Analysis… Creating tomorrow’s climate

At INNOVEIT 2015, Climate-KIC chief executive Bertrand van Ee told Portal that Europe has a “moral obligation” to lead the development of low carbon economies.

Climate-KIC is the EU’s main climate innovation initiative. As the continent’s largest public private innovation partnership focused on mitigating and adapting to climate change, the Knowledge and Innovation Community brings together key actors across multiple sectors to meet this international, multilevel challenge.

Set up in 2010 and headquartered in London, UK, the KIC leverages education and entrepreneurship at national and regional centres across Europe to support start-up companies. By bringing together different partners from the public, private and academic sectors, a connected and creative transformation of knowledge and ideas into innovative products and services is realised, helping adjust and reduce the effects of climate change.

Travelling to Budapest, Hungary, in May to attend INNOVEIT 2015, Portal spoke to Climate-KIC chief executive Bertrand van Ee about the effects the KIC is having, how Europe can take a leading role in fighting climate change, and his thoughts on Horizon 2020.

What would you say has been the greatest impact of Climate-KIC over the last five years?

The greatest impact has been in the education area – that is where you begin and that is where you start forming your co-location centres. We now have 800 students who have graduated from our courses, leading to an alumni group of 1,200; we have therefore created a small army of change agents that are passionate about climate action.

What are your expectations for the COP21 talks in Paris and a new legally binding deal to mitigate climate change?

The good thing is that European leaders have agreed a 2030 climate and energy ambition of at least 40/27/27: a 40% reduction of greenhouse gas emissions, a 27% improvement in energy efficiency, and raising the share of renewables to 27%. That is good and was mirrored by the United States and by China. It is positive that we have a deal, but we all know it is not enough – but you have to start somewhere.

It is really important to hold on to what we have agreed and this is something that Climate-KIC is very actively following. We need to get everybody ready, and science continues to be extremely important in charging the discussion.

How important do you see Europe’s leadership in combatting climate change?

It is almost a moral obligation: Europe started the Industrial Revolution, and now we are convincing other countries that they cannot have what we started. It is therefore time for Europe to be ready for a new phase and become a low carbon economy.

How is Climate-KIC tapping into emotions to encourage adaption to climate change?

It has been part of my rhetoric since joining Climate-KIC. It is getting traction, although it is an area that needs to be tested and assessed as to whether more efforts are needed. We need to look at the various avenues to reach and mobilise the younger, more digitally savvy generation.

We also need to develop illustrations that are simple to understand and which can be shown in schools, explaining in easy terms what is happening, what changes you can make on a personal level, and how that affects the climate.

How is the KIC encouraging the citizen to play a greater role in innovation?

In all our projects, especially when we consider our updated strategies, it is very much a system focus. For example, in sustainable city districts, it is about engaging with people on the ground – people want you to make a personal change, but a collective change is also needed in order to become self-sustainable. It is all about those choices, and in the projects we are executing, there needs to be a much larger mobilisation of users.

What action can be taken to encourage a closer relationship between education and industry?

The focus is the co-location centres, which are really the heart of what our community is doing and help us reach the innovators and young talent; the key complexity is how you can then replicate the skills and achievements across Europe. We are looking at a much higher level of engagement with our top level partners in strategic areas; this means we have a greater focus on cities but also engage with those cities to make a difference. We also have a greater emphasis on climate and smart agriculture.

Some of the big companies, for example Unilever, which is not currently part of Climate-KIC, have a keen interest in climate change but know they have to make changes to the value chain. These companies have started thinking far beyond nation states. We are coming out of an era with a licence to operate – the public sector makes the laws and the business sector complies with the laws. Businesses are starting to realise there is time to get a licence to lead. You need the public sector certainly, but the public sector is not moving fast enough with the amount of challenges we are facing; business understands that. We need to change our relationship and partnership, in addition to getting more traction on getting action.

What are your thoughts on the EIT proposal to reduce the number of co-location centres in the new KICs?

We started with five co-location centres and opened our sixth last year. What seems to have happened in the last round is that some of the calls were so big that there was not enough competition.

A KIC remains an open partnership, and the limitation on the number of co-location centres concerns only the application stage – additional co-location centres can be created and new partners can enter and exit a KIC at a later stage, in line with the KIC’s applicable provisions. Limitations at application stage have been introduced to stimulate competition.

What other steps is Climate-KIC taking to address the Horizon 2020 climate Societal Challenge?

The knowledge triangle is seen as a basis, but what you really need to do is tie it into the Societal Challenges that we have. This is what KICs are doing – you have a knowledge triangle around a theme.

We need to make sure that we get the right balance and the right sequence in adaptation and mitigation. Mitigation is a little bit more sexy and cool, but adaptation is the bigger issue. We need to make sure that we get the right focus but also that we put the right people in; adaptation is where more public sector money is spent.

There is always enough money after a disaster such as Hurricane Sandy for clean-up, yet there were no funds to avoid the disaster; it would have only taken a fifth of the money spent on recovery. We need to have a collective mindset going forward, and we need to invest in adaptation and protection before it is too late.

Bertrand van Ee

Climate-KIC

This article first appeared in the seventh edition of Horizon 2020 Projects: Portal, which is now available here.