakeholders both in Ukraine and EU countries;
- Developing a web-platform of IHM, project dissemination materials;
- Multi-stakeholder networking using experiences and structures of the European partner institutions;
- Organising international symposium on innovation support system in Ukraine and Ukrainian competitive advantage;
- Workshop for presenting experiences of interactive backcasting exercise;
- Intensive courses, public lectures and seminars for young researchers and students;
- Final project conference.
The ERAIHM project provides a platform for improving IHM NASU international visibility and strengthening the IHM brand in the areas of its academic excellence with high societal relevance and business outreach, thus paving the way for international cooperation and participation in European Framework Programmes.
Project Results:
The ERAIHM project team achieved all planned results and outcomes within the project lifetime. The project results are presented below following the project structure, i.e. the subdivision on the Work Packages and Tasks.
WP1. Management and Coordination
The activities of this Work Package were related to to the project management, administration, reporting and accounting procedures. The smooth project implementation process took place in a creative, collaborative and a conflict-free environment.
WP2. Developing IHM NASU strategy for research, innovation and international cooperation
Objectives: To develop a strategy of IHM NASU aimed at ensuring coherence of its RTD activities with socio-economic needs of Ukraine, enhancing its cooperation with European Research Centres and participation in European Framework Programmes
Task 1: International evaluation of IHM research scope and quality
The purpose of the evaluation is to enable IHM to identify areas of existing research strength and emerging potential against an international benchmark. The evaluation itself is designed to initiate strategic process across the institute, within which all research staff would consider the future direction of their work.
For the purpose of the evaluation the method of modified peer reviews has been selected.
The Guidelines for evaluation of IHM research scope and quality has been developed based on KTH experiences in International Research Assessment Exercise (RAE) conducted in 2008. The Guidelines includes description of evaluation method; assessment elements and evaluation package.
The Guidelines has been further adopted by the IHM team and translated to Ukrainian. The adopted package is provided as an appendix to the Report on Self Evaluation of IHM Departments
Following the adopted Guidelines, IHMs Central Administration and units of assessment were asked to prepare a Self-Evaluation Package, in which they were requested: to articulate strategic ambitions for the future based on current strengths; to quantify certain aspects of research activities, particularly those indicating international quality or showing high potential for renewal.
For Bibliometric Analysis the project team agreed that the standard methods such as citation based methods cannot, with certainty, identify the quality (or absence of excellence) in subfields with a different tradition of publication in e.g. conference proceedings and books, or using languages other than English (including Russian, Ukrainian). Furthermore, the quality of research in fields with a strong applied or societal focus may not be accurately reflected by bibliometric analyses alone. Therefore the project team decided that bibliometric indicators should not be interpreted without detailed knowledge about the research units under assessment and the context of their research. Thus, the list of the most important publications identified during self-evaluation stage have been used as a starting point for a deeper discussion on the positioning of research groups by the management and scientific council of IHM NASU.
The results of Self-evaluation and Bibliometric Analysis were presented and discussed during the Workshop at IHM NASU on 30 May 2011 with participation of the project teams from IHM and KTH. During the Workshop the project team decided to shift the focus of International Expert Review to identifications the areas of strategic partnership with European Universities within the areas of high research potentials identified during self-evaluation, publications survey and consultations with partners. This work has provided an input to the Report on Internationalization of IHM’s R&D, developed on a place of Report on international evaluation of IHM research scope and quality.
The Report on Internationalization of IHM’s R&D has been prepared by the project team in cooperation with external experts. It identified the following main directions of basic research in the Institute to be endorsed for international cooperation:
- Study of the characteristics of fluid flows in channels considering phase transitions.
- Development of methods for flow control in the boundary layer for drag reduction to the motion of bodies in the fluid.
- Development of methods for direct numerical simulation of fluid flows.
- Study of sound generation by flow and development of methods for monitoring the efficiency of conversion of kinetic energy flux into the energy of sound.
- Study of the interaction of surface waves with the shore and engineering structures in the coastal zone.
The analysis of sectorial priorities for innovation and strategic importance in Ukraine and the sectors of main applications of IHM NASU brought the decision to focus the IHM’s applied investigations in the sectors of Hydroengineering, Energy, Aviation (Aircraft building), Shipbuilding, and Telemedicine. The international cooperation in R&D for these sectors is recognized as the priority for the IHM.
The conclusion of the Report is that the ERAIHM project has resulted in improved internationalization of IHM NASU and its networking capacity with other research centres in Ukraine, ENP and EU through capacity building and networking Activities:
- The IHM team acquired experiences of EU partners in design and implementation of international research projects including Fp7 during study visit to TU Delft (5-10 March 2012) and to KTH (23-27 April 2012).
- The project team from KTH and TU Delft conducted training Session “Technology and Sustainability" with examples from successful research projects financed by Fp7 and Interreg programs at NTUU "KPI", Kiev (26 January, 2012).
- ERAIHM project and IHM NASU research areas and interests in cooperation have been presented to TU Delft Energy Club and EIT CLIMATE-KIC at TU Delft, Delft on 07.03.2012. The CLIMATE-KIC includes research institutions, universities and industrial partners from The Netherlands, France, Germany, Hungary, UK, Switzerland, Poland, Spain, and Italy.
- The IHM research potential and cooperation possibilities have been presented to EIT KIC InnoEnergy at KTH, Stockholm on 25.04.2012. The Kick InnoEnergy includes research institutions, universities and industrial partners from Sweden, France, Spain, Germany, Poland and The Netherlands.
- The IHM experiences in using scenario methods for energy planning has been presented to the Baltic Council of Ministers on 21.11.2012.
As a direct result of the ERAIHM project activities described above, four international projects in cooperation between IHM and academic and non-academic stakeholders from Ukraine, NIS and EU have been prepared by the project team and they were selected for financing. Their total budget of these projects is app. 1.000.000 EUR.
Finally, the International Networking Workshop within the ERAIHM project with participation of the international expert panel took place in Ukraine during 21-24 May 2013. The panel consisted of representatives from the project partner institutions and external experts - professionals in the subject areas of IHM NASU. The aim of the workshop was to review the results and deliverables of the ERAIHM project, to review the impact of the project and to discuss the further goals and potentials of international cooperation, networking activities and joint projects.
The overall conclusion of the panel is that the ERAIHM project has contributed to capacity building of IHM NASU in designing its research strategy and to increased linkage of IHM research with economic and social environment of Ukraine. Using the experiences from the ERAIHM project, IHM NASU shall continue playing an important role in facilitating multi-stakeholder networking and international cooperation towards Common Knowledge and Innovation Space between Ukraine, NIS and EU.
Task 2: Overview of Ukrainian Innovation System and assessment of competitive advantage of Ukraine with focus on the scientific areas of IHM NASU
In order to facilitate preparation of the overview of Ukrainian Innovation System and assessment of competitive advantage of Ukraine with focus on the scientific areas of
IHM NASU, team of the ERAIHM project partner ‐ TU Delft developed the Framework based on the innovation system approach. This approach utilizes results of recent research on so‐called functions of innovation systems.
The statistical analysis revealed that the two most important sectors of Ukraine are the chemical sector and the machine building sector (the basic products not included). The analysis of sectorial priorities for Innovation and strategic importance adds Agriculture, Energy, ICT, Shipbuilding, and Aviation (Aircraft building).
The sectors of main applications of IHM NASU are Hydroengineering, Shipbuilding, Aviation (Aircraft building), Energy and (Tele)Medicine.
Thus, the project team after consultations with Leaders of IHM NASU decided to focus on the first place on the following sectors:
- Hydro Engineering (Environmental technologies),
- Shipbuilding,
- Aviation (Aircraft building),
- Energy.
The international seminar on assessment of competitive advantage of Ukraine with focus on the sectors/scientific areas of IHM NASU took place at IHM during 12-15 September, 2011. Dr. Linda Kamp (TU Delft) moderated the seminar.
The project team presented analysis of innovation potentials of those sectors following the developed Framework. The important stakeholders from each of four sectors were interviewed. Information about the Seminar and interviews are presented on the ERAIHM website.
After analysis of interviews with stakeholders and collected data, the IHM team decided to continue the survey of the narrow sector of energy technology for building sustainable heating system in combination with the backcasting exercise.
One of the project’s goals is to discuss and provide input for improvement of innovation support system in Ukraine. At the beginning of the project, the working group responsible for this task had consultations with the Bilat-Ukr project, Inconet-EECA, "Joint Support Office for Enhancing Ukraine's Integration in the EU Research Area", STCU in order to avoid any duplication of work. Taking into consideration the findings of these consultations the ERAIHM team developed recommendations for enhancing Ukrainian innovation support system based on comparative analysis of Ukrainian and Swedish Innovation Doctrines and Systems. The work is done by ERAIHM team in cooperation with Institute of Economy and Forecasting, National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine, The Science park “Kyivska Polytekhnika” – partner of IHM NASU, and Swedish National Agency for Innovation (VINNOVA).
The Recommendations were presented to wide academic and non-academic public during the International Symposium: "Strengthening the Innovation Capacity and Competitiveness of Ukraine", Great Conference Hall of NASU, Kyiv, Ukraine, 16.09.2011.
Task 3: Developing of IHM NASU strategy for RTD and international cooperation
Using deliverables of the Tasks 1 and 2 above, the project team developed the IHM strategy for R&D and international cooperation. This document has focus on several important components:
- Relevance of the research activities
- Increasing attractiveness as a partner for cooperation
- Becoming truly international in research activities
- Attracting talented workforce to the research activities
- Attract young graduates as an attractive workplace
- Establishing strong internationally recognized brand of IHM
- Development of the experimental base including external funding
IHM NASU is striving to be a dynamic organization able to change the directions of its R&D activities according to the modern research and development trends and socio-economic needs of Ukraine. Wider participation in European R&D projects, including the Framework Programs will support the high level of scientific research of the Institute, attract young scientists and prevent the brain drain.
One of the concrete results of the Wp1 is creation of RENERGY PARTNERSHIP – the new project financed within the Baltic Sea Programme. Following the results of self-evaluation of IHM NASU research quality and analysis of innovation potential of Ukraine by sectors of IHM competences the area of energy efficiency especially applied for heating/cooling systems is recognized as the priority one for RTD activities and international cooperation. Thus, this area provided a theme for interactive backasting exercise, through which IHM NASU enhanced its cooperation with various public and private stakeholders. The backcasting exercise brought an idea to create a transnational multi-stakeholder platform for sharing visions of sustainable energy systems in cities of the Baltic Sea Region. The project team created a consortium led by KTH and IHM NASU that includes research institutions, municipalities, associations of local authorities and public companies in Sweden, Ukraine and Estonia. The application has been submitted to a dedicated call by the Swedish Institute and SIDA http://www.si.se/English/Navigation/Baltic-Sea-Cooperation/(öffnet in neuem Fenster) and it was selected for financing (3 000 000 SEK for 3 years). The project will start from September 2012.
WP3. Capacity Building
Objectives: To develop and implement training modules at IHM NASU to build capacity in participation in Fp7 and to facilitate involvement of stakeholders in innovation process
Task 1: Identification of capacity gaps and training needs of IHM staff to enhance participation in Fp7 and to facilitate involvement of stakeholders in its RTD activities.
The project working group led by KTH identified capacity gaps and training needs of IHM staff to enhance participation in Fp7 and to facilitate involvement of stakeholders in its RTD activities. This has been done by analysis of interviews with different target groups at IHM such as Central Administration, scientific secretary, heads of departments, leading research associates, senior research associates and young researchers.
The interviews with Ukrainian S&T policy experts have been performed for identifying experiences of Ukrainian institutions in participation in the Fp7 programme and available training courses/materials provided by NIP Ukraine, JSO, the Bilat-Ukr and the Inconet-EECA.
The Report on the training needs analysis summarized results of these surveys and it is used for development and implementation of training modules for IHM staff.
While leading researchers of IHM NASU have experience in bilateral research projects with partners from EU, USA, China and Japan, they have limited experience in participation in multi-national research projects, including European Framework Programs. To meet this gap project team decided to facilitate participation of IHM researchers in available training courses/information events provided by NIP Ukraine. The study visits of IHM researchers to KTH and TU Delft have been planned to acquire experiences of EU partners in design and implementation of international research projects including Fp7.
