Summary
This project will address what electrification of energy means for Europe’s science and technology posture.
It will cover topics including:
Critical commentary on current science and technology road-mapping activities such as SET Plan including the need for distinctions between where the EU ought to cooperate and where it ought to compete.
Issues of negotiation with the major suppliers of relevant technology in China as part of a broader rewiring of global supply chains. This is an important issue for S&T diplomacy which is not currently being grasped. It might well be impossible, for example, for the EU to substitute Chinese manufacturing in silicon wafers, even were it to try and, indeed, pointless to do so. My emphasis will therefore be on lateral thinking that goes beyond narrow ideas about resource sovereignty and “trade defense” currently dominating EU policy debates.
What lessons to be drawn from previous energy science and research infrastructures built around fossil fuels and nuclear energy. This will also look at upstream and downstream aspects such as the petrochemical industry.
Notes:
Please contact me if you would like to know more.
Dr. William Burns PhD MSc
Email: william@resorg.news
Science Think Tank 