HERON aims at facilitating policy makers of multi-level governance in EU, to develop and monitor energy efficiency policies in building and transport sectors, through forward-looking socio-economic research in seven EU and one candidate countries. The objectives are: i. the impact of socio-economic and institutional factors on implementing energy efficiency policies and measures, ii. the development of energy-efficient pathways to the horizon 2030 and beyond taking into account the socio-economic drivers and the updated energy efficiency measures, iii. the contribution to improving energy modeling by incorporating social, educational and cultural factors so as to reflect the end-user behavior, iv. the establishment of communication channels between researchers, decision makers of different governance levels and social and market stakeholders. These objectives will be achieved through: (1) Mapping of energy efficiency policy instruments, available technologies and social, economic, cultural and educational barriers in transport and buildings, (2) Assessment of the evidenced barriers and the main driving factors, in order to define their weight/importance for the implementation of energy efficiency policies, (3) Determination of linkages between the factors and the energy efficiency, (4) Forward-looking scenario analysis, focusing on macro- and micro-economic impacts of energy efficiency policy options, (5) Policy recommendations through multi-criteria evaluation and feedback mechanisms with policy makers and market stakeholders from EU (member states, Covenant of Mayors) and neighboring countries (Business Council of BSEC). HERON will develop an innovative decision support tool to incorporate non-economic and non-market elements, such as social, educational and cultural, into scenario analysis.

The EU has defined smart and sustainable growth as one of the priorities (EU Strategy 2020). An essential part for reaching these priorities is innovation. Innovation structures and support measures are being established and provided at the EU and at various levels in its member states. However, recently there is more attention to bottom-up rather than top-down innovation: for example, innovative, new business and project development which is based upon ventures from creative and business class: students from universities, technical, art and business schools. This approach has been employed in several places and has a good innovation potential. The project is based on the knowledge transfer idea from countries where there are established efficient, bottom up innovation structures and platforms, such as in the Netherlands and Denmark. The partners who represent countries with lower innovation capacities (Latvia, Estonia and Cyprus) wanted to learn from this experience, test the approaches and establish similar labs in their countries.Project objective was to raise bottom-up innovation capacity for the benefit of sustainable and socially responsible growth in Estonia, Latvia and Cyprus, based on the experiences from Denmark and the Netherlands. To reach the project aim, the project defined the following sub-objectives:1) To learn about student based innovation labs in the Netherlands and Denmark;2) To transfer, mutually learn and disseminate knowledge about student based innovation labs;3) To establish cross sectoral, student-based innovation platforms (Innovation labs) linking universities, intermediaries (innovation and sustainability agents), local industries and stakeholders; 4) To link education with practical innovation projects by engaging university students and teachers to work on practical, multidisciplinary sustainability and social issues on the selected practical issues, creating together new innovative projects or ventures which benefit the issues of sustainability or social challenges, as a part of their bachelor or master education;5) To develop and carry out 4-5 student projects for Innovation labs in each partner university;6) To disseminate project results.Regarding number and profile of participants, there were 8 organizations in the partnership: Foundation for Society (FS, NGO, Latvia); SEI Tallinn (SEIT, NGO, Estonia), Interfusion Services Ltd (IFSS, SME, Cyprus); Vidzeme University (VA, university, Latvia); Sticthing NHL (NHL,university, the Netherlands); Aalborg University (AAU, university, Denmark), Cyprus University of Technology (CUT,university, Cyprus) and Estonian Academy of Arts (EKA, university, Estonia).Description of activitiesThe project carried out preparatory, implementation and dissemination activities: feasibility studies, prepared innovation lab (further – innolabs) development plans for universities; run staff training and study visits to the NL and DK; established innolabs in operation and tested them by running student projects in LV, EE and CY universities; run various dissemination and engagement activities, such as workshops, presentations; conference; website, student project contests and others). Each innolab in partner universities in EE, LV and CY run its first round of student innovation projects. Two methodological materials for establishment of innolabs and running them in universities have been produced.Results and impact attained- The innovation capacity has been raised in LV, EE and CY by establishment of innolabs in these universities, raising the competitiveness of the participant universities of their staff and students, the local regions, and the clients and stakeholders of these innolabs;- New knowledge generated during staff training events;- New business opportunities and creativity has been promoted and new links and relationships with clients of innolabs established;- The students have increased their skills of working together, producing results, presenting their results which shall help them into their working lives; - Sustainable innovations - emergence of innovative products, services, initiatives have been generated, for example, a product for Sports Ident company was produced by the VA student team,- Methodological materials produced will help other innolabs to be established and to be improved.Potential longer term benefits are achieved through ensuring the continuation of the innovation labs operation in future. This has been achieved by the top-management approved innolab development plans in the universities of LV, CY and EE. Therefore it is a well-grounded expectation that established innolabs will continue to work in future and will result in new, innovative activities, products, services, spin-offs and start-ups, thus raising innovation capacities, economic attractiveness and sustainable development of local regions and stimulating bottom-up innovation for the EU organisations at international level.

