Six Chapters that are publicly available describe the LSERI:
• A consolidated vision. The three global research directions bridge the gap between the current state of the art and a unifying visionary goal of a CO2-neutral economy with affordable negative emissions technologies for the genuine decoupling of economic growth from utilisation of fossil resources by manufacturing fuel and chemicals. Five S&T objectives form a ten-year timeline towards targeted impact on economy and society on a longer timescale with a carbon-neutral European society by 2050, in accordance with the EU policy goals, a socially fair and economically viable transition to a carbon-neutral society, import-independent production for EU autonomy and sovereignity, energy security, and, ultimately, reduction of the atmospheric CO2 concentration.
• A strategic long-term research roadmap with two major milestones:
i. seasonal storage in 2025 with direct air capture and conversion for sustainable production of fuel and chemicals, and cost-competitive production of ammonia and hydrogen in 2025; and
ii. demonstration of negative emission in 2030 with decentralized carbon free production of ammonia; cost-competitive decentralized production of hydrogen, and cost-competitive mid-scale jet fuel production.
The technologies are inspired by natural photosynthesis. Energy from sunlight or wind and raw materials abundantly available in the atmosphere (water, carbon dioxide, nitrogen) are transformed into sustainable fuels with high energy content for the transport and heating sector, while chemical industry profits from fossil-free raw materials and energy. Converting sunlight and electricity into chemical energy represents a safe and easy way of long-term storage for intermittent renewable energy sources. In the longer term, CO2 is directly taken from the atmosphere and becomes a valuable raw material. When transformed into fuels and burnt afterwards, a net zero-carbon emissions cycle is established, while when transformed into long-lasting chemical products, such as polymers, net negative CO2 emissions are achieved.
• A blueprint for the Flagship's implementation that sets out the collaboration and S&T framework for the large-scale research initiative. It maps the necessary competencies and resources, including infrastructure aspects, that are needed for an implementation with openness for performing the work and for exploitation of the results. It provides a mapping of competencies and resources within Europe. The blueprint also develops a possible call scheme for the first billion Euro of investments over the course of 10 years through a portfolio of EU calls.
• An effective scientific leadership and governance structure that was jointly developed between the ENERGY-X and SUNRISE consortia based on the analysis of the governance structure of running European large-scale initiatives. It contains a tentative scenario for launching a SUNERGY Large Scale European Research and Innovation Initiative (LSERI) in the context of HE with a short-to-mid-term transition and “ramp-up” phase (2020-2024) and a long-term LSERI phase (after 2024). A a co-programmed European partnership (cPPP) appears as the most suitable option, with both bottom-up (RIA) and programmatic (IA) components and the necessary flexibility in terms of composition of partners, objectives and activities. Besides having both public and private partners, the cPPP instrument also allows to have member states and associated member states involved to align with national priorities.
• Innovation and exploitation describing the Intellectual Property (IP) structures and Science-to-Science (S2S) and Science-to-Business (S2B) exploitation methods. The proposed IP system follows the established framework for EU funding programs with project partners sharing background IP as needed, while newly generated IP is owned by the inventing parties with conditional access and licensing rights for others. Transfer of IP across the partnership is on voluntary basis with the partnership coordination actively encouraging IP sharing. This avoids a coercive mechanism that would discourage private parties from participating. Different approaches for S2S and S2B exploitation will be used – also depending on the maturity of the development activity. Key is making information timely and consistently available – either regarding interim or final development results or regarding market or business needs and requirements. Failure to commercialize technology is often largely related to a poor understanding of the market. It is hence proposed that project teams are actively coached in order to build their business case, and that the progress of the projects is continuously monitored in order to ensure their quality and impact, and hence their subsequent exploitability.
• Community building describes how a growing community has been built during the preparatory action and identifies the main dissemination, communication and education objectives to nurture responsible research and innovation in the upcoming LSERI along three main lines: (1) Continuous operation of communication tools; (2) Up to date and adapted content to address the different target audiences; and (3) Active engagement at the European and member states level. The plan includes an evaluation of the initial KPIs (Key Performance Indicators) to be considered in the short-term during a ramp-up phase, and long-term in the LSERI phase. Reaching out to the general public and policy makers will be crucial for reaching the SUNERGY LSERI phase.
