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UK Energy and Dev research landscape review_Final_April 2018.pdf (2.66 MB)

Mapping the UK research & innovation landscape: Energy & development

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posted on 2018-06-01, 09:36 authored by Chris Bagley, Ed BrownEd Brown, Ben Campbell, Jonathan M.P. Cloke, Scott Cameron, Simon Collings, Rebecca Gunning, Henriette Kabell, Jenni McDonnell, Long Seng ToLong Seng To, Britta Turner
The UK is already a major player in terms of research and innovation into low carbon transitions within the countries of the developing world. However, there are significant opportunities for the UK to enhance its presence within these markets whilst also making a major contribution to meeting international development targets and climate commitments. At the core of the research analysed in the report is that it reflects disparate, research initiatives funded with different research/innovation targets in mind; much latent strength in UK research for low carbon energy for development therefore is implicit in linkage possibilities enhancing systemic effectiveness, particularly by cross-fertilizing innovations taking place in the private sector. Gaps and weaknesses are reflected as much in the lack of collaborative initiatives and ‘siloization’ as in the absence of actual research/funding. The Low Carbon Energy for Development Network (LCEDN) is currently taking the initiative in one aspect of this through the provision of a programme of capacity building and partnership activities to support the development of DfID’s Transforming Energy Access research initiative. What is required of UK energy for development research for the purposes of building a functional system, however, is that the discrete areas of research outlined in this report be re-assembled as coherent, overall research narratives addressing the apparent contradiction of increasing energy access whilst transitioning to the low-carbon economy. Part of this work involves identifying the state and dynamics of UK research capacity in this sector, facilitating greater integration between research funders active in this area, evaluating gaps and key research needs and mapping potential future directions for research interventions and collaborations that build on, and develop, existing UK research capacity. It is expected that this will lead to a range of UK-led energy innovations developed, tested and scaled across developing countries by 2020. The much-needed harmonization of energy access and low carbon transition as a UK research theme however has ultimately to be created out of rethinking research fields from a combination of existing research, plus demand known to be ‘out there’ but which has yet to enter the field of vision of research-funders. This report presents the first part of this work with an overview of current UK research and innovation capacity in a widely defined ‘Energy and International Development’ research area. It identifies key institutions and research centres, thematic areas of excellence, research funding trends over the last decade, emerging research themes plus an overview of grant funding for innovation on the ground. A number of key areas/questions for potential further development of UK research and innovation capacity have been identified and are up for discussion and consultation. The work has been undertaken by LCEDN in partnership with the Knowledge Transfer Network, Energy 4 Impact and IOD PARC .

Funding

This material has been funded by UK aid from the UK government namely: Department for International Development.

History

School

  • Social Sciences

Department

  • Geography and Environment

Citation

BAGLEY, C. ...et al., 2018. Mapping the UK research & innovation landscape: Energy & development. Loughborough University: Low Carbon Energy for Development Network.

Publisher

Low Carbon Energy for Development Network

Version

  • VoR (Version of Record)

Publisher statement

This work is made available according to the conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0) licence. Full details of this licence are available at: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/

Publication date

2018

Notes

This is an official report.

Publisher version

Language

  • en

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