Another capacity gap is that IHM NASU as most of Ukrainian research centers has limited experience in stakeholders involvement into innovation processes and its researchers lack competences in using modern methods for facilitating sustainable innovations. During ERAIHM application process the project team decided to develop and implement a training module for IHM staff on interactive backcasting based on the experience of successful application of the method by EU partners. After the needs analysis, it became obvious that the theoretical training session with a small-scale exercise would not meet training needs. Therefore, much more ambitious plan for a full-scale exercise on use of participatory backcasting method has been made. Discussions on the first outputs of research self-evaluation and analysis of innovation potentials led to identification of the goal for the beackasting exercise - building up a vision and pathways for development of sustainable heating/cooling system of a city in Ukraine.
The recommendations of further training activities are used as an input to the IHM Strategy.
Task 2: Developing and implementing training modules on the Fp7
The training modules on the Fp7 for research managers and young researchers at IHM NASU are based on experiences of European partners as well as best practices of participation of Ukrainian Research Centres in FP7.
The project team developed training programme and materials.
The National Information Center for Ukraine-EC S&T cooperation facilitates participation of IHM team in its training sessions and Infodays.
The IHM team participated in the FP7 Infoday on Thematic Research Priorities "Energy" and "Environment (Including Climate Change)" organised by NIP at the E. O. Paton Electric Welding Institute of NASU (20 June, 2011). The IHM researchers took part in NIP training sessions on Fp7, based on the best practices and success stories.
The IHM team participated in the Infoday of The Framework Program "Horizon 2020", 16–17.05.2013 Kiev, Ukraine.
ERAIHM team participated in the final conference of the Fp7 project BILAT-UKRAINE at Great Conference-Hall of NASU, Kyiv (31 January, 2012).
The IHM team acquired experiences of EU partners in design and implementation of international research projects including Fp7 during study visit to TU Delft (5-10 March 2012) and to KTH (23-27 April 2012).
Project team from KTH and TU Delft conducted training Session “Technology and Sustainability" with examples from successful research projects financed by Fp7 and Interreg programs at NTUU "KPI", Kiev (26 January, 2012).
One of the training sessions was focused on analysis of GRETA application: “Green and Resilient Cities in Europe” developed by a consortium led by KTH and TU Delft. The process of building up consortium, design the project proposal and lessons learned from GRETA evaluation by experts were analyzed.
Using the “learning-by-doing” approach the IHM staff developed a new Fp7 project application RISLINK “Advancing capacities on linking research, innovation and society in Armenia and Ukraine through cooperation with EU partners (RISLINK)” The application is submitted to FP7-INCO-2013-9, R21-ENP.
Task 3: Developing and implementing Interactive Backasting Exercise
Following results of Analysis of Training Needs (D 3.1) the project team decided to implement more extensive backcasting exercise than it was planned in the application in order to facilitate involvement of stakeholders in innovation process.
As a research center, IHM bears responsibility to disseminate its research results out into industry and society. Such responsibility must be carefully managed and include the awareness and understanding of technology’s long-term effects. In the process of developing new technologies, many stakeholders play a role, representing various interests. In order to generate the resources that are required for a major technological change, it is important to develop a high degree of consensus among stakeholders, in an open and interactive process. Interactive backcasting has been applied as a method that both creates consensus on future goals for technological development and guides the innovation process over time. The method was widely applied in the Dutch Sustainable Technology Development program where it became explicitly a tool for setting sustainable innovations in motion. Moreover, it emphasized the importance of interactions, as only in this way, stakeholders could develop the required commitment (Weaver et al., 2000). It is showed that the effects of backcasting interventions could be made plausible, even after several years, which implied that the method worked (Quist, 2007).
The project team has developed methodological guidelines, framework and structure of the interactive backcasting exercise to be implemented as a capacity building activity within ERAIHM project
The Guidelines and manual are developed taking into consideration the experience of successful application of the method by EU partners and related competences of the IHM staff. Based on analysis of the IHM competences and innovation potentials the project team formulated the theme for backcasting exercise: Sustainable heating & cooling system in a city of Ukraine by year 2025/30. Bila Tserkva has been selected for the exercise.
The developed Guidelines and framework contain:
- Methodological framework for interactive backcasting;
- Action plan for backcasting process in Bila Tserkva;
- Structure of description of the current system of heating and warm water supply on local level (city);
- Communication to Ukrainian stakeholders to facilitate their participation in the exercises (interviews and workshops):
o Description of the ERAIHM project and in particular backcasting exercise
o Description of stakeholder groups
o Description of workshops and interviews
Communication to Ukrainian stakeholders is developed in Ukrainian and Russian languages in order to reach important local actors that influence development of Heating/cooling system in Bila Tserkva and Kiev and to ensure their participation in workshops and interviews.
The guidelines, framework and the manual have been used during training sessions in Kiev (24-25.01.2012) and in Delft (6-8.03.2012).
The first training session on theoretical bases and practical approaches to interactive backcasting took place at IHM NASU (Kiev, Ukraine) during 23-25 January 2012. The training session is provided by researchers from KTH and TU Delft.
Two key representatives of stakeholders of backcasting exercise participated in the part of the session devoted to discussions on development of scenarios of sustainable heating/cooling system of Bila Tserkva city by year 2025/30:
- Mr. Gennadii Dzhegur, Vice-Major of the city of Bila Tserkva
- Mr. Valery Chenchevyi, General Director of Joint-stock company "Vodokanal", Kiev (the second alternative for location of the exercise),
The training method used was learning-by-doing. Thus, after presentation and discussions of methodological framework of participatory backcasting, participants initiated the real backasting process. The first steps were discussed:
A. Basic assumptions/choices for backcasting process and system
B. Criteria for visions/scenarios
C. Relevant trends in Ukraine
To facilitate the following steps of backasting process, a training seminar was conducted for building the vision/target of using 50% less energy for heating in the Ukraine by 2030. The following questions were used to structure the discussions in smaller groups:
- What changes are necessary (e.g. Cultural, Structural including economic and institutional, and Technological)?
- How can these changes be achieved?
- Who (which stakeholders) are needed for achieving the changes?
- What are drivers and barriers for this System Innovation?
The team decided to organise a separate training session for preparation of the first creative workshop with stakeholders in Bila Tserkva. This training session took place at TU Delft during 6-8 March 2012. The structure and methods for creative workshops were presented by team from TU Delft. The ERAIHM working group on backcasting agreed upon the first list of stakeholders, a framework for interviews with stakeholders prior to the workshop and the information to be collected and analyzed for description of the current state of heating system in Bila Tserkva.
The full-scale exercise took one year. After initial stakeholder identification, a first round of interviews helped to identify all relevant stakeholders, including representatives of local authorities, heating companies, communal services, resource suppliers, consumers, NGOs and research institutions. The stakeholders participated in individual interviews and in two creative workshops. As a result of stakeholder interaction during the first creative workshop, criteria of the future heating system of Bila Tesrkva by the year 2030 were developed. Stakeholders also indicated the most important future uncertainties and trends.
Based on the results of the first workshop and data collection the research team developed several reference scenarios for the heating/cooling system in Bila Tesrkva by 2030. The following key options differentiating scenarios were selected: 1) level of heating system centralization; 2) diversification of resources; 3) type of ownership. During the second creative workshop stakeholders discussed proposed scenarios, evaluated them according to the criteria describing the vision and tested them for robustness according to selected key uncertainties. Based on this evaluation, a single scenario was designed as a combination of reference scenarios. Finally, stakeholders developed pathway for the synthesized scenario, including main technological, cultural-behavioural, organizational and structural-institutional changes that should be introduced for scenario realization with appropriate time reference. At the end of the participatory backcasting exercise the detailed description of the developed vision, pathways and action plan for the nearest 5 years have been developed.
Besides the competences in interactive backcasting approach, the exercise will improve skills of IHM staff in project management, team building, communication and process evaluation.
Report on interactive backcasting exercise has been prepared by the project team. It describes the applied methodology, presents results of the exercise, discusses main challenges faced by the project team and presents conclusions and recommendations for adaptation of the methodology for CIS countries (Commonwealth of Independent States) with low level of public participation in the decision-making processes. Finally, it reflects on the relevance of the participatory backcasting as a method for engaging research institutes in civil society in Ukraine.
The experiences and results of the participatory backcasting exercise were:
- Published in the Journal of Association of Power Efficiency Engineering of Ukraine, Nova Tema: Pereverza, K., Pasichny, A. Fp7 project "ERAIHM" - implementation of modern methods of strategic management. NOVA TEMA N2/2012 (31): pp. 16-18.
- Orally presented and published in the proceedings of European Roundtable on Sustainable Production and Consumption and the Environmental Management for Sustainable Universities (ERSCP-EMSU) conference in Istanbul, 4-7 June 2013:
Kordas, O., Nikiforovich, E., Pereverza, K., Pasichny, A., Spitsyna, T., Quist, J. Towards more sustainable heating and cooling systems in Ukraine: Participatory Backcasting in the city of Bila Tserkva.
The authors of the Conference paper “Towards more sustainable heating and cooling systems in Ukraine: Participatory Backcasting in the city of Bila Tserkva” have recently been invited to submit it to the special volume "Bridges for a More Sustainable Future: Uniting Continents and Societies" of the Elsevier’s EES JCLP.
Based on the result of the participatory backcasting project in Bila Tserkva, the project team prepared a booklet in Ukrainian language “Building up visions for sustainable cities" for academic and non-academic stakeholders working on sustainable urban development Ukraine.
WP4. Communication, networking and dissemination
Objectives: To develop a Communication and dissemination toolkit for improvement of IHM visibility for Ukrainian and European research centres and stakeholders, networking, dissemination and exchange of scientific information and design of joint RTD activities.
The project communication, networking and dissemination results and approaches are described in the section Impact and Dissemination of this report.
Potential Impact:
The ERAIHM project has contributed to capacity building of IHM NASU in designing its strategy aimed at ensuring coherence of its RTD activities with socio-economic needs of Ukraine, enhancing its cooperation with European Research Centres and participation in the European Framework Programmes. The IHM strategy has been designed based on results of two assessments: firstly, evaluation of IHM scope and quality of research and secondly, overview of Ukrainian Innovation System and assessment of competitive advantage of Ukraine with focus on the scientific areas of IHM NASU. Through development and dissemination of this example of a good practice in designing a research center’s strategy the project added to capacity building in R&D management in Ukraine:
- The IHM NASU strategy with the framework for its development has been broadly discussed with leaders of research Institutes of NASU and it was presented during the the Final Conference of the ERAIHM project, Kyiv, Ukraine, 26.03.2013.
- The recommendations on improvement of innovation support system in Ukraine were presented to wide academic and non-academic public and discussed during the International Symposium: "Strengthening the Innovation Capacity and Competitiveness of Ukraine", Kyiv, Ukraine, 16.09.2011.
Using experiences from the ERAIHM project, IHM NASU is determined to play an important role in facilitating multi-stakeholder networking and international cooperation towards Common Knowledge and Innovation Space between Ukraine, NIS and EU. Successful innovation networks such as Business Hubs, Science Parks/Cities and the most recent model of the Knowledge and Innovation Communities (KICs) of the European Institute of Innovation and Technology strive to achieve a critical mass for R&D and innovation, skills, funding, the cross-fertilisation of ideas and entrepreneurial initiatives. According to the opinion of Ukrainian experts, the existing innovation networks have not been working successfully in recent years in the innovation sphere. They were focused much more on general commercial activities than on support of innovation enterprises. Innovation projects were few and small; they could not compete with projects in property development or merchandise trade. According to the Ukrainian Association of Investment Business Association (UBICA) only 8 Techno parks (out of 16 registered ones) are operational. Experts estimate out of these only 2 or 3 of them are performing well. Therefore, the IHM will focus on participation in the networking structures that arise organically with one exception of EIT KICs that emerged from a top-down policy stimulus.
As an outcome of the ERAIHM project, IHM networking activities will be based from one side on the results of identified opportunities, drivers and barriers for cooperation and knowledge transfer among academia, business and civil society in Ukraine and from another side on best practices of EU partners identified within ERIHM project, including:
- Sustainable Business HUB (SBUHUB) – regional initiative in Southern Sweden. SBUHUB became a partner of IHM as a result of dissemination activities of ERAIHM project that represents a network among businesses, universities and institutes, utilities and municipalities in the Cleantech sector.
