Energy Lab - a network for innovative solutions in the energy sector
Without innovation, the energy transition will not succeed. The newly founded Energy Lab therefore promotes innovation systematically and consistently in an implementation-oriented manner. It is a consortium of various institutions with the Lucerne University of Applied Sciences and Arts as the leading house.
The Energy Lab is one of the 12 "NTN - Innovation Boosters" that will be funded by Innosuisse from 2021. In total, Innosuisse received 64 funding applications. The kick-off of the Innovation Boosters took place on Friday.
Using energy efficiently and sustainably and implementing renewable energy represents one of the greatest global challenges of the coming years and decades. "The challenges are so complex that they can no longer be solved with individual measures alone, but only through large-scale cooperation between industry, politics, science and society," says Ludger Fischer, professor at the Lucerne University of Applied Sciences and Arts. That is why the NTN - Innovation Booster Energy Lab was founded under the direction of the university.
In addition to the Innovation Park Central Switzerland and NEST, the research and innovation platform of Empa and Eawag, many other institutions, all universities of applied sciences in Switzerland and the ETH Zurich are involved; the strategic leadership lies with the Lucerne University of Applied Sciences and Arts. Supported by Innosuisse from 2021 with CHF million 1.5 for an initial four years, the network aims to promote innovation in the field of efficient generation, storage and use of renewable energy. More than 200 companies are already connected via the Innovation Park Central Switzerland and NEST, which offer themselves as hubs for the joint innovation activities, and the trend is rising. This is because the Energy Lab is an open network in which interested parties can get involved at any time.
Innovation is not a product of chance
The starting point for the Energy Lab's work is the practical and economically relevant challenges of business and industry, politics and administration. "Our goal is to develop scientifically sound and economically viable solutions to these problems using an interdisciplinary approach," says Ludger Fischer. For this, the Energy Lab is convinced, it needs the cooperation of committed people with different perspectives and expertise from different fields. NEST Managing Director Reto Largo from Empa describes the big plus of the network:
"Thinking outside the box, even across disciplines, can create sparks that lead to truly new ideas." That's why structured methods such as design thinking form the basis of agile work in the network, as Sem Mattli of Innovationspark Zentralschweiz explains, because, according to Mattli, "Innovation is not a product of chance." It emerges in a guided process, he says. "A solution approach is first reflected upon and condensed by a broad-based group. Only then do the specialists come into play, who use this as a basis to develop a product that makes both energy and economic sense."
Economic solutions for concrete problems
Economic thinking is imperative, Ludger Fischer is convinced: "The solutions will offer concrete added value for the economy and are therefore implementable!" As a university of applied sciences, the Department of Engineering & Architecture at the Lucerne University of Applied Sciences and Arts has many years of application-oriented research expertise that will benefit the Energy Lab. "The Energy Lab will have a real impact on the energy transition in Switzerland," emphasizes Ludger Fischer.
All the partners involved have good prerequisites for this: The innovation park has a large network of companies in the construction and IT sectors and is very well connected with the other innovation parks in Switzerland. Empa provides the interface to the topics of energy and mobility and the associated issues of digitalization. At the Department of Engineering & Architecture at the Lucerne University of Applied Sciences and Arts, energy and sustainability is a strategic research focus.
It is strongly networked with all universities in Switzerland and internationally. Renowned universities from all over the world, such as MIT in Cambridge or TU Vienna, are already involved in the Energy Lab. For the Energy Lab, sustainable applied research also includes the involvement of students, cooperation with vocational schools and the systematic promotion of female researchers in order to actively counteract the unequal representation of the sexes in technical professions.
