POLE AVENIA along with 6 out of its 7 partners in the Geo-Energy Europe project have signed a Partnership Agreement in Dublin this week, January 21, 2019 to formalise the creation of the Geo-Energy Europe metacluster, sustaining the group's existence beyond the end of the current ongoing project time frame (2018-2019).
Pole Avenia
o-Energy Europe cluster partnership agreement signed, Dublin - Jan 21, 2019
Credit: Pole Avenia
The Geo-Energy Europe project is coordinated by French competitiveness cluster Pole Avenia and is funded by the European Programme for the COmpetitiveness of Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises (COSME), under the “Clusters Go International” banner. It began in January 2018 and will run until end of 2019.
As stated in the Partnership Agreement's first article, “the Geo-Energy Europe metacluster is an open and voluntary alliance of complementary innovation cluster organisations or equivalent business network organisations from across Europe, involved in geoscience, geo-energy and/or geothermal energy that are committed to working together on a common vision.”
That common vision is the gathering together and branding of most of the key players in the sustainable geo-energy field under the same banner; "Geo-Energy Europe". The new metacluster will represent European expertise and technologies in this area in markets across the world, with a focus on the special skills and services offered by Small & Medium Enterprises (SMEs).
That vision is to gather and brand most key players in the field of sustainable geo-energy in Europe under a common “Geo-Energy Europe” banner, and represent European know-how & technologies in this field in world markets, with a focus on the skills and services offered by its Small & Medium Enterprises (SMEs).
The signatory parties have committed to basing the activities of the new metacluster on shared values like innovation, collaboration, professionalism, sustainability, technological advancement and agility of the metacluster's operation and evolution.
The Partnership Agreement came into force on January 21, 2019. It was signed by Pole Avenia & Geodeep from France, the European Geothermal Energy Council (EGEC), based in Brussels but with members from 23 European countries, the German regional cluster GeoEnergy Celle, the Hungarian Cluster of Applied Earth Science (CAPES), the Spanish GEOthermal PLATform (GEOPLAT), and the Irish export-oriented Geoscience Ireland cluster.
The 8th member of the project, JESDER, the Geothermal Power Plant Investors Association of Turkey, has opted to stay out of the Geo-Energy Europe metacluster. With the agreement of the other 7 clusters, the Turkish cluster has instead become the privileged first end-user of the technologies and skills that the metacluster provides. The new, and more suitable, relationship will be formalised via a JESDER / Geo-Energy Europe Cooperation Agreement, which is currently being prepared.
An open and long-term initiative, the Geo-Energy Europe metacluster represents the will of the 7 founding partners to expand and welcome in all interested geo-energy and geothermal organisations in Europe. A larger and therefore stronger metacluster will contribute to the development of a more integrated and exportable European sustainable geo-energy sector.
The Geo-Energy Europe metacluster will be a one-stop-shop for geo-energy and geothermal skills, experience and technologies in Europe for end-users and target markets. At present, it represents around 600 members from 23 European states and covers the whole geo-energy value chain, including 320 SMEs, around half of which have direct involvement in geothermal energy markets.
The partners in Geo-Energy Europe are presently working on a strategy of communication and dissemination with the intent of implementing it over the coming months. It also includes a website and visible presence at geothermal industry events, amongst other things. A market and opportunity report is underway. All these works will be used as part of the internationalisation strategy and implementation road map, two of the main deliverables of the COSME funded Geo-Energy Europe project, which will serve as the metacluster's backbone in the longer term.
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