- Stockholm Innovation and Growth (STING) - a joint effort of various stakeholders in the Stockholm region to “support the building of new global growth companies by attracting the best innovators and entrepreneurs, offering them world-class business development support and networks”. STING is owned by the Electrum foundation organized by public (City of Stockholm, KTH), private (Ericsson, ABB, real estate owners) and research institutes in Kista. This collaboration generates an ecosystem that promotes growth and creates fertile soil for improved business opportunities and competitiveness.
- Knowledge and Innovation Communities (KICs) of Institute of Innovation and Technology (EIT). KICs operate by networking the partners that carry out specific activities in the three focus areas of Innovation/ Research, Education and Business Creation. The pillars of the KICs are their Co-location Centres (CLCs). These CLCs are the operational units that bring together groups of people, regional and local clusters and nodes of excellence. ERAIHM partners involved in all three KICs of EIT: KTH is involved in 2 of the KICs – INNOENERGY and ICTLabs and acts as a leader for Nordic nodes of these pan-European initiatives. TU Delft is involved in CLIMATE-KIC. The EIT experiences will be discussed in order to explore potentials to create associated node/s of EIT KICs in ENP countries.
The networking activities have already been initiated within the ERAIHM project and its spinoffs - four new international projects led by the ERAIHM partners (KTH and IHM NASU). Their total budget is app. 1.000.000 EUR. Furthermore, one Fp7 project has been submitted to FP7-INCO-2013-9, R21-ENP. These projects among others are aiming at establishing cooperation and know-how transfer between researchers, public and private companies and regional and local authorities of Ukraine, NIS and EU that are profiling themselves as regions or cities of innovation. Best practices from EU will provide local/regional authorities from Ukraine with ideas about economic growth through facilitating innovation activities, such as linking regional actors with clusters and research organizations in other regions/countries in order to facilitate technology transfer; attracting domestic and foreign innovative companies in order to enrich the domestic industry; building up entrepreneurial and managerial skills of the city/region.
The ERAIHM project team believes that networking activities will increase the potential of STI cooperation between Ukraine and EU under the Horizon 2020. However, for the further integration of Ukrainian research institutes into the European Research Area, improving their capacity to align research efforts with economic and government actors is also crucial. If Ukrainian research institutes can only access partners in an innovation system by their European research colleagues, they will not be very attractive partners. Therefore, the ERAIHM team put substantial efforts aiming at increased linkage of IHM research with economic and social environment of Ukraine through capacity building in participatory methods for stakeholder involvement in the innovation process.
There are several deficiencies of the decision-making processes in Ukraine that hinder sustainable development of the country:
- A weak civil society, with no tradition of public participation;
- Short-term thinking is prevailing in decision-making, long term planning is suspect due to the country’s history;
- Lack of trust in expert-based strategic developments, more or less for the same reason;
- A gap between academia and society. Research institutions have quite limited experience of cooperation with industry, public authorities, or NGOs.
Ukrainian researchers shall play an important role in overcoming these problems. Their ability to cooperate with society and to involve different stakeholders in R&D activities is crucial for successful development and implementation of sustainable innovations that are meeting socio-economic needs of Ukraine. Learning and (knowledge) collaboration are essential for appropriating the environmental, social and economic benefits of sustainable innovations. Participatory backcasting is widely and successfully used in all continents for addressing major sustainability problems in different fields. It has considerable potential to become an important tool to enhance long-term thinking and to stimulate public participation in decision-making processes in Ukraine. Thus, the participatory backcasting method has been chosen for piloting in the scope of ERAIM project.
To facilitate capacity building in participatory backcasting the ERAIHM team applied a project-based learning methodology by performing a full-scale backcasting project. It was decided to focus participatory backcasting exercise on energy-related problems in Ukrainian cities, firstly, because the reliable, independent and sustainable energy poses one of the most critical challenges to Ukraine and secondly, because considerable expertise in the energy field is available within the local project team. The city of Bila Tserkva expressed interest in hosting the exercise recognizing perspectives of using its results in the city’s strategic work on infrastructure development. Hence, Bila Tserkva became the first Ukrainian city where participatory backcasting was applied.
The backcasting project started in January, 2012, and has been completed in February, 2013. Stakeholders from the city participated in all stages of the projects through interviews, two creativity workshops and individual consultations.
Effectiveness of the learning-by-doing approach was confirmed in the process of exercise implementation: the involved Ukrainian researchers noted significant growth in their understanding of the participatory approach, and participatory backcasting particularly. As a result of the exercise there is a group of Ukrainian researchers able to implement similar projects in Ukraine. Furthermore, the trained Ukrainian researchers are planning further development of the method for NIS countries within new research projects.
It should be mentioned that introduction of participatory methods is a quite challenging task in NIS countries. The long history of the top-down approach to decision-making in these countries created a lot of barriers. The role of public/consumers in decision-making process should be reconsidered. Moreover, the ability to carry on a constructive dialog among stakeholders with different opinions should be further developed in the countries.
Importance of civil society development in Ukraine and all NIS countries cannot be overestimated. Participatory methods are able to enhance public participation in the decision-making, to give a possibility for different groups to be represented and to have a chance that their opinion will be considered. Thus, introduction of such method as participatory backcasting is an important step in NIS countries and the performed pilot project at the Ukrainian city of Bila Tserkva shows potential of successful transfer of this approach.
The backcasting project was finalized with reporting to the City Council of Bila Tserkva. The report included main results of the whole backcasting process and suggestions concerning the follow up agenda on the way of implementation of the elaborated scenario. The proposed changes and steps are quite rough and each of them needs detailed elaboration. This requires further data collection, feasibility studies and other work. Almost each of the identified steps might be developed into a separate project. The ERAIHM project team recommended to the city to prepare and submit for funding several projects based on the identified necessary cultural and institutional measures as well as possible technological solutions. Ukrainian and European researchers involved in the backcasting exercise expressed their interest in future cooperation with the city. The constructive and enthusiastic attitude to the project outcomes by the Vice Mayor of Bila Tserkva makes a reason to believe that follow-up steps will be taken by the city.
Besides the above mentioned expected follow-ups in Bila Tserkva, several broader spin-offs were initiated by the project team. One of them is ReNERGY project (http://renergy.nu/(öffnet in neuem Fenster)) aimed at sharing visions of sustainable energy system in cities of Baltic Sea region. This project was supported by the Baltic Sea Programme and it will be conducted during the next three years. IHM NASU and Bila Tserkva City Council are the partners of this project. Thus, participation in ReNergy project will become a reinforcing factor for realization of the recommendations elaborated during participatory backcasting exercise.
Another spin-off, which has already been successfully realized, is a PhD course “Innovation for Sustainable Development in a civil society” conducted by the project team in NTUU KPI (Kyiv, Ukraine) during 18-28 March, 2013. PhD students from Ukraine, Moldova, Kyrgyzstan, Georgia and Balkan countries acquired knowledge and skills in participatory backcasting and other participatory methods for sustainable innovations. The course included a project work by student groups on development of sustainable heating system in Ukrainian city of Rivne using a participatory backcasting method. Representatives of stakeholders from Rivne were invited to be interviewed by students. This course was highly appreciated by participants. Several of them are going to implement similar courses in their home universities, because many course participants are already working as teachers or teacher assistants.
The projects described above are important for dissemination of the ERAIHM outcomes among academic and non-academic institutions in EU and NIS countries. Thus, the ERAIHM projects and its spin-offs became a good platform for initiation of new projects and establishment of multi-stakeholder networks in the areas of energy efficiency, sustainable innovation and good governance.
The ERAIHM project proved that participatory methods in innovation can be successfully applied in Ukraine, and that Ukrainian research institutes can create the capacity to apply these methods. Building on the successes of the ERAIHM project, IHM NASU strives at deepening the knowledge and experience in participatory methods and to diffuse these activities within the research sector in Ukraine. One of such methods - Constructive Technology Assessment that has been introduced, but not piloted within the ERAIHM project, will be performed within a new SHIFOSOUND project for an innovative telemedicine application that was highlighted as perspective technology developed at IHM NASU within the ERAIHM. This technology commercialisation is currently under discussion between IHM NASU and Karolinska Institutet (Sweden). The expected impact of the ERAIHM project and follow up activities is that at IHM the capacity is created to act as a node for diffusing participatory methods and innovation systems analysis within the Ukrainian research sector.
Finally, enhanced by ERAIHM project, IHM meets its responsibility to take scientific advances forward into society and to contribute to the development of an inclusive society. The transition of state controlled economies to market economies still creates risks for several social groups to drop out of structures that secured their place in society. ERAIHM project addressed this problem from the perspective of the research sector, and enabled IHM to carry responsibility. IHM research activities initiated within ERAIHM project address the issue of affordability of energy (especially for the poor in cities) and accessibility of medical services for the rural population through telemedicine applications.
Dissemination
The ERAIHM dissemination activities aimed at improvement of IHM visibility for Ukrainian and European research centres and stakeholders, networking, dissemination and exchange of scientific information and design of joint RTD activities.
At the beginning of the project, the project team developed communication and dissemination plan for efficient reach of various stakeholders both in Ukraine and EU countries during the project lifetime and after its end.
The new website of IHM NASU http://hydromech.kiev.ua/(öffnet in neuem Fenster) and the project’s website http://hydromech.kiev.ua/eraihm/(öffnet in neuem Fenster) have been designed and maintained.
The project team has designed a new logo for IHM NASU, the ERAIHM project logo, ERAIHM poster and a leaflet for promotion of the project among wide public.
The main dissemination events of the projects are:
A. The International symposium "Strengthening the Innovation Capacity and Competitiveness of Ukraine":
The International symposium "Strengthening the Innovation Capacity and Competitiveness of Ukraine" took place on 16 September, 2011 in the Great Conference-Hall of NAS of Ukraine. This event brought together professionals in the field of innovation policy and experts in sustainable technology management from Ukraine and EU to discuss the recommendations on improvement of innovation support system in Ukraine developed within ERAIHM project:
- National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine,
- State Agency for Science, Innovation and Informatisation of Ukraine,
- Ministry of Education and Science,
- Innovation and Investment Department of Kyiv Regional Administration,
- National Information Center for Ukraine-EC S&T cooperation,
- Ukrainian Universities: National Technical University of Ukraine “Kiev Polytechnic Institute”, Lviv Polytechnic Institute, National University of Water Management and Nature Resources Use (Rivne), National Aerospace University KhAI (Kharkiv),
- European Institute of Innovation and Technology,
- Swedish Academy of Engineering Sciences (IVA),
- Partner Universities: KTH (Sweden) and TU Delft (The Netherlands).
The interest to the seminar was very high; therefore the institutions above were represented by high authorities and decision-makers, including:
- The Vice-chairman, Executive Committee and Governing Board member of the European Institute of Innovation and Technology and Adviser to the Swedish Ministry of Research and Education - Prof. Anders Flodström;
- Deputy Chairman of the State Agency for Science, Innovation and Informatisation of Ukraine Valentin Chebotaryov;
- Head of Innovation and Investment Department of Kyiv Regional Administration, Adviser of the Chairman of Kyiv Regional Administration Viktor Iarovoyi.
After the seminar, Prof. Anders Flodström, IHM and KTH representatives of the ERAIHM project had a meeting with the President of NAS of Ukraine Academician B.Ye.Paton h to discuss perspectives of integration of Ukraine in the European research and innovation area. The participants of the meeting highlighted that the ERAIHM project is a good example of progress in internacionalisation, which is mutually beneficial for Ukrainian and EU research institutions.
B. Multi-Stakeholder Creativite Workshops within the Participatory Backcasting Exercise aimed at creating a more sustainable heating and cooling system in the city of Bila Tserkva
The full-scale participatory backcasting exercise within the ERAIHM project aimed at capacity building among Ukrainian researchers in using modern methods for stakeholder involvement into innovation processes to foster sustainable innovations. The goal of the exercise is to design and assess strategies for creation of a more sustainable heating and cooling system in the city of Bila Tserkva (Ukraine). The exercise was conducted in cooperation with researchers from the project partner institutions from EU and Ukraine and involved a wide range of stakeholders from Bila Tserkva.