Co-design and co-production processes are promising horizontal governance tools to innovate public administrations and the public sector in general. In particular, co-design processes aim at improving policy effectiveness by including a wide range of viewpoints in the formulation of public policies and in the design of public services, while co-production processes are designed and managed to involve ‘responsible citizens-users’ in the implementation of the policies and in public service delivery, and aim not only at improving policy effectiveness, but also at sustaining public sector intervention in the recent austerity era, during which governments (especially local governments) must face new social needs and complex problems with decreasing public resources. Notwithstanding the high potential of these processes as innovative and effective governance tools, practical evidence about their usefulness and sustainability for local administrators is still lacking, and local governments proceed mostly incrementally and unaware of potentials and pitfalls. ENLARGE project aims to shed some light on the ‘how and why’ issues of co-design and co-production processes through an intense policy dialogue between policy makers, experts in participatory governance and civil society actors. The specific focus is on sustainable energy and more in general all the solutions aiming at generating more efficiency and effectiveness in public services and public endowments. In detail, the project intends to: EXPLORE the existing models of co-design and co-production of public policies and services; EVALUATE – measures for the assessment of the outcomes; mechanisms and intervening factors favouring the effectiveness of participatory processes; PRODUCE - Raising awareness among public administrators about the options at their disposal and the potential consequences of these choices; COMMUNICATE and DISSEMINATE the project results.

Increasingly frequent extreme weather conditions due to climate change concomitant with unsustainable historical resource use and management practices create the perfect storm - threatening our livelihoods, well-being and environment. A transition towards resilience requires that we simultaneously address social inequalities and implement cross-sectoral innovations to build social, economic and environmental resilience to extreme events. Together, Regions4Climate partners commit to addressing current and forecasted climate change-related challenges and building more resilient European communities within an innovative socially engaged, citizen-driven paradigm. We aim to develop smarter, more inclusive, more resilient regional ecosystems through cross-sectoral innovation jointly created with stakeholders, by and for people. The development and implementation of cross-sectoral strategies that incorporate combinations of social, technological, digital, business, governance and environmental solutions to common climate resilience challenges is at present constrained by knowledge deficits and uncertainties, as well as science-policy-stakeholder gaps. Regions4Climate will bridge these gaps and address existing uncertainties by further developing, adapting and integrating state-of-the-art technical know-how, innovative tools and collaborative practices to support transparent, evidence-based risk and vulnerability analyses and robust decision-making processes. We will utilise system dynamic modelling to understand relationships among and trade-offs between different resilience innovations, providing tools for informed decision-making tailored to engage stakeholders and support European regions and communities exposed to significant climate change impacts. New scientific insights, along with a framework of interoperable tools, methodologies and demonstrated solutions will enable European regions to develop their own resilience plans and transformative adaptation pathways.

H2-SEAS initiative is an Innovation Action targeting the overarching objectives of the topic HORIZON-MISS-2023-OCEAN-01-05. The initiative proposes a novel, fully-integrated hydrogen-electric fishing vessel to accelerate a sustainable and accessible transition to clean and efficient power for small-scale fishing fleets. Based on hydrogen fuel cell technology, the prototype will demonstrate increased energy efficiency and an environmentally friendly solution for the marine environment: zero emissions and low sound pollution. The project will be implemented by the design, construction, and operational demonstration of a hydrogen-electric fishing vessel, to test and validate its resilience in the harsh marine environment. The outcome will be complimented by the gathering of technical competencies provided by the Latvian Maritime Academy (Riga Technical University) and the Latvian shipyard AtoZ, which are in charge of major activities of hull design, engineering, building, and testing. Genevos, a French SME leader in the integration of hydrogen technologies in the maritime sector will provide the complete energy system engineering, including certified Hydrogen Power Modules, gas integration design and installation. In parallel, survey and research activities will be undertaken by the Estonian Tallinn Centre of the Stockholm Environment Institute and the Latvian Vidzeme University of Applied Sciences to report on regulation and barriers for small-scale fishing ship decarbonisation and to assess the environmental impact of the H2-SEAS initiative on the marine environment. The Distance Education Study Centre (Riga Technical University) will implement and maintain effective project management to create and lead dissemination and exploitation of results forming long-term synergies to broaden hydrogen fuel cell energies for small-scale fishing ships perspectives and meet the European Green deal objectives and the EU Biodiversity Strategy for 2030.