In spring 2017 the Smart Grids Innovation Challenge launched a Questionnaire defined in order to identify the most important Research and Development (R&D) priorities in the national strategies of IC1 member countries. The main aim was to agree and then launch IC1 activities related to the topics that gathered more interest. Each member country and EC was asked to choose and rank, according to the view of its nation, the ten most relevant “Smart Grid Challenges” among the 44 proposed. The main reference for the elaboration of the questionnaire was the “Final 10-years ETIP SNET R&I roadmap covering 2017-2026” released by ETIP SNET (European Technology and Innovation Platform for “Smart Networks for the Energy Transition”) on December 2016. As a result of the elaboration of the received questionnaires (Fifteen countries actively contributed) the IC1 Top Ten “Smart Grid Challenges” were identified.
MI IC1 Countries contributing to the Questionnaire
Questionnaire replies: Total and Country score details – Six IC1 R&D Identification
The R&D priorities constituted, among many others, one of the topic on which the IC1 experts focused in the three IC1 Deep Dive Workshops held in 2017 and 2018. During the first IC1 Deep Dive Workshop held in Beijing (4th – 6th June 2017), the IC1 members experts gathered together to discuss on the identified priorities in the Smart Grids field and the related specific activities to be performed, giving their preliminary commitment in the different tasks. During the second IC1 Deep Dive Workshop held in New Delhi (16th -18th November 2017), starting from the Top Ten Research and Development priorities (R&D Tasks) identified in IC1 and discussed in Beijing, SIX R&D Tasks were identified to be launched, identifying the co-leaders and the countries interested in contributing by providing contributions and/or national resources.
The next steps were the definition of Tasks’ Program of Work (PoW) detailing the Tasks’ activities for a two -year timeframe, Tasks’ scope and objective as well as Tasks’ Milestones and Deliverables (e.g. joint reports, white papers, joint workshops, papers) and the identification of task Co-leaders in charge of developing, circulating, finalizing, supervising the task PoW and managing the task activities.
During the third IC1 Deep Dive Workshop held in Copenhagen – Malmö (20th -22nd May 2018) the tasks goals and foreseen activities have been presented by the task leaders and discussed with all IC1 members and a first draft version of the Program of Work (PoW) was approved.
The draft R&D Tasks PoW was presented at the fourth IC1 Workshop in Rome (November 2018) and tasks progress and new steps discussed at the fifth IC1 Workshop in Vancouver (May 2019), where a draft guideline for IC1 task leaders has been agreed.