During the first Creative Workshop (24.05.2012 Kyiv Regional Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Bila Tserkva, Ukraine) criteria of the future heating system of Bila Tesrkva by the year 2030/2050 were developed. Stakeholders also indicated the most important future uncertainties and trends.
During the second Creative Workshop (09.11.2012 Kyiv Regional Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Bila Tserkva, Ukraine) stakeholders discussed proposed scenarios, evaluated them according to the criteria describing the vision and tested them for robustness according to selected key uncertainties. Based on this evaluation, a single scenario was designed as a combination of reference scenarios. Finally, stakeholders developed pathway for the synthesized scenario, including main technological, cultural-behavioral, organizational and structural-institutional changes that should be introduced for scenario realization with appropriate time reference.
During the whole participatory process in Bila Teserkva results of stakeholder learning have been assessed by the way of informal communications with the stakeholders. At the end of the exercise the stakeholders filled in a written questionnaire. The general perception about the participatory backcasting method was positive. The stakeholders mentioned its potential for facilitating creativity and improving decision-making process. They appreciated a possibility to learn more about the heating system in Bila Teserkva, to get acquainted with modern technological solutions and to understand other stakeholders’ opinions.
C. The Final Conference of the ERAIHM project
The Final Conference of the ERAIHM project was held on March 26, 2013 in the Great Conference-Hall of NAS of Ukraine. It was organized by the project consortium for presentation of the project results, sharing experience gained by the project team, and impact of the project on IHM NASU and Ukrainian academic community.
The coordinating organization, Institute of Hydromechanics of NAS of Ukraine, was represented by its Director, Academician of NASU Victor Grinchenko, the Project Coordinator, Corresponding Member of NASU Prof. Eugene Nikiforovich and members of the IHM project team.
From partner organizations the conference was attended by representatives of the Royal Institute of Technology (KTH, Stockholm, Sweden), Vice Director of the Energy Platform, Dr. Olga Kordas, and the Delft University of Technology (the Netherlands), Head of research Unit of Technology Dynamics and Sustainable Development, Prof. Karel Mulder and Professor of Public Policy, Martin de Jong.
Ukrainian academic community and professionals in the field of innovation policy and research management have been represented by the Head of the Verkhovna Rada (Parliament) Committee on Science and Education Liliya Grynevych, Vice-President of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine, Academician of NASU Prof. Valery Heyets, Director of the National Information Centre (NІP Ukraine) Olena Koval, representatives of the Presidium of NASU and numerous academic institutions, professors, young researchers and PhD students of technical universities from Ukraine, Georgia, Kyrgyzstan and Moldova. Representatives of local authorities, business and NGOs that started/enhanced collaboration with IHM NASU within the ERAIHM project took an active part in this event.
During the conference the Ukrainian and European colleagues got an opportunity for further networking activities and planning joint R&D projects.
The IHM project team put a lot of efforts to improve cooperation and visibility of IHM NASU among non-academic stakeholders such as local authorities, private and public companies and NGOs. IHM researchers presented experiences and ideas gained within ERAIHM project during the following events:
- ERAIHM Seminar on Renewable Energy Technologies for Mayors of Ukrainian Cities at the National Academy of Public Administration on 24.03.2011.
- Seminar for industrial companies “Design of heat-saving systems using the equipment operating with renewable energy sources" at IHM on 18.05.2011
- Seminar “Experience of Reorganization of the Utility and Industrial Heat And Power Engineering Systems" for Association of Engineers of Energy Efficient Technologies (AEETU, Zaporizhzhya) on 21.10.2011.
- Workshop “Academia - Business cooperation: IHM research support of large-scale infrastructure projects” at JSC "Kyivvodokanal" on 13.02.2012.
- Seminar on Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency (In Cooperation with the Swedish Institute) at International Exhibition Centre, Kyiv, Ukraine, 08.11.2012.
ERAIHM project team shared its experiences with Ukrainian research institutes and Universities. IHM researchers supported preparations of successful applications of V.M.Bakul' Institute for Superhard Materials NASU and National Aerospace University KhAI (Kharkiv) to the following ERA-WIDE call.
The dissemination and networking activities using structures of the European partner institutions include:
- ERAIHM project and IHM NASU research areas and interests in cooperation have been presented to TU Delft Energy Club and EIT CLIMATE-KIC by the project Coordinator Prof. Eugene Nikiforovich and TU Delft senior investigator Dr. Karel Mulder at TU Delft, Delft on 07.03.2012. The CLIMATE-KIC includes research institutions, universities and industrial partners from The Netherlands, France, Germany, Hungary, UK, Switzerland, Poland, Spain, and Italy.
- IHM research potential and cooperation possibilities have been presented to EIT KIC InnoEnergy by the project Coordinator Prof. Eugene Nikiforovich and KTH senior investigator Dr.Olga Kordas at KTH, Stockholm on 25.04.2012. The Kick InnoEnergy includes research institutions, universities and industrial partners from Sweden, France, Spain, Germany, Poland and The Netherlands.
- The IHM experiences in using scenario methods for energy planning have been presented to the Baltic Council of Ministers in Stockholm on 21.11.2012.
To disseminate the project outcomes among young researchers, teachers and students the project team organised intensive courses, public lectures and seminars:
- “ERAIHM - lessons learned: INTENSIVE COURSE "TECHNOLOGY AND SUSTAINABILITY. LEARNING PROCESS", at National Technical University of Ukraine “Kiev Polytechnic Institute” (NTUU KPI) on 26.01.2012.
- Intensive Course and a public lecture "Sustainable Development and Backcasting Method" by Prof. Leo Jansen (TU Delft), at NTUU KPI on 22.05.2012
- Ph.D. Spring Course on Innovations for Sustainable Development in Civil Society has been organised at NTUU KPI during 19-28.03.2013. This 6 ECTS PhD course introduced latest theories and methods to facilitate sustainable innovations for 30 PhD students, young researchers and teachers from ERAIHM team (Ukraine) and leading technical Universities from Ukraine, Moldova, Kyrgyzstan, Georgia and Balkan countries. The ERAIHM team aimed to provide the participants with the means to apply the methods discussed and piloted within the project in their research and teaching. The methods include:
o Backcasting
o The functions of innovation systems approach as a tool to analyze innovation systems (FIS)
o Constructive technology assessment (CTA).
This PhD course consisted of morning lectures, group work in the afternoon, and discussions regarding the research activities/regional SD problems of the participants in the evening.
The project work assignments had three topics directly connected to the R&D activities of IHM NASU: CTA on telemedicine, FIS for heat pump technology in Ukraine, participatory backcasting for Rivne heating system. Several representatives of important stakeholders participated in interviews with student groups during the PhD course. They represented different organizations relevant for each of three topics of the group projects.
Finally, the experiences and results of the participatory backcasting exercise were:
- published in the Journal of Association of Power Efficiency Engineering of Ukraine, Nova Tema:
Pereverza, K., Pasichny, A. Fp7 project "ERAIHM" - implementation of modern methods of strategic management. NOVA TEMA N2/2012 (31): pp. 16-18.
- Orally presented and published in the proceedings of European Roundtable on Sustainable Production and Consumption and the Environmental Management for Sustainable Universities (ERSCP-EMSU) conference in Istanbul, 4-7 June 2013:
Kordas, O., Nikiforovich, E., Pereverza, K., Pasichny, A., Spitsyna, T., Quist, J. Towards more sustainable heating and cooling systems in Ukraine: Participatory Backcasting in the city of Bila Tserkva.
The authors of the Conference paper “Towards more sustainable heating and cooling systems in Ukraine: Participatory Backcasting in the city of Bila Tserkva” have recently been invited to submit it to the special volume "Bridges for a More Sustainable Future: Uniting Continents and Societies" of the Elsevier’s EES JCLP.
List of Websites:
Public website address: http://hydromech.kiev.ua/eraihm/(öffnet in neuem Fenster)
Project Coordinator:
Prof. Eugene Nikiforovich
Corresponding Member of National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine
Professor of Fluid Mechanics, Head of Department
Institute of Hydromechanics NASU, Kiev, UKRAINE
Zhelyabova str. 8/4
03680 Kiev, UKRAINE
e-mail: eugenen@kth.se;
Tel./Fax: +380 44 371 6530 (Kiev)
Mobile: +380 50 413 4991
The ERAIHM project is designed to reinforce the cooperation capacities of one of the leading research centres of Ukraine - Institute of Hydromechanics of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine (IHM NASU) and enhancing its part participation in European Framework Programmes.
IHM NASU was founded in 1926 and is currently the largest center for research of a wide range of problems in modern fluid mechanics. IHM has a developed infrastructure of experimental tools, which is recognized as Ukrainian national heritage. Based on results of basic research IHM performs vide range of applied investigations in the areas included in such thematic priorities of Fp7 as energy, environment, transport and biotechnology.
The ERAIHM project completed by the consortium of IHM NASU (Ukraine), KTH (Sweden) and TU Delft (The Netherlands) has contributed to capacity building of IHM NASU in designing its research strategy aimed at ensuring coherence of its RTD activities with socio-economic needs of Ukraine, enhancing its cooperation with European Research Centres and participation in the European Framework Programmes. The IHM strategy has been designed based on results of two assessments: firstly, evaluation of IHM scope and quality of research and secondly, overview of Ukrainian Innovation System and assessment of competitive advantage of Ukraine with focus on the scientific areas of IHM NASU.
The ERAIHM project has also contributed to increased linkage of IHM research with economic and social environment of Ukraine through capacity building in participatory backcasting method for stakeholder involvement in the innovation process. The project team has conducted a full-scale backcasting project aiming at creation a more sustainable heating and cooling system in the city of Bila Tserkva (Ukraine) by 2030. Stakeholders from the city participated in all stages of this one-year project through interviews, two creativity workshops and individual consultations. The ERAIHM project proved that participatory methods can be successfully applied in Ukraine, and that Ukrainian research institutes can acquire knowledge and skills to apply these methods. The IHM has got the capacity to act as a node for diffusing participatory methods and innovation systems analysis within the Ukrainian research sector.
The ERAIHM project has resulted in improved internationalization of IHM NASU and its networking capacity with other research centres in Ukraine, ENP and EU. Four international projects in cooperation between IHM and academic and non-academic stakeholders from Ukraine, NIS and EU have been received as a direct result of the ERAIHM project.
The acquired experiences and best practises have been disseminated among research community and professionals in the field of innovation policy and experts in sustainable technology management in Ukraine and NIS.
Project Context and Objectives:
The ERAIHM project is designed to reinforce the cooperation capacities of one of the leading research centres of Ukraine - Institute of Hydromechanics of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine (IHM NASU) and enhancing its part participation in European Framework Programmes.
The Institute of Hydromechanics of NAS of Ukraine (IHM NASU) is a national research center in the area of Fluid Mechanics. The fundamental and applied results obtained by researchers from the Institute provide a significant impact on the Ukrainian industry and economy, in particular, hydroengineering, renewable energy, shipbuilding, aviation and telemedicine. The Institute’s R&D aim at solving environmental problems caused by economic activities, ensuring energy independence of Ukraine and involving industrial companies, SMS and public stakeholders in the innovation process.
The Institute possesses a high-quality research team including 28 Doctor of Sciences and over 60 Candidates of Sciences (equivalent of PhD).
To a considerable degree, the excellence of the IHM research projects is reinforced by its experimental infrastructure allowing the studying of fluid flows in wide velocity range of the flows and moving objects: from low ones (several centimetres per second) to that comparable with sound speed in the water. The IHM experimental complex has the Governmental status of a National Heritage of Ukraine. The Joint Ukrainian-Swedish Laboratory of Sustainable Energy and Environmental Technology is equipped by the modern heat pump equipment that facilitates studies of the physical mechanisms governing the heat-mass transport in complex ground-source heat pump (GSHP) systems in combination with energy storage.
The leading role of the IHM NASU in Fluid Mechanics and Acoustics is supported by publishing of two scientific journals, the “Applied Hydromechanics” and “Acoustic Bulletin”.
