H2020 SONNET: Social Innovation for the Energy Transition
At a glance
- Project leader : Prof. Dr. Regina Betz
- Co-project leader : Dr. Jörg Musiolik
- Project team : Dr. Manuel Grieder, Devon Wemyss, Dr. Christian Winzer
- Project budget : EUR 334'000
- Project status : ongoing
- Funding partner : EU and other international programmes (Horizon 2020 / Projekt Nr. 837498)
- Project partner : Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft / Institut für System- und Innovationsforschung ISI, Grenoble Ecole de Management, Dutch Research Institute For Transitions DRIFT, University of Sussex / Science Policy Research Unit, ICLEI - European Secretariat GmbH, Kozminski University
- Contact person : Regina Betz
Description
The overarching aim of SONNET is to develop a systematic
understanding of the ways and conditions under which social
innovation in the energy sector can contribute to the Energy Union
Strategy and enable a clean energy transition of Europe’s energy
system. To achieve this aim SONNET will explore the links between
citizen involvement, social innovation and transformative changes
within the energy system in order to develop evidence to examine
its central hypothesis: social innovation in the energy sector
induces new forms of social interactions, governance arrangements
and business models, which enable greater civic engagement and
empowerment as well as social acceptance to drive the clean-energy
transition, making energy more secure, sustainable and affordable.
The empirical focus will be on social innovation in urban areas
located within low-carbon regions and carbon-intensive
regions.