Picture caption: SUNRISE members during the consortium meeting

On October 9-11, the members of the SUNRISE consortium met at the welcoming offices of the initiative’s partner EERA in busy Brussels. The main objectives were the SUNRISE mid-term review, address the upcoming joint cooperation with ENERGY-X, and discuss the common goals between SUNRISE roadmap and Mission Innovation IC5: Converting sunlight.

One of the top conclusions of the meeting was highlighted by SUNRISE coordinator Huub de Groot, when stating that SUNRISE has emerged as an autonomous group, where individual participants assume responsibility and act independently. This is key to keep delivering and leading the way towards providing a sustainable alternative to the production of fossil-based, energy-intensive fuels and basic chemicals.

ENERGY-X and SUNRISE upcoming initiative

During the first two days, members of the SUNRISE consortium focused on the different deliverables developed during the first semester of the CSA. Besides going through the status of the different work packages, most of the discussions stressed the importance of working on SUNRISE and ENERGY-X next joint initiative in the coming months. ENERGY-X partner Bert Weckhuysen (University Utrecht) also joined the meeting remotely, as one of the coordinators of the joint project.

Some joint actions have been already taken, like the recently co-organized stakeholder workshop in France. Still, the most important collaboration will be the release of a joint manifesto, which will be published by the end of the year. Currently, there is a public poll to select the name of the future joint initiative that is open to the online communities of both projects.

Debriefing SUNRISE roadmap

One of the top priorities of the gathering was the review of the initiative’s technological roadmap. This is one of the top documents produced throughout this one-year period, where SUNRISE project explains how it will facilitate the transition to a circular economy and a carbon-neutral society.

Apart from the consortium members’ feedback, the roadmapping team, led by Carina Faber from UCLouvain, counted with the contribution of two external reviewers from the initiative’s Scientific Advisory Board: Walter Leitner (Max Planck Institute) and Geert Jan Kramer (Copernicus Institute of Sustainable Development, Utrecht University), who gave their opinion on the initiative’s roadmap.

Gathering with Mission Innovation

Mission Innovation is a global initiative working to accelerate clean energy innovation. Representatives from this platform joined SUNRISE consortium members in Brussels, like Philippe Schild (EU Research & Innovation) who presented the Mission Innovation Background and current work. The meeting allowed discussing about the two initiatives respective roadmapping actions, and possible synergies and contributions.

IC5 is one of the key innovation challenges of Mission Innovation that consists of discovering affordable ways to convert sunlight into storable solar fuels. Extended breakout discussions on how SUNRISE roadmap could map onto international context also helped to open the debate about how this could be modified to become the starting point for IC5 roadmap. Experts of both initiatives will keep collaborating to take global leadership towards a climate neutral EU.

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