Traditionally, the IHM NASU has close relations with Ukrainian Universities supporting the quality assurance of engineering education in the country. The experimental laboratories of the IHM NASU are used for training of students from various engineering faculties of the country.
The IHM NASU is the main organizer of the international conferences on Underwater High-Speed Body Motion, Computer Fluid Dynamics, modern problems of Acoustics.
The Institute has established research cooperation with research centers from the USA, Germany, Sweden, the Netherlands, China, Korean Republic and the NIS countries. The high quality of scientific research at the Institute provides a solid ground for its participation in the international projects of the European Framework Programs and the bilateral projects with research institutions from the Member States.
IHM NASU is striving to be a dynamic organization able to change the directions of its R&D activities according to the modern research and development trends and socio-economic needs of Ukraine. Wider participation in European R&D projects, including the Framework Programs will support the high level of scientific research of the Institute, attract young scientists and prevent the brain drain.
Therefore, the overall objectives of the ERAIHM project are:
1. To develop a strategy of IHM NASU aimed at ensuring coherence of its RTD activities with socio-economic needs of Ukraine, enhancing its cooperation with European Research Centres and participation in European Framework Programmes.
Research centres all over the world have a unique responsibility to take scientific advances forward into society, supporting existing companies as well as laying the foundations for emerging industrial sectors and enabling sustainable local and regional development. At a research centre, excellence in basic research must be matched by excellence in applied research and excellence in knowledge transfer, dissemination and exchange. Strategic planning, resource management and approaches for knowledge exchange and/or technology transfer determine the eventual impact of technical research; how the work is taken forward to its selected communities of interest; and how the center plans to develop excellence in RTD activities. A strategic ability to navigate multiple demands in order to produce outstanding results is the defining characteristic of a successful research group. Therefore, the IHM strategy is to be based on results of two assessments:
- firstly, evaluation of IHM scope and quality of research
- and secondly, overview of Ukrainian Innovation System and assessment of competitive advantage of Ukraine with focus on the scientific areas of IHM NASU.
2. To develop and implement training modules at IHM NASU to build capacity in participation in Fp7 and to facilitate involvement of stakeholders in innovation process.
As a research center, IHM bears responsibility to disseminate its research results out into industry and society. Such responsibility must be carefully managed and include the awareness and understanding of technology’s long-term effects. In the process of developing new technologies, many stakeholders play a role, representing various interests. In order to generate the resources that are required for a major technological change, it is important to develop a high degree of consensus among stakeholders, in an open and interactive process. Ukrainian research centers have limited experience in stakeholders involvement into innovation processes and lack competences in using modern methods for facilitating sustainable innovations. Within the ERAIHM project the Interactive Backcasting has been chosen as a method that both creates consensus on future goals for technological development and guides the innovation process over time. The training module on Interactive backcasting is based on the experience of successful application of the method by EU partners and related competences of the IHM staff identified at the beginning of the project.
For the training on the Fp7 the identified competence gaps and training needs of IHM staff serves as an input for development and implementation of the training modules. The training modules on the Fp7 for research managers and young researchers at IHM NASU will be based on experiences of the project’s EU partners as well as best practices of participation of Ukrainian Research Centres in FP7.
3. To develop a Communication and dissemination toolkit for improvement of IHM visibility for Ukrainian and European research centres and stakeholders, networking, dissemination and exchange of scientific information and design of joint RTD activities.
The ERAIHM project aims at supporting IHM NASU with finding strategic partnerships with European Universities and non-academic organizations within the areas of IHM’s high research potential identified during the self-evaluation, publications survey and consultations with the project partners and external reviewers. Thus, the project puts large focus on dissemination activities related to communication and networking with external stakeholders; dissemination of information on project content and deliverables; improvement of IHM visibility for Ukrainian and European research centres and stakeholders; networking for exchange of scientific information and design of joint RTD activities. The tasks for achieving this objective are:
- Developing communication and dissemination plan for efficient reach of various stakeholders both in Ukraine and EU countries;
- Developing a web-platform of IHM, project dissemination materials;
- Multi-stakeholder networking using experiences and structures of the European partner institutions;
- Organising international symposium on innovation support system in Ukraine and Ukrainian competitive advantage;
- Workshop for presenting experiences of interactive backcasting exercise;
- Intensive courses, public lectures and seminars for young researchers and students;
- Final project conference.
The ERAIHM project provides a platform for improving IHM NASU international visibility and strengthening the IHM brand in the areas of its academic excellence with high societal relevance and business outreach, thus paving the way for international cooperation and participation in European Framework Programmes.
Project Results:
The ERAIHM project team achieved all planned results and outcomes within the project lifetime. The project results are presented below following the project structure, i.e. the subdivision on the Work Packages and Tasks.
WP1. Management and Coordination
The activities of this Work Package were related to to the project management, administration, reporting and accounting procedures. The smooth project implementation process took place in a creative, collaborative and a conflict-free environment.
WP2. Developing IHM NASU strategy for research, innovation and international cooperation
Objectives: To develop a strategy of IHM NASU aimed at ensuring coherence of its RTD activities with socio-economic needs of Ukraine, enhancing its cooperation with European Research Centres and participation in European Framework Programmes
Task 1: International evaluation of IHM research scope and quality
The purpose of the evaluation is to enable IHM to identify areas of existing research strength and emerging potential against an international benchmark. The evaluation itself is designed to initiate strategic process across the institute, within which all research staff would consider the future direction of their work.
For the purpose of the evaluation the method of modified peer reviews has been selected.
The Guidelines for evaluation of IHM research scope and quality has been developed based on KTH experiences in International Research Assessment Exercise (RAE) conducted in 2008. The Guidelines includes description of evaluation method; assessment elements and evaluation package.
The Guidelines has been further adopted by the IHM team and translated to Ukrainian. The adopted package is provided as an appendix to the Report on Self Evaluation of IHM Departments
Following the adopted Guidelines, IHMs Central Administration and units of assessment were asked to prepare a Self-Evaluation Package, in which they were requested: to articulate strategic ambitions for the future based on current strengths; to quantify certain aspects of research activities, particularly those indicating international quality or showing high potential for renewal.
For Bibliometric Analysis the project team agreed that the standard methods such as citation based methods cannot, with certainty, identify the quality (or absence of excellence) in subfields with a different tradition of publication in e.g. conference proceedings and books, or using languages other than English (including Russian, Ukrainian). Furthermore, the quality of research in fields with a strong applied or societal focus may not be accurately reflected by bibliometric analyses alone. Therefore the project team decided that bibliometric indicators should not be interpreted without detailed knowledge about the research units under assessment and the context of their research. Thus, the list of the most important publications identified during self-evaluation stage have been used as a starting point for a deeper discussion on the positioning of research groups by the management and scientific council of IHM NASU.
The results of Self-evaluation and Bibliometric Analysis were presented and discussed during the Workshop at IHM NASU on 30 May 2011 with participation of the project teams from IHM and KTH. During the Workshop the project team decided to shift the focus of International Expert Review to identifications the areas of strategic partnership with European Universities within the areas of high research potentials identified during self-evaluation, publications survey and consultations with partners. This work has provided an input to the Report on Internationalization of IHM’s R&D, developed on a place of Report on international evaluation of IHM research scope and quality.
The Report on Internationalization of IHM’s R&D has been prepared by the project team in cooperation with external experts. It identified the following main directions of basic research in the Institute to be endorsed for international cooperation:
- Study of the characteristics of fluid flows in channels considering phase transitions.
- Development of methods for flow control in the boundary layer for drag reduction to the motion of bodies in the fluid.
- Development of methods for direct numerical simulation of fluid flows.
- Study of sound generation by flow and development of methods for monitoring the efficiency of conversion of kinetic energy flux into the energy of sound.
- Study of the interaction of surface waves with the shore and engineering structures in the coastal zone.
The analysis of sectorial priorities for innovation and strategic importance in Ukraine and the sectors of main applications of IHM NASU brought the decision to focus the IHM’s applied investigations in the sectors of Hydroengineering, Energy, Aviation (Aircraft building), Shipbuilding, and Telemedicine. The international cooperation in R&D for these sectors is recognized as the priority for the IHM.
The conclusion of the Report is that the ERAIHM project has resulted in improved internationalization of IHM NASU and its networking capacity with other research centres in Ukraine, ENP and EU through capacity building and networking Activities:
- The IHM team acquired experiences of EU partners in design and implementation of international research projects including Fp7 during study visit to TU Delft (5-10 March 2012) and to KTH (23-27 April 2012).
- The project team from KTH and TU Delft conducted training Session “Technology and Sustainability" with examples from successful research projects financed by Fp7 and Interreg programs at NTUU "KPI", Kiev (26 January, 2012).
- ERAIHM project and IHM NASU research areas and interests in cooperation have been presented to TU Delft Energy Club and EIT CLIMATE-KIC at TU Delft, Delft on 07.03.2012. The CLIMATE-KIC includes research institutions, universities and industrial partners from The Netherlands, France, Germany, Hungary, UK, Switzerland, Poland, Spain, and Italy.
- The IHM research potential and cooperation possibilities have been presented to EIT KIC InnoEnergy at KTH, Stockholm on 25.04.2012. The Kick InnoEnergy includes research institutions, universities and industrial partners from Sweden, France, Spain, Germany, Poland and The Netherlands.
- The IHM experiences in using scenario methods for energy planning has been presented to the Baltic Council of Ministers on 21.11.2012.
As a direct result of the ERAIHM project activities described above, four international projects in cooperation between IHM and academic and non-academic stakeholders from Ukraine, NIS and EU have been prepared by the project team and they were selected for financing. Their total budget of these projects is app. 1.000.000 EUR.
Finally, the International Networking Workshop within the ERAIHM project with participation of the international expert panel took place in Ukraine during 21-24 May 2013. The panel consisted of representatives from the project partner institutions and external experts - professionals in the subject areas of IHM NASU. The aim of the workshop was to review the results and deliverables of the ERAIHM project, to review the impact of the project and to discuss the further goals and potentials of international cooperation, networking activities and joint projects.
The overall conclusion of the panel is that the ERAIHM project has contributed to capacity building of IHM NASU in designing its research strategy and to increased linkage of IHM research with economic and social environment of Ukraine. Using the experiences from the ERAIHM project, IHM NASU shall continue playing an important role in facilitating multi-stakeholder networking and international cooperation towards Common Knowledge and Innovation Space between Ukraine, NIS and EU.
Task 2: Overview of Ukrainian Innovation System and assessment of competitive advantage of Ukraine with focus on the scientific areas of IHM NASU
In order to facilitate preparation of the overview of Ukrainian Innovation System and assessment of competitive advantage of Ukraine with focus on the scientific areas of
IHM NASU, team of the ERAIHM project partner ‐ TU Delft developed the Framework based on the innovation system approach. This approach utilizes results of recent research on so‐called functions of innovation systems.
The statistical analysis revealed that the two most important sectors of Ukraine are the chemical sector and the machine building sector (the basic products not included). The analysis of sectorial priorities for Innovation and strategic importance adds Agriculture, Energy, ICT, Shipbuilding, and Aviation (Aircraft building).
The sectors of main applications of IHM NASU are Hydroengineering, Shipbuilding, Aviation (Aircraft building), Energy and (Tele)Medicine.
Thus, the project team after consultations with Leaders of IHM NASU decided to focus on the first place on the following sectors:
- Hydro Engineering (Environmental technologies),
- Shipbuilding,
- Aviation (Aircraft building),
- Energy.
The international seminar on assessment of competitive advantage of Ukraine with focus on the sectors/scientific areas of IHM NASU took place at IHM during 12-15 September, 2011. Dr. Linda Kamp (TU Delft) moderated the seminar.
The project team presented analysis of innovation potentials of those sectors following the developed Framework. The important stakeholders from each of four sectors were interviewed. Information about the Seminar and interviews are presented on the ERAIHM website.
After analysis of interviews with stakeholders and collected data, the IHM team decided to continue the survey of the narrow sector of energy technology for building sustainable heating system in combination with the backcasting exercise.
