CSP ERANET is the result of a joint EU will for bridging the gap between research and commercial deployment in the Concentrated Solar Power (CSP) technology, so this technology can play a main role in the European renewable electricity generation in a medium term. For this purpose, the main European countries and regions, with roles to play in the future CSP deployment (industrial or academic stakeholders), have committed their economic resources to create big-scale funding synergies able to finance strategic CSP research. CSP ERANET aims to coordinate the efforts of Member States, Associated Countries and Regions towards achieving CSP SET Plan objectives, by pooling their financial resources to implement joint calls for R&I proposals, resulting on strategic projects with substantial volumes of investment, which cannot be allocated by individual countries or by the European Commission on their own. By pooling funds, CSP ERANET will achieve to finance large-scale projects implementing medium/high TRL research, which will accelerate the time to commercial deployment of affordable, cost-effective and resource-efficient CSP technology solutions. CSP ERANET constitutes a public-public partnership gathering 11 representatives from Member States, Associated Countries and Regions which have committed more than 9 million EUR public fund for launching the Cofund joint calls for proposals and more than 6 million EUR for the additional call to finance transnational research actions. During the 5 years of CSP ERANET the consortium intends to pool together financial resources from multiple countries, the Commission and the private sector, in order to invest more than 36 million euros (Cofund + Additional Call) in researching for innovative CSP solutions. This investment will finance 8 topics which were selected among the 12 R&I topics defined in the CSP Implementation Plan produced by the SET Plan temporary working group (TWG) on CSP.

As society moves into an era where environmental change has an ever-growing place in the political agenda, the demand for a new generation of scientists working at the interface between the natural and social sciences is growing. SALTGIANT contributes to satisfy this demand within a rare cross-disciplinary network of natural and social scientists dedicated to understanding the formation of the Mediterranean Salt Giant, one of the largest salt deposits on Earth, and its implications for sub-seafloor microbial life, risk assessment in the oil industry, geo-economics of the Mediterranean region and the history of oceanography. SALTGIANT will bring together 22 academic organizations (11 beneficiaries, 11 partners), 2 private sector Oil&Gas companies and 1 specialist in transferable skills training from 8 European countries to stimulate interdisciplinary and intersectorial knowledge exchange between geologists, geophysicists, geochemists, microbiologist, geographers and historians in a network with PhD students at its core. SALTGIANT combines (i) geological and geochemical field work, (ii) laboratory measurements and experiments, (iii) numerical modeling at a wide range of spatial and temporal scales and (iv) empirical social sciences data collection and analysis, guaranteeing exposure of the research fellows to state-of-the-art scientific knowledge and hands-on practical training in a field rich in applications of both intellectual and societal relevance. Through its innovative blend of training and research activities, SALTGIANT will boost the employability of its research fellows in academia and in the private sector, particularly the energy sector, including Oil & Gas and geothermal, resource management, geological storage and numerical modeling, as well as in governmental agencies (Ministries of the Environment, Sustainable Development and Energy), international organizations (European Environment Agency, EEA; United Nations Environmental Program, UNEP) and NGOs.

EnerDigit - A joint programming initiative to establish transnational innovation eco-systems for the designing, implementing and testing of interoperable technical and business services for energy systems, unleashing the potential of digital transformation for the energy transition This ERA-Co-fund Action aims to enhance the transnational collaboration in digital transformation of energy systems and networks. It helps unleashing the potential of digitalisation for the energy transition towards a de-carbonised, secure and resilient European energy system. The initiative coordinates relevant RDD programmes in the involved European and associated countries and regions, implementing at least two joint calls for RDD proposals. It contributes to the implementation of the EU SET-Plan, particularly Actions 3 and 4. Beyond the funding of transnational RDD projects, it accelerates the development of transnational innovation ecosystems by initiating a Transnational Validation Ecosystem with existing and upcoming living labs, allowing start-ups and innovative companies to test their solutions in different frameworks. It also promotes the development of interoperable solutions, enabling wider impact and use of applications, systems and services, by piloting a European Collaboration Platform for Interoperability Testing, providing an open, independent development and test environment for developers, manufacturers and suppliers of components and solutions for smart energy systems. A highly ambitious consortium establishes an Impact Network with Associated Partners, acting as intermediaries towards regional and local stakeholders, start-up supporters and incubators as well as to follow-up financers and investors in order to enhance need driven technology policy. This ERA-Net co-fund action is exploiting on sustainable coordination structures already established by the Joint Programming Platform Smart Energy Systems (JPP SES) and will be integrated there as a new "Focus Initiative".

