DESIGN OF CONSUMMER THERMAL SUBSTATIONS FOR THE INTEGRATION OF DISTRIBUTED SOLAR TECHNOLOGIES IN DISTRICT HEATING SYSTEMS

In most cases, building service designers choose between Solar thermal (ST) and District Heating (DH) technologies for their integration in buildings. By doing so, only a fraction of the buildings within a particular district is used for ST, while at the same time energy intensity in DH networks can be reduced. In some cases, building-integrated solar thermal systems are connected to DH networks by means of dedicated pipes. In all these cases, sub-optimal situations are reached with lower fraction of renewable heat, reduced network strength and/or additional heat losses. In this paper, a consummer substation concept is proposed with reversible heat flow and net metering, which avoids local thermal storage in the solar loop. Adaptations required for multi-dwelling buildings are presented.European Commission's H2020, 768567, RELaTE

Analysis and measurement of interactions in European Innovation

Innovation Systems constitute an analysis framework, which allows comprehending the socio-economic structure of a territory. It consists of analyzing the existence of actors such as government institutions, clusters, universities, industries… their main competences, and the interactions into Innovation Networks among them. Thus, authorities (regional, national, local…) are endowed of a tool that allows the creation and development of competitive and efficient Innovation Systems. In this context, and due to the importance of interactions inside Innovation Systems, the present research intends to contribute a methodology which helps us to analyze and measure these interactions produced within Innovation Networks. The methodology developed will be tested in a sector which is present in several European Territories. This way, not only the measures defined but also the differences among the Networks analyzed will be observed and tested.Innovation Systems, Interactions, Innovation Networks, Measures.

RELATED, A FLEXIBLE APPROACH TO THE DEPLOYMENT AND CONVERSION OF DH NETWORKS TO LOW TEMPERATURE, WITH INCREASED USE OF LOCAL SOLAR SYSTEMS

District heating (DH) systems are key systems for the de-carbonization of heating energy in European Cities. In order to allow for this transition, while guaranteeing competitive energy costs, conversion of DHs is required. DH operation temperature needs to be reduced in order to increase the performance of renewable systems and operation criteria needs to be adopted for the introduction of weather-dependent, distributed heat sources such as solar systems. This paper presents the RELaTED decentralized Ultra-Low Temperature DH network scheme, and its adaptation to several operational schemes such as new and existing DH networks, with different levels of complexity. Transitory phases in the conversion process are discussed.European Commission's H2020, 768567, RELaTE

Analysis and Measurement of Interactions in Innovation Systems: A Corporative and Sectoral approach.

Innovation Systems constitute an analysis framework, which allows comprehending the socio-economic structure of a territory. In this context, and due to the importance of interactions, the present research intends to contribute a methodology and a set of indicators which help to increase the knowledge about these interactions, and their impact on the innovative capacity of the territories. The methodology developed will be tested in a multisectoral industrial sector, the Mondragón Cooperative Corporation (MCC) located in the Basque Country. This way, not only the measures defined but also the differences among the Networks that constitute its different sectors will be observed.Innovation Systems, Interactions, Innovation Networks, Measures, Mondragón Cooperative Corporation.

Definition of a methodology to analyze and measure interactions inside Regional Innovation Systems.

The aim of the present thesis proposal is to define a methodology to measure the interactions among the agents involved in a System of Innovation, due to the fact that the literature agrees in a lack of measures in this respect. The conceptualization