One of the project’s goals is to discuss and provide input for improvement of innovation support system in Ukraine. At the beginning of the project, the working group responsible for this task had consultations with the Bilat-Ukr project, Inconet-EECA, "Joint Support Office for Enhancing Ukraine's Integration in the EU Research Area", STCU in order to avoid any duplication of work. Taking into consideration the findings of these consultations the ERAIHM team developed recommendations for enhancing Ukrainian innovation support system based on comparative analysis of Ukrainian and Swedish Innovation Doctrines and Systems. The work is done by ERAIHM team in cooperation with Institute of Economy and Forecasting, National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine, The Science park “Kyivska Polytekhnika” – partner of IHM NASU, and Swedish National Agency for Innovation (VINNOVA).
The Recommendations were presented to wide academic and non-academic public during the International Symposium: "Strengthening the Innovation Capacity and Competitiveness of Ukraine", Great Conference Hall of NASU, Kyiv, Ukraine, 16.09.2011.
Task 3: Developing of IHM NASU strategy for RTD and international cooperation
Using deliverables of the Tasks 1 and 2 above, the project team developed the IHM strategy for R&D and international cooperation. This document has focus on several important components:
- Relevance of the research activities
- Increasing attractiveness as a partner for cooperation
- Becoming truly international in research activities
- Attracting talented workforce to the research activities
- Attract young graduates as an attractive workplace
- Establishing strong internationally recognized brand of IHM
- Development of the experimental base including external funding
IHM NASU is striving to be a dynamic organization able to change the directions of its R&D activities according to the modern research and development trends and socio-economic needs of Ukraine. Wider participation in European R&D projects, including the Framework Programs will support the high level of scientific research of the Institute, attract young scientists and prevent the brain drain.
One of the concrete results of the Wp1 is creation of RENERGY PARTNERSHIP – the new project financed within the Baltic Sea Programme. Following the results of self-evaluation of IHM NASU research quality and analysis of innovation potential of Ukraine by sectors of IHM competences the area of energy efficiency especially applied for heating/cooling systems is recognized as the priority one for RTD activities and international cooperation. Thus, this area provided a theme for interactive backasting exercise, through which IHM NASU enhanced its cooperation with various public and private stakeholders. The backcasting exercise brought an idea to create a transnational multi-stakeholder platform for sharing visions of sustainable energy systems in cities of the Baltic Sea Region. The project team created a consortium led by KTH and IHM NASU that includes research institutions, municipalities, associations of local authorities and public companies in Sweden, Ukraine and Estonia. The application has been submitted to a dedicated call by the Swedish Institute and SIDA http://www.si.se/English/Navigation/Baltic-Sea-Cooperation/(öffnet in neuem Fenster) and it was selected for financing (3 000 000 SEK for 3 years). The project will start from September 2012.
WP3. Capacity Building
Objectives: To develop and implement training modules at IHM NASU to build capacity in participation in Fp7 and to facilitate involvement of stakeholders in innovation process
Task 1: Identification of capacity gaps and training needs of IHM staff to enhance participation in Fp7 and to facilitate involvement of stakeholders in its RTD activities.
The project working group led by KTH identified capacity gaps and training needs of IHM staff to enhance participation in Fp7 and to facilitate involvement of stakeholders in its RTD activities. This has been done by analysis of interviews with different target groups at IHM such as Central Administration, scientific secretary, heads of departments, leading research associates, senior research associates and young researchers.
The interviews with Ukrainian S&T policy experts have been performed for identifying experiences of Ukrainian institutions in participation in the Fp7 programme and available training courses/materials provided by NIP Ukraine, JSO, the Bilat-Ukr and the Inconet-EECA.
The Report on the training needs analysis summarized results of these surveys and it is used for development and implementation of training modules for IHM staff.
While leading researchers of IHM NASU have experience in bilateral research projects with partners from EU, USA, China and Japan, they have limited experience in participation in multi-national research projects, including European Framework Programs. To meet this gap project team decided to facilitate participation of IHM researchers in available training courses/information events provided by NIP Ukraine. The study visits of IHM researchers to KTH and TU Delft have been planned to acquire experiences of EU partners in design and implementation of international research projects including Fp7.
Another capacity gap is that IHM NASU as most of Ukrainian research centers has limited experience in stakeholders involvement into innovation processes and its researchers lack competences in using modern methods for facilitating sustainable innovations. During ERAIHM application process the project team decided to develop and implement a training module for IHM staff on interactive backcasting based on the experience of successful application of the method by EU partners. After the needs analysis, it became obvious that the theoretical training session with a small-scale exercise would not meet training needs. Therefore, much more ambitious plan for a full-scale exercise on use of participatory backcasting method has been made. Discussions on the first outputs of research self-evaluation and analysis of innovation potentials led to identification of the goal for the beackasting exercise - building up a vision and pathways for development of sustainable heating/cooling system of a city in Ukraine.
The recommendations of further training activities are used as an input to the IHM Strategy.
Task 2: Developing and implementing training modules on the Fp7
The training modules on the Fp7 for research managers and young researchers at IHM NASU are based on experiences of European partners as well as best practices of participation of Ukrainian Research Centres in FP7.
The project team developed training programme and materials.
The National Information Center for Ukraine-EC S&T cooperation facilitates participation of IHM team in its training sessions and Infodays.
The IHM team participated in the FP7 Infoday on Thematic Research Priorities "Energy" and "Environment (Including Climate Change)" organised by NIP at the E. O. Paton Electric Welding Institute of NASU (20 June, 2011). The IHM researchers took part in NIP training sessions on Fp7, based on the best practices and success stories.
The IHM team participated in the Infoday of The Framework Program "Horizon 2020", 16–17.05.2013 Kiev, Ukraine.
ERAIHM team participated in the final conference of the Fp7 project BILAT-UKRAINE at Great Conference-Hall of NASU, Kyiv (31 January, 2012).
The IHM team acquired experiences of EU partners in design and implementation of international research projects including Fp7 during study visit to TU Delft (5-10 March 2012) and to KTH (23-27 April 2012).
Project team from KTH and TU Delft conducted training Session “Technology and Sustainability" with examples from successful research projects financed by Fp7 and Interreg programs at NTUU "KPI", Kiev (26 January, 2012).
One of the training sessions was focused on analysis of GRETA application: “Green and Resilient Cities in Europe” developed by a consortium led by KTH and TU Delft. The process of building up consortium, design the project proposal and lessons learned from GRETA evaluation by experts were analyzed.
Using the “learning-by-doing” approach the IHM staff developed a new Fp7 project application RISLINK “Advancing capacities on linking research, innovation and society in Armenia and Ukraine through cooperation with EU partners (RISLINK)” The application is submitted to FP7-INCO-2013-9, R21-ENP.
Task 3: Developing and implementing Interactive Backasting Exercise
Following results of Analysis of Training Needs (D 3.1) the project team decided to implement more extensive backcasting exercise than it was planned in the application in order to facilitate involvement of stakeholders in innovation process.
As a research center, IHM bears responsibility to disseminate its research results out into industry and society. Such responsibility must be carefully managed and include the awareness and understanding of technology’s long-term effects. In the process of developing new technologies, many stakeholders play a role, representing various interests. In order to generate the resources that are required for a major technological change, it is important to develop a high degree of consensus among stakeholders, in an open and interactive process. Interactive backcasting has been applied as a method that both creates consensus on future goals for technological development and guides the innovation process over time. The method was widely applied in the Dutch Sustainable Technology Development program where it became explicitly a tool for setting sustainable innovations in motion. Moreover, it emphasized the importance of interactions, as only in this way, stakeholders could develop the required commitment (Weaver et al., 2000). It is showed that the effects of backcasting interventions could be made plausible, even after several years, which implied that the method worked (Quist, 2007).
The project team has developed methodological guidelines, framework and structure of the interactive backcasting exercise to be implemented as a capacity building activity within ERAIHM project
The Guidelines and manual are developed taking into consideration the experience of successful application of the method by EU partners and related competences of the IHM staff. Based on analysis of the IHM competences and innovation potentials the project team formulated the theme for backcasting exercise: Sustainable heating & cooling system in a city of Ukraine by year 2025/30. Bila Tserkva has been selected for the exercise.
The developed Guidelines and framework contain:
- Methodological framework for interactive backcasting;
- Action plan for backcasting process in Bila Tserkva;
- Structure of description of the current system of heating and warm water supply on local level (city);
- Communication to Ukrainian stakeholders to facilitate their participation in the exercises (interviews and workshops):
o Description of the ERAIHM project and in particular backcasting exercise
o Description of stakeholder groups
o Description of workshops and interviews
Communication to Ukrainian stakeholders is developed in Ukrainian and Russian languages in order to reach important local actors that influence development of Heating/cooling system in Bila Tserkva and Kiev and to ensure their participation in workshops and interviews.
The guidelines, framework and the manual have been used during training sessions in Kiev (24-25.01.2012) and in Delft (6-8.03.2012).
The first training session on theoretical bases and practical approaches to interactive backcasting took place at IHM NASU (Kiev, Ukraine) during 23-25 January 2012. The training session is provided by researchers from KTH and TU Delft.
Two key representatives of stakeholders of backcasting exercise participated in the part of the session devoted to discussions on development of scenarios of sustainable heating/cooling system of Bila Tserkva city by year 2025/30:
- Mr. Gennadii Dzhegur, Vice-Major of the city of Bila Tserkva
- Mr. Valery Chenchevyi, General Director of Joint-stock company "Vodokanal", Kiev (the second alternative for location of the exercise),
The training method used was learning-by-doing. Thus, after presentation and discussions of methodological framework of participatory backcasting, participants initiated the real backasting process. The first steps were discussed:
A. Basic assumptions/choices for backcasting process and system
B. Criteria for visions/scenarios
C. Relevant trends in Ukraine
To facilitate the following steps of backasting process, a training seminar was conducted for building the vision/target of using 50% less energy for heating in the Ukraine by 2030. The following questions were used to structure the discussions in smaller groups:
- What changes are necessary (e.g. Cultural, Structural including economic and institutional, and Technological)?
- How can these changes be achieved?
- Who (which stakeholders) are needed for achieving the changes?
- What are drivers and barriers for this System Innovation?
The team decided to organise a separate training session for preparation of the first creative workshop with stakeholders in Bila Tserkva. This training session took place at TU Delft during 6-8 March 2012. The structure and methods for creative workshops were presented by team from TU Delft. The ERAIHM working group on backcasting agreed upon the first list of stakeholders, a framework for interviews with stakeholders prior to the workshop and the information to be collected and analyzed for description of the current state of heating system in Bila Tserkva.
The full-scale exercise took one year. After initial stakeholder identification, a first round of interviews helped to identify all relevant stakeholders, including representatives of local authorities, heating companies, communal services, resource suppliers, consumers, NGOs and research institutions. The stakeholders participated in individual interviews and in two creative workshops. As a result of stakeholder interaction during the first creative workshop, criteria of the future heating system of Bila Tesrkva by the year 2030 were developed. Stakeholders also indicated the most important future uncertainties and trends.
Based on the results of the first workshop and data collection the research team developed several reference scenarios for the heating/cooling system in Bila Tesrkva by 2030. The following key options differentiating scenarios were selected: 1) level of heating system centralization; 2) diversification of resources; 3) type of ownership. During the second creative workshop stakeholders discussed proposed scenarios, evaluated them according to the criteria describing the vision and tested them for robustness according to selected key uncertainties. Based on this evaluation, a single scenario was designed as a combination of reference scenarios. Finally, stakeholders developed pathway for the synthesized scenario, including main technological, cultural-behavioural, organizational and structural-institutional changes that should be introduced for scenario realization with appropriate time reference. At the end of the participatory backcasting exercise the detailed description of the developed vision, pathways and action plan for the nearest 5 years have been developed.
Besides the competences in interactive backcasting approach, the exercise will improve skills of IHM staff in project management, team building, communication and process evaluation.
Report on interactive backcasting exercise has been prepared by the project team. It describes the applied methodology, presents results of the exercise, discusses main challenges faced by the project team and presents conclusions and recommendations for adaptation of the methodology for CIS countries (Commonwealth of Independent States) with low level of public participation in the decision-making processes. Finally, it reflects on the relevance of the participatory backcasting as a method for engaging research institutes in civil society in Ukraine.