SOLAR-ERA.NET Cofund 2 will bring together 18 national and regional organisations owning and / or managing major solar power research and innovation programmes throughout Europe. They will launch a co-funded and an additional joint call mobilising some 30 MEUR of public funding to support highly innovative transnational RDI projects. SOLAR-ERA.NET Cofund 2 will contribute to substantial cost reductions of solar power technologies, to support the economic development of the European solar power sector and to reinforce Europe’s strong position in solar power technologies. Reducing technology cost, lowering the environmental impact of power production and advancing manufacturing technologies, applications and energy system integration are essential to increasing the deployment of solar power technologies as crucial element of the Low Carbon Energy strategy set out in the Energy Package. This way, SOLAR-ERA.NET Cofund 2 will strongy contribute to achieve the ambitious climate change targets, to sustainable, secure, cost-efficient energy supply and to provide growth and jobs in the solar and related industry sectors providing also a solid technological and industrial base. SOLAR-ERA.NET Cofund 2 will focus on solar power technologies covering both photovoltaics (PV) and concentrating solar power (CSP) / solar thermal electricity (STE) according to the Strategic Energy Technology (SET) Plan and the documents with Declaration on Strategic Targets in the context of an Initiative for Global Leadership in Photovoltaics resp. Concentrated Solar Power and their subsequent Implementation Plans being elaborated by the respective technology groups, i.e. European Technology & Innovation Platforms related Temporary Working Groups. SOLAR-ERA.NET Cofund 2 follows on from the SOLAR-ERA.NET Cofund (started in 2016) and SOLAR-ERA.NET project and network running from 2012 to 2016 and previous PV-ERA-NET network, taking advantage of more than thirteen years of ERA-NET experience.

The Joint Programming Initiative Water Challenges for a Changing World, the Water JPI, is an intergovernmental initiative which strives to achieve sustainable water systems for a sustainable economy in Europe and abroad. IC4WATER’s objectives include supporting agencies in stepping up international cooperation: through the sharing of best practices, networking, closer coordination of existing activities, and the establishment of new relationships to facilitate multidisciplinary networking across the water challenges at a wider scale, both with respect to research and geographical areas. A mapping of the existing research cooperation models (mainly bilateral – between a Member State or the European Commission and some Beyond Europe countries) and a comparative analysis of existing cooperation models will be issued to identify barriers and challenges to transnational collaboration, and formulate successful mechanisms for working together efficiently beyond this bilateral approach. In order to become more than a ‘network of networks’ and a dialogue platform for research programmes and to bring genuine added value to the current cooperation models, IC4WATER will be focusing on key topics of the Water JPI Strategic Research & Innovation Agenda. As an initial focus, the Water JPI Governing Board, which endorsed the IC4Water concept in November 2015, has agreed a plan to pilot new principles of international transnational cooperation through concrete joint programming, focusing on the theme of UN Sustainable Development Goals related to Water challenges. A shortlist of key ‘UN SDG thematic’ RDI areas will be scoped in more detail and will serve as recommendations for joint activities (opportunities for cooperation with funding RDI governmental institutions or for RDI support for market development, first domains of development of the Water JPI knowledge hub, joint transnational call with partners willing to commit additional national / regional funds for RDI projects).