R-Aces means a step-change in the contribution of European Industry to the climate targets of the EU. The sector after all represents 25% of all energy demand – and 50% of all cooling and heating - on the continent; yet only 16% comes from renewables. By focusing on collective measures and clustering, the efficiency of industry can be drastically increased. The focus of R-Aces therefore is to turn high-potential, high-impact industrial clusters into EcoRegions that achieve at least a 10% reduction in emissions. An Eco-region is an area where energy, material and information exchanges occur between various companies and actors to reduce waste and energy/material consumption. Each region is centered on an (eco-)industrial park or (eco-)business park, linked to its surroundings by a 4th/5th generation district heating/cooling network. The consortium sees this project as a capping stone, condensing the knowledge and experience gathered throughout H2020 into a set of three focused tools embedded in selected support actions. The tools consist of an assessment tool; legal decision support for joint contracts; and a smart energy management platform for clusters. The support actions are built around peer-to-peer learning, more formal coursework and serious games. Together they enable a cluster to really become an EcoRegion and set up meaningful energy collaboration. The entire package of tools and support is aimed at the high-potential clusters identified in the European Thermal Roadmap. It will be validated in three of them (all are part of the consortium); actively deployed in another seven; and disseminated to ninety of them. In addition, the tools and support methodology will be made available to third parties in a sustainable way after the end of this two-year project. The project consortium consists of the entire value chain needed for energy collaboration – suppliers, ESCO, cluster managers, support – and represents many years of proven experience in this field.

GAMMA features 16 of the most important innovators and disruptors in the maritime sector. GAMMA partners will design, test and validate the very best energy conversion technologies and integrate them on an ocean-going vessel on international sea / ocean routes. The main goal of GAMMA is to support commercial vessels in their energy transition by demonstrating the safe integration of fuels (biomethanol and NH3), and fuel systems (biomethanol reformer, NH3 cracker and 1MW low-temperature PEM fuel cell) to provide an Ultramax bulk carrier with substantial emissions savings by performing steam reforming and ammonia cracking instead of combusting Very Low Sulfur Fuel Oil (through the replacement of auxiliary engines, which will stay as a back-up). Among the objectives of the project, GAMMA will (1) successfully retrofit the vessel, (2) show that ship operations can be handled in a safe manner and (3) test the availability of the sustainable fuel value chain for maritime vessels.

BalticSeaH2 will establish the first, largescale interregional hydrogen valley in Europe. BalticSeaH2 will build a main cross-border Hydrogen Valley between Finland and Estonia and connects it with local valleys in different countries surrounding the Baltic Sea. The ultimate goal is to develop an international hydrogen economy and markets that work optimally both from the technical, economic and environmental perspectives across country borders in the Northern Europe, more specifically around the Baltic Sea. The project will develop, scale and demonstrate hydrogen use in production, storage and distribution, and in Use Cases in different sectors from industry, mobility and energy. The learnings from the cross-border build-up of a hydrogen economy will be shared with specifically identified Connected Valleys and replicated across borders between them, but furthermore, shared to boost replication and initiate new hydrogen valleys across Europe. The cross border Main Valley is to be located in the region of Southern Finland – Estonia. These regions are already connected with a natural gas pipeline, transmission cable and maritime operations and the Transmission System Operators (TSO) in both countries collaborate actively in the further development of the cross border infrastructures. The cross border nature of the Main Valley makes is possible to develop cross border markets and businesses for green hydrogen production, transport and use from the start, including also development of cross border neighbouring pricing zones for renewable electricity to reach optimized system, market and business designs for an efficient hydrogen economy.

"Who we areThe team consists of two universities, the Business Academy SouthWest (Denmark) and the Bremerhaven University of Applied Sciences (Germany), Denmark's cluster organisation and innovation network for energy production (Energy Innovation Cluster) and the private DOB-Academy (The Netherlands), which specialises in offshore energy education for professionals. 3 partners, the universities and the Energy Innovation Cluster already work together in the EU INTERREG project Inn2POWER (2016-2020). With the DOB Academy was operational cooperation on a smaller scale. The DOB Academy is a new team member.What we have done so far?In Inn2POWER, an Offshore Wind Energy MBA was developed and implemented. Target group are the offshore wind energy companies and their employees in the North Sea region. The accreditation application for a joint degree programme has been submitted. Accreditation is expected by the end of 2020.How we workThe connection between university, industry and cluster organisations is essential for success. Therefore, universities and the cluster organisation are represented in this consortium. From Inn2POWER we bring an extensive network to other cluster organisations and companies. With the DOB Academy as a private further education provider, new and additional know-how in the implementation and marketing of further education offers is added. What we will do in the Erasmus + ProjectCurrently the Offshore Wind Energy MBA is a basic version with 9 modules and a master thesis. Many topics that are important for the offshore wind industry and its further environment for the use and development of renewable energy could not be considered in it yet. They are essential for the further development of the offshore wind industry and the realization of the expansion of renewable energy production. With a content expansion, which is also accompanied by a geographical expansion of the target group, the needs of the industry are better represented and the Offshore Wind Energy MBA becomes more attractive for companies and participants.The Offshore Wind Energy MBA has been developed on the basis of the training needs formulated by the industry and academic content and didactic contributions. It is necessary to reformulate the entire content and didactic strategy after this first development phase in order to significantly develop all aspects further. A key aspect here is online teaching and learning, which has so far only been marginally considered, but is essential for an MBA with an international orientation. The suitability and possibilities of digital learning are examined and tested for their applicability in the present context. The qualification of the lecturers is also an essential aspect for the implementation of new digital learning forms. What methods do we use to achieve these goals?The close cooperation between university and industry has been a key success factor so far and will be continued. Our project work is a regular process of coordinating the results of the project team with our external stakeholders and, vice versa, regular input. Advisory boards have been set up in Denmark and Germany since 2018 and are staffed by representatives from industry. In addition, we involve further cluster organizations in these coordination processes.Partial results are presented and discussed in Knowledge Salons and other formats of events and publications (e.g. via LinkedIn) on a broader scale to the industry.In addition, we also broaden the focus beyond the industry. Knowledge about how such an industry-specific MBA has been developed and implemented can be transferred to other industries. As universities in Europe have only marginally participated in the further education market so far, we see a necessity and great potential to abstract from the specific sector offshore wind and to distil a general concept for an ""Applied MBA"" from our experiences and concepts and to present it to universities, representatives of other sectors, organisations and companies as a model and thus initiate a process to create further such sector-specific Applied MBAs in Europe. This will contribute to strengthening the link between tertiary education and the economy, which will also have innovation effects for the universities and for the competitiveness of the respective sectors.At the end of the project, an Offshore Wind Energy MBA course of study will be developed further in essential aspects, which will be implemented specifically and made available as a general model.We see a long-term impact in the strengthening of the offshore wind industry in Europe and thus a contribution to strengthening the supply of renewable energy. With this model, we present a cross-sectoral presentation of how the tertiary education sector can create innovative educational offers together with the economy and thus contribute to the competitiveness of companies and branches."

The objective of GreenHyScale is to pave the way for large scale deployment of electrolysis both onshore and offshore, in line with the EU hydrogen strategy and offshore renewable energy strategy. GreenHyScale will develop a novel multi-MW alkaline electrolyser platform with factory assembled and pre-tested modules, allowing rapid onsite installation capable of reaching a CAPEX below 400 EUR/kW by the end of the 5-year project. A 6 MW module fitting into a 40-foot container will be demonstrated as the first step in the project, and lead to a minimum 100 MW electrolysis plant located in the ideal hosting environment of GreenLab Skive: a symbiotic, industrial Power-to-X platform capable of replicating across Europe with associated green growth and job creation benefits. The minimum 100 MW electrolysis plant will generate green hydrogen for 2 years from 80 MW directly connected renewables in combination with certified green electricity from a TSO grid connection. GreenLab Skive distributes green electricity from both sources through its unique SymbiosisNet which optimises and exchanges energy in all forms (heat, gas, water, heat) between the industrial park entities and external suppliers and offtakers. The setup enables the electrolysis plant to reach an overall energy efficiency above 90%. The GreenHyScale electrolysis plant will become the world's largest electrolyser system qualified as a TSO balancing services provider, thereby reducing the cost of hydrogen to below 2.85 EUR/kg for an electricity cost of 40 EUR/MWh. Besides, because of the inevitable link between offshore wind and electrolysis, an upgraded high-pressure 7.5 MW electrolysis module suited for offshore applications will be developed. GreenHyScale will form new European green value chains that support the paradigm shift to hydrogen economy and transition to green energy by overcoming both technical upscaling and commercial barriers. GreenHyScale will pave the way towards GW-scale electrolyser plants.