The experiences and results of the participatory backcasting exercise were:
- Published in the Journal of Association of Power Efficiency Engineering of Ukraine, Nova Tema: Pereverza, K., Pasichny, A. Fp7 project "ERAIHM" - implementation of modern methods of strategic management. NOVA TEMA N2/2012 (31): pp. 16-18.
- Orally presented and published in the proceedings of European Roundtable on Sustainable Production and Consumption and the Environmental Management for Sustainable Universities (ERSCP-EMSU) conference in Istanbul, 4-7 June 2013:
Kordas, O., Nikiforovich, E., Pereverza, K., Pasichny, A., Spitsyna, T., Quist, J. Towards more sustainable heating and cooling systems in Ukraine: Participatory Backcasting in the city of Bila Tserkva.
The authors of the Conference paper “Towards more sustainable heating and cooling systems in Ukraine: Participatory Backcasting in the city of Bila Tserkva” have recently been invited to submit it to the special volume "Bridges for a More Sustainable Future: Uniting Continents and Societies" of the Elsevier’s EES JCLP.
Based on the result of the participatory backcasting project in Bila Tserkva, the project team prepared a booklet in Ukrainian language “Building up visions for sustainable cities" for academic and non-academic stakeholders working on sustainable urban development Ukraine.
WP4. Communication, networking and dissemination
Objectives: To develop a Communication and dissemination toolkit for improvement of IHM visibility for Ukrainian and European research centres and stakeholders, networking, dissemination and exchange of scientific information and design of joint RTD activities.
The project communication, networking and dissemination results and approaches are described in the section Impact and Dissemination of this report.
Potential Impact:
The ERAIHM project has contributed to capacity building of IHM NASU in designing its strategy aimed at ensuring coherence of its RTD activities with socio-economic needs of Ukraine, enhancing its cooperation with European Research Centres and participation in the European Framework Programmes. The IHM strategy has been designed based on results of two assessments: firstly, evaluation of IHM scope and quality of research and secondly, overview of Ukrainian Innovation System and assessment of competitive advantage of Ukraine with focus on the scientific areas of IHM NASU. Through development and dissemination of this example of a good practice in designing a research center’s strategy the project added to capacity building in R&D management in Ukraine:
- The IHM NASU strategy with the framework for its development has been broadly discussed with leaders of research Institutes of NASU and it was presented during the the Final Conference of the ERAIHM project, Kyiv, Ukraine, 26.03.2013.
- The recommendations on improvement of innovation support system in Ukraine were presented to wide academic and non-academic public and discussed during the International Symposium: "Strengthening the Innovation Capacity and Competitiveness of Ukraine", Kyiv, Ukraine, 16.09.2011.
Using experiences from the ERAIHM project, IHM NASU is determined to play an important role in facilitating multi-stakeholder networking and international cooperation towards Common Knowledge and Innovation Space between Ukraine, NIS and EU. Successful innovation networks such as Business Hubs, Science Parks/Cities and the most recent model of the Knowledge and Innovation Communities (KICs) of the European Institute of Innovation and Technology strive to achieve a critical mass for R&D and innovation, skills, funding, the cross-fertilisation of ideas and entrepreneurial initiatives. According to the opinion of Ukrainian experts, the existing innovation networks have not been working successfully in recent years in the innovation sphere. They were focused much more on general commercial activities than on support of innovation enterprises. Innovation projects were few and small; they could not compete with projects in property development or merchandise trade. According to the Ukrainian Association of Investment Business Association (UBICA) only 8 Techno parks (out of 16 registered ones) are operational. Experts estimate out of these only 2 or 3 of them are performing well. Therefore, the IHM will focus on participation in the networking structures that arise organically with one exception of EIT KICs that emerged from a top-down policy stimulus.
As an outcome of the ERAIHM project, IHM networking activities will be based from one side on the results of identified opportunities, drivers and barriers for cooperation and knowledge transfer among academia, business and civil society in Ukraine and from another side on best practices of EU partners identified within ERIHM project, including:
- Sustainable Business HUB (SBUHUB) – regional initiative in Southern Sweden. SBUHUB became a partner of IHM as a result of dissemination activities of ERAIHM project that represents a network among businesses, universities and institutes, utilities and municipalities in the Cleantech sector.
- Stockholm Innovation and Growth (STING) - a joint effort of various stakeholders in the Stockholm region to “support the building of new global growth companies by attracting the best innovators and entrepreneurs, offering them world-class business development support and networks”. STING is owned by the Electrum foundation organized by public (City of Stockholm, KTH), private (Ericsson, ABB, real estate owners) and research institutes in Kista. This collaboration generates an ecosystem that promotes growth and creates fertile soil for improved business opportunities and competitiveness.
- Knowledge and Innovation Communities (KICs) of Institute of Innovation and Technology (EIT). KICs operate by networking the partners that carry out specific activities in the three focus areas of Innovation/ Research, Education and Business Creation. The pillars of the KICs are their Co-location Centres (CLCs). These CLCs are the operational units that bring together groups of people, regional and local clusters and nodes of excellence. ERAIHM partners involved in all three KICs of EIT: KTH is involved in 2 of the KICs – INNOENERGY and ICTLabs and acts as a leader for Nordic nodes of these pan-European initiatives. TU Delft is involved in CLIMATE-KIC. The EIT experiences will be discussed in order to explore potentials to create associated node/s of EIT KICs in ENP countries.
The networking activities have already been initiated within the ERAIHM project and its spinoffs - four new international projects led by the ERAIHM partners (KTH and IHM NASU). Their total budget is app. 1.000.000 EUR. Furthermore, one Fp7 project has been submitted to FP7-INCO-2013-9, R21-ENP. These projects among others are aiming at establishing cooperation and know-how transfer between researchers, public and private companies and regional and local authorities of Ukraine, NIS and EU that are profiling themselves as regions or cities of innovation. Best practices from EU will provide local/regional authorities from Ukraine with ideas about economic growth through facilitating innovation activities, such as linking regional actors with clusters and research organizations in other regions/countries in order to facilitate technology transfer; attracting domestic and foreign innovative companies in order to enrich the domestic industry; building up entrepreneurial and managerial skills of the city/region.
The ERAIHM project team believes that networking activities will increase the potential of STI cooperation between Ukraine and EU under the Horizon 2020. However, for the further integration of Ukrainian research institutes into the European Research Area, improving their capacity to align research efforts with economic and government actors is also crucial. If Ukrainian research institutes can only access partners in an innovation system by their European research colleagues, they will not be very attractive partners. Therefore, the ERAIHM team put substantial efforts aiming at increased linkage of IHM research with economic and social environment of Ukraine through capacity building in participatory methods for stakeholder involvement in the innovation process.
There are several deficiencies of the decision-making processes in Ukraine that hinder sustainable development of the country:
- A weak civil society, with no tradition of public participation;
- Short-term thinking is prevailing in decision-making, long term planning is suspect due to the country’s history;
- Lack of trust in expert-based strategic developments, more or less for the same reason;
- A gap between academia and society. Research institutions have quite limited experience of cooperation with industry, public authorities, or NGOs.
Ukrainian researchers shall play an important role in overcoming these problems. Their ability to cooperate with society and to involve different stakeholders in R&D activities is crucial for successful development and implementation of sustainable innovations that are meeting socio-economic needs of Ukraine. Learning and (knowledge) collaboration are essential for appropriating the environmental, social and economic benefits of sustainable innovations. Participatory backcasting is widely and successfully used in all continents for addressing major sustainability problems in different fields. It has considerable potential to become an important tool to enhance long-term thinking and to stimulate public participation in decision-making processes in Ukraine. Thus, the participatory backcasting method has been chosen for piloting in the scope of ERAIM project.
To facilitate capacity building in participatory backcasting the ERAIHM team applied a project-based learning methodology by performing a full-scale backcasting project. It was decided to focus participatory backcasting exercise on energy-related problems in Ukrainian cities, firstly, because the reliable, independent and sustainable energy poses one of the most critical challenges to Ukraine and secondly, because considerable expertise in the energy field is available within the local project team. The city of Bila Tserkva expressed interest in hosting the exercise recognizing perspectives of using its results in the city’s strategic work on infrastructure development. Hence, Bila Tserkva became the first Ukrainian city where participatory backcasting was applied.
The backcasting project started in January, 2012, and has been completed in February, 2013. Stakeholders from the city participated in all stages of the projects through interviews, two creativity workshops and individual consultations.
Effectiveness of the learning-by-doing approach was confirmed in the process of exercise implementation: the involved Ukrainian researchers noted significant growth in their understanding of the participatory approach, and participatory backcasting particularly. As a result of the exercise there is a group of Ukrainian researchers able to implement similar projects in Ukraine. Furthermore, the trained Ukrainian researchers are planning further development of the method for NIS countries within new research projects.
It should be mentioned that introduction of participatory methods is a quite challenging task in NIS countries. The long history of the top-down approach to decision-making in these countries created a lot of barriers. The role of public/consumers in decision-making process should be reconsidered. Moreover, the ability to carry on a constructive dialog among stakeholders with different opinions should be further developed in the countries.
Importance of civil society development in Ukraine and all NIS countries cannot be overestimated. Participatory methods are able to enhance public participation in the decision-making, to give a possibility for different groups to be represented and to have a chance that their opinion will be considered. Thus, introduction of such method as participatory backcasting is an important step in NIS countries and the performed pilot project at the Ukrainian city of Bila Tserkva shows potential of successful transfer of this approach.
The backcasting project was finalized with reporting to the City Council of Bila Tserkva. The report included main results of the whole backcasting process and suggestions concerning the follow up agenda on the way of implementation of the elaborated scenario. The proposed changes and steps are quite rough and each of them needs detailed elaboration. This requires further data collection, feasibility studies and other work. Almost each of the identified steps might be developed into a separate project. The ERAIHM project team recommended to the city to prepare and submit for funding several projects based on the identified necessary cultural and institutional measures as well as possible technological solutions. Ukrainian and European researchers involved in the backcasting exercise expressed their interest in future cooperation with the city. The constructive and enthusiastic attitude to the project outcomes by the Vice Mayor of Bila Tserkva makes a reason to believe that follow-up steps will be taken by the city.
Besides the above mentioned expected follow-ups in Bila Tserkva, several broader spin-offs were initiated by the project team. One of them is ReNERGY project (http://renergy.nu/(öffnet in neuem Fenster)) aimed at sharing visions of sustainable energy system in cities of Baltic Sea region. This project was supported by the Baltic Sea Programme and it will be conducted during the next three years. IHM NASU and Bila Tserkva City Council are the partners of this project. Thus, participation in ReNergy project will become a reinforcing factor for realization of the recommendations elaborated during participatory backcasting exercise.
Another spin-off, which has already been successfully realized, is a PhD course “Innovation for Sustainable Development in a civil society” conducted by the project team in NTUU KPI (Kyiv, Ukraine) during 18-28 March, 2013. PhD students from Ukraine, Moldova, Kyrgyzstan, Georgia and Balkan countries acquired knowledge and skills in participatory backcasting and other participatory methods for sustainable innovations. The course included a project work by student groups on development of sustainable heating system in Ukrainian city of Rivne using a participatory backcasting method. Representatives of stakeholders from Rivne were invited to be interviewed by students. This course was highly appreciated by participants. Several of them are going to implement similar courses in their home universities, because many course participants are already working as teachers or teacher assistants.
The projects described above are important for dissemination of the ERAIHM outcomes among academic and non-academic institutions in EU and NIS countries. Thus, the ERAIHM projects and its spin-offs became a good platform for initiation of new projects and establishment of multi-stakeholder networks in the areas of energy efficiency, sustainable innovation and good governance.
The ERAIHM project proved that participatory methods in innovation can be successfully applied in Ukraine, and that Ukrainian research institutes can create the capacity to apply these methods. Building on the successes of the ERAIHM project, IHM NASU strives at deepening the knowledge and experience in participatory methods and to diffuse these activities within the research sector in Ukraine. One of such methods - Constructive Technology Assessment that has been introduced, but not piloted within the ERAIHM project, will be performed within a new SHIFOSOUND project for an innovative telemedicine application that was highlighted as perspective technology developed at IHM NASU within the ERAIHM. This technology commercialisation is currently under discussion between IHM NASU and Karolinska Institutet (Sweden). The expected impact of the ERAIHM project and follow up activities is that at IHM the capacity is created to act as a node for diffusing participatory methods and innovation systems analysis within the Ukrainian research sector.
