ener2i participated in a workshop on innovation financing organised by the INNOVER-EAST project in Tbilisi, Georgia on 27 January 2016.

The objective of this training workshop was to bridge effectively the gap between research and business in the field of energy efficiency and renewable energy. A focus was put on identifying major bottlenecks for innovation activities and on suitable innovation financing instruments. The target group of the workshop were representatives of research, governmental, non-governmental, and financial institutions, as well as representatives of the business sector active in the field of renewable energy, energy efficiency and related innovative fields.

For ener2i, the Energy Efficiency Centre Georgia (EECG) provided input on the aims and activities of the ener2i project, and in particular on the implementation of its innovation financing scheme, the ener2i Innovation Vouchers. Ms. Elene Gvilava represented EECG and made a presentation on “Voucher Scheme for SMEs – Innovation Financing for Clean Energy”. ener2i organised an Innovation Voucher competition in Georgia in 2015 and financed 6 innovative projects; the scheme was managed in Georgia by EECG (https://ener2i.eu/innovation_vouchers/georgia).

Presentations by experts from EU countries covered new methods of financing of innovation technologies in the energy field in Eastern Partnership Countries (EPCs), and were provided by Dr. Raimund Bröchler of INTRASOFT Intl. S.A., Head of Innovation Services Lab, Dr. Rumen Dobrinsky, Associated Member of the European Alliance for Innovation and Klaudia Klára Tvergyak, INNOVER-EAST coordinator at Bay Zoltan Foundation of Hungary. A presentation on the Georgian situation was delivered by representatives from LEPL Entrepreneurship Development Agency under the Ministry of Economy and Sustainable Development of Georgia.

Both the ener2i and INNOVER-EAST projects have been financed by the European Union in its 7th Framework Programme for Research (FP7).