2 inspiring project-examples from my previous job
Minewater/Heatnet
After we solved some objections from other member states with by building in a guarantee, Interreg NWE took over part of the investment-costs of this great idea. The reduction of the financial risk for the involved public and private authorities convinced them to start making use of the geothermal energy and buffering capacity from a closed coal mine in first instance early 2000. Since the first successful high-cost implementation on a limited scale further developments in follow-up projects prove the concept and go beyond. Now a perfect balancing system of heating and cooling needs in complete areas can be done without the geothermal buffer, also known as 5th generation District Heating and Cooling.
BiobaseNWE/Biobase4SMEs
Together with the partners my team developed the idea of testing-vouchers for SMEs. Combined with NWE bearing part of the investment costs in hardware, it creates an interesting opportunity to get ideas from lab-scale to the pre-production scale of tons or hectolitres. Convincing customers and investors to get the idea the SME has over the so called “valley of death”. It has led to growth for those SMEs and jobs and biobased solutions for society.
http://www.bbeu.org/pilotplant/category/testimonials/
Similar combination of hardware and vouchers for SMEs can be found in ocean-energy projects such as ForeSea and in a project in the field of Open Innovation for the Photonics sector (OIP4NWE)