Finally, enhanced by ERAIHM project, IHM meets its responsibility to take scientific advances forward into society and to contribute to the development of an inclusive society. The transition of state controlled economies to market economies still creates risks for several social groups to drop out of structures that secured their place in society. ERAIHM project addressed this problem from the perspective of the research sector, and enabled IHM to carry responsibility. IHM research activities initiated within ERAIHM project address the issue of affordability of energy (especially for the poor in cities) and accessibility of medical services for the rural population through telemedicine applications.
Dissemination
The ERAIHM dissemination activities aimed at improvement of IHM visibility for Ukrainian and European research centres and stakeholders, networking, dissemination and exchange of scientific information and design of joint RTD activities.
At the beginning of the project, the project team developed communication and dissemination plan for efficient reach of various stakeholders both in Ukraine and EU countries during the project lifetime and after its end.
The new website of IHM NASU http://hydromech.kiev.ua/(öffnet in neuem Fenster) and the project’s website http://hydromech.kiev.ua/eraihm/(öffnet in neuem Fenster) have been designed and maintained.
The project team has designed a new logo for IHM NASU, the ERAIHM project logo, ERAIHM poster and a leaflet for promotion of the project among wide public.
The main dissemination events of the projects are:
A. The International symposium "Strengthening the Innovation Capacity and Competitiveness of Ukraine":
The International symposium "Strengthening the Innovation Capacity and Competitiveness of Ukraine" took place on 16 September, 2011 in the Great Conference-Hall of NAS of Ukraine. This event brought together professionals in the field of innovation policy and experts in sustainable technology management from Ukraine and EU to discuss the recommendations on improvement of innovation support system in Ukraine developed within ERAIHM project:
- National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine,
- State Agency for Science, Innovation and Informatisation of Ukraine,
- Ministry of Education and Science,
- Innovation and Investment Department of Kyiv Regional Administration,
- National Information Center for Ukraine-EC S&T cooperation,
- Ukrainian Universities: National Technical University of Ukraine “Kiev Polytechnic Institute”, Lviv Polytechnic Institute, National University of Water Management and Nature Resources Use (Rivne), National Aerospace University KhAI (Kharkiv),
- European Institute of Innovation and Technology,
- Swedish Academy of Engineering Sciences (IVA),
- Partner Universities: KTH (Sweden) and TU Delft (The Netherlands).
The interest to the seminar was very high; therefore the institutions above were represented by high authorities and decision-makers, including:
- The Vice-chairman, Executive Committee and Governing Board member of the European Institute of Innovation and Technology and Adviser to the Swedish Ministry of Research and Education - Prof. Anders Flodström;
- Deputy Chairman of the State Agency for Science, Innovation and Informatisation of Ukraine Valentin Chebotaryov;
- Head of Innovation and Investment Department of Kyiv Regional Administration, Adviser of the Chairman of Kyiv Regional Administration Viktor Iarovoyi.
After the seminar, Prof. Anders Flodström, IHM and KTH representatives of the ERAIHM project had a meeting with the President of NAS of Ukraine Academician B.Ye.Paton h to discuss perspectives of integration of Ukraine in the European research and innovation area. The participants of the meeting highlighted that the ERAIHM project is a good example of progress in internacionalisation, which is mutually beneficial for Ukrainian and EU research institutions.
B. Multi-Stakeholder Creativite Workshops within the Participatory Backcasting Exercise aimed at creating a more sustainable heating and cooling system in the city of Bila Tserkva
The full-scale participatory backcasting exercise within the ERAIHM project aimed at capacity building among Ukrainian researchers in using modern methods for stakeholder involvement into innovation processes to foster sustainable innovations. The goal of the exercise is to design and assess strategies for creation of a more sustainable heating and cooling system in the city of Bila Tserkva (Ukraine). The exercise was conducted in cooperation with researchers from the project partner institutions from EU and Ukraine and involved a wide range of stakeholders from Bila Tserkva.
During the first Creative Workshop (24.05.2012 Kyiv Regional Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Bila Tserkva, Ukraine) criteria of the future heating system of Bila Tesrkva by the year 2030/2050 were developed. Stakeholders also indicated the most important future uncertainties and trends.
During the second Creative Workshop (09.11.2012 Kyiv Regional Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Bila Tserkva, Ukraine) stakeholders discussed proposed scenarios, evaluated them according to the criteria describing the vision and tested them for robustness according to selected key uncertainties. Based on this evaluation, a single scenario was designed as a combination of reference scenarios. Finally, stakeholders developed pathway for the synthesized scenario, including main technological, cultural-behavioral, organizational and structural-institutional changes that should be introduced for scenario realization with appropriate time reference.
During the whole participatory process in Bila Teserkva results of stakeholder learning have been assessed by the way of informal communications with the stakeholders. At the end of the exercise the stakeholders filled in a written questionnaire. The general perception about the participatory backcasting method was positive. The stakeholders mentioned its potential for facilitating creativity and improving decision-making process. They appreciated a possibility to learn more about the heating system in Bila Teserkva, to get acquainted with modern technological solutions and to understand other stakeholders’ opinions.
C. The Final Conference of the ERAIHM project
The Final Conference of the ERAIHM project was held on March 26, 2013 in the Great Conference-Hall of NAS of Ukraine. It was organized by the project consortium for presentation of the project results, sharing experience gained by the project team, and impact of the project on IHM NASU and Ukrainian academic community.
The coordinating organization, Institute of Hydromechanics of NAS of Ukraine, was represented by its Director, Academician of NASU Victor Grinchenko, the Project Coordinator, Corresponding Member of NASU Prof. Eugene Nikiforovich and members of the IHM project team.
From partner organizations the conference was attended by representatives of the Royal Institute of Technology (KTH, Stockholm, Sweden), Vice Director of the Energy Platform, Dr. Olga Kordas, and the Delft University of Technology (the Netherlands), Head of research Unit of Technology Dynamics and Sustainable Development, Prof. Karel Mulder and Professor of Public Policy, Martin de Jong.
Ukrainian academic community and professionals in the field of innovation policy and research management have been represented by the Head of the Verkhovna Rada (Parliament) Committee on Science and Education Liliya Grynevych, Vice-President of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine, Academician of NASU Prof. Valery Heyets, Director of the National Information Centre (NІP Ukraine) Olena Koval, representatives of the Presidium of NASU and numerous academic institutions, professors, young researchers and PhD students of technical universities from Ukraine, Georgia, Kyrgyzstan and Moldova. Representatives of local authorities, business and NGOs that started/enhanced collaboration with IHM NASU within the ERAIHM project took an active part in this event.
During the conference the Ukrainian and European colleagues got an opportunity for further networking activities and planning joint R&D projects.
The IHM project team put a lot of efforts to improve cooperation and visibility of IHM NASU among non-academic stakeholders such as local authorities, private and public companies and NGOs. IHM researchers presented experiences and ideas gained within ERAIHM project during the following events:
- ERAIHM Seminar on Renewable Energy Technologies for Mayors of Ukrainian Cities at the National Academy of Public Administration on 24.03.2011.
- Seminar for industrial companies “Design of heat-saving systems using the equipment operating with renewable energy sources" at IHM on 18.05.2011
- Seminar “Experience of Reorganization of the Utility and Industrial Heat And Power Engineering Systems" for Association of Engineers of Energy Efficient Technologies (AEETU, Zaporizhzhya) on 21.10.2011.
- Workshop “Academia - Business cooperation: IHM research support of large-scale infrastructure projects” at JSC "Kyivvodokanal" on 13.02.2012.
- Seminar on Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency (In Cooperation with the Swedish Institute) at International Exhibition Centre, Kyiv, Ukraine, 08.11.2012.
ERAIHM project team shared its experiences with Ukrainian research institutes and Universities. IHM researchers supported preparations of successful applications of V.M.Bakul' Institute for Superhard Materials NASU and National Aerospace University KhAI (Kharkiv) to the following ERA-WIDE call.
The dissemination and networking activities using structures of the European partner institutions include:
- ERAIHM project and IHM NASU research areas and interests in cooperation have been presented to TU Delft Energy Club and EIT CLIMATE-KIC by the project Coordinator Prof. Eugene Nikiforovich and TU Delft senior investigator Dr. Karel Mulder at TU Delft, Delft on 07.03.2012. The CLIMATE-KIC includes research institutions, universities and industrial partners from The Netherlands, France, Germany, Hungary, UK, Switzerland, Poland, Spain, and Italy.
- IHM research potential and cooperation possibilities have been presented to EIT KIC InnoEnergy by the project Coordinator Prof. Eugene Nikiforovich and KTH senior investigator Dr.Olga Kordas at KTH, Stockholm on 25.04.2012. The Kick InnoEnergy includes research institutions, universities and industrial partners from Sweden, France, Spain, Germany, Poland and The Netherlands.
- The IHM experiences in using scenario methods for energy planning have been presented to the Baltic Council of Ministers in Stockholm on 21.11.2012.
To disseminate the project outcomes among young researchers, teachers and students the project team organised intensive courses, public lectures and seminars:
- “ERAIHM - lessons learned: INTENSIVE COURSE "TECHNOLOGY AND SUSTAINABILITY. LEARNING PROCESS", at National Technical University of Ukraine “Kiev Polytechnic Institute” (NTUU KPI) on 26.01.2012.
- Intensive Course and a public lecture "Sustainable Development and Backcasting Method" by Prof. Leo Jansen (TU Delft), at NTUU KPI on 22.05.2012
- Ph.D. Spring Course on Innovations for Sustainable Development in Civil Society has been organised at NTUU KPI during 19-28.03.2013. This 6 ECTS PhD course introduced latest theories and methods to facilitate sustainable innovations for 30 PhD students, young researchers and teachers from ERAIHM team (Ukraine) and leading technical Universities from Ukraine, Moldova, Kyrgyzstan, Georgia and Balkan countries. The ERAIHM team aimed to provide the participants with the means to apply the methods discussed and piloted within the project in their research and teaching. The methods include:
o Backcasting
o The functions of innovation systems approach as a tool to analyze innovation systems (FIS)
o Constructive technology assessment (CTA).
This PhD course consisted of morning lectures, group work in the afternoon, and discussions regarding the research activities/regional SD problems of the participants in the evening.
The project work assignments had three topics directly connected to the R&D activities of IHM NASU: CTA on telemedicine, FIS for heat pump technology in Ukraine, participatory backcasting for Rivne heating system. Several representatives of important stakeholders participated in interviews with student groups during the PhD course. They represented different organizations relevant for each of three topics of the group projects.
Finally, the experiences and results of the participatory backcasting exercise were:
- published in the Journal of Association of Power Efficiency Engineering of Ukraine, Nova Tema:
Pereverza, K., Pasichny, A. Fp7 project "ERAIHM" - implementation of modern methods of strategic management. NOVA TEMA N2/2012 (31): pp. 16-18.
- Orally presented and published in the proceedings of European Roundtable on Sustainable Production and Consumption and the Environmental Management for Sustainable Universities (ERSCP-EMSU) conference in Istanbul, 4-7 June 2013:
Kordas, O., Nikiforovich, E., Pereverza, K., Pasichny, A., Spitsyna, T., Quist, J. Towards more sustainable heating and cooling systems in Ukraine: Participatory Backcasting in the city of Bila Tserkva.
The authors of the Conference paper “Towards more sustainable heating and cooling systems in Ukraine: Participatory Backcasting in the city of Bila Tserkva” have recently been invited to submit it to the special volume "Bridges for a More Sustainable Future: Uniting Continents and Societies" of the Elsevier’s EES JCLP.
List of Websites:
Public website address: http://hydromech.kiev.ua/eraihm/(öffnet in neuem Fenster)
Project Coordinator:
Prof. Eugene Nikiforovich
Corresponding Member of National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine
Professor of Fluid Mechanics, Head of Department
Institute of Hydromechanics NASU, Kiev, UKRAINE
Zhelyabova str. 8/4
03680 Kiev, UKRAINE
e-mail: eugenen@kth.se;
Tel./Fax: +380 44 371 6530 (Kiev)
Mobile: +380 50 413 4991
