On the initiative of the Hauts-de-France Region, the REV3 Energy Resilience Award was presented on Tuesday, January 31, to the "Transition" project. It thus rewards one of the winning projects of the Call for Expressions of Interest (AMI) led by SATT Nord, the SATT Network, and ADEME, dedicated to energy resilience.
This AMI brought together all SATTs and ADEME, with the aim of mobilizing the power of French academic research. 80% of public researchers received this call, which helped accelerate the identification of 34 innovative projects in France.
It aimed to identify technological solutions from public research that could contribute to energy resilience before 2030, taking into account technological and human challenges. To apply, candidates had to respond to one of three challenges: facilitating the coupling of energy vectors in the face of supply uncertainties, developing renewable energy production processes, or proposing energy efficiency solutions.
Among these winners, the Hauts-de-France Region, which supports this AMI as part of the rev3 initiative, selected the "Transition" project , which focuses on the development of perfectly colorless, high-efficiency photovoltaic devices.
This project, proposed by Mr. Sauvage, research director and coordinator of the "Photoelectrochemistry and Photovoltaic Devices" program at the LRCS CNRS/Université Picardie Jules Verne (UPJV) laboratory, received the REV3 award for energy resilience.
Take into account the national and international climate context
To combat climate change, France has committed to reducing primary energy consumption from fossil fuels by 30% by 2030. It has also committed to achieving carbon neutrality by 2050, reducing greenhouse gas emissions on its territory by a factor of 6 compared to 1990 levels.
Faced with this situation, last October the government unveiled a major energy efficiency plan aimed at reducing electricity and fossil fuel consumption in France.
By launching this call for expressions of interest among France's leading research campuses, the SATT Network has committed to identifying and supporting the transfer of technologies that contribute to energy resilience through human and financial support.
For its part, ADEME will help identify the most relevant funding sources for projects that are not eligible for support from SATTs. ADEME will be able to provide continuous post-maturation funding for projects that fall within the priorities of ADEME's calls for projects.
"This first partnership between SATT Nord and ADEME has proved fruitful, with high-quality applications focusing on resilient energy systems. The scientific excellence of researchers in the Hauts-de-France region was evident. We hope that these projects will lead to resilient and reliable technological innovations that will contribute to a responsible ecological transition and desirable energy sovereignty, both in the Hauts-de-France region and on a national scale." Iman BAHMANI-PIASECZNY – Coordinator of the Research-Innovation-Investment for the Future cross-disciplinary cluster – ADEME, Hauts-de-France regional office.
Through its positioning downstream of research and its management by SATTs, the "Energy Resilience" call for proposals aims to capture innovations that have passed the laboratory proof-of-concept stage and accelerate their transfer to the economic world through the creation of dedicated startups or the development of industrial business units.
Human and financial support
SATT Nord will provide human and financial support to the five projects selected in the region. For projects whose commercialization strategy involves the creation of a business, SATT will provide dedicated support, particularly in terms of putting together the entrepreneurial team and creating the start-up, in partnership with the ad hoc incubator.
Two types of financing are available depending on the stage of the project:
- Funding for preliminary work on market research, patentability studies, partner prospecting, additional testing, etc.
- Funding for maturation if the preliminary assessment is conclusive and after validation of the project and its provisional budget by the local governance of the SATT, until transfer to an existing or newly created company.
"The number of projects originating in the SATT Nord region shows that researchers are strongly engaged in the AMI, which demonstrates the innovative capacity of public research in the region, but also the diversity of technologies responding to the three challenges and covering the fields of batteries of the future, photovoltaics, waste energy recovery, and the resilience of energy systems. We hope that many of these projects will be transferred to a company or start-up that will be able to industrialize and distribute them widely, benefiting our technological sovereignty and the climate. This also encourages us to launch new calls for proposals on topics related to the REV3 and France 2030 priorities.
This AMI is a great success for SATT NORD and its ecosystem. The technologies proposed by the researchers address the challenges of today and tomorrow. Five winners were selected by the jury and will receive support from SATT Nord:
- TRANSITION: development of transparent and colorless photovoltaic cells for use in smart buildings (F. Sauvage; LRCS Laboratory; CNRS/Picardie Jules Verne University)
- JUNCYSER: digital twin for designing and managing energy systems to make them efficient and resilient (B. Ould Bouamama; CRISTAL Lab; University of Lille/CNRS/Centrale Lille/INRIA)
- PVPERF: service providing detailed estimates of the electrical power generated by photovoltaic panels based on weather conditions, region, and panel orientation, intended for the solar energy sector (N. Ferlay; Labo L.O.A, CNRS/University of Lille)
- SRERI: device for storing and recovering waste energy generated by passing vehicles, aircraft, or trains (C. Demian; LSEE Laboratory, University of Artois)
- BATTERY: Development of a new cathode for low-cost lithium-ion batteries (J. Mallet; Labo L.R.N, University of Reims Champagne Ardenne).Fabrice Lefebvre – President of SATT Nord
The REV3 initiative supports and develops transition projects. The Hauts-de-France region, in collaboration with SATT, therefore decided to create the "REV3 Energy Resilience Award," which builds on the partnership work carried out in the areas of energy innovation and the circular economy. Among the objectives set for this REV3 award are raising awareness and rewarding regional laboratories and Grandes Ecoles that are sensitive to issues of research, innovation, and technology transfer, and participating in the general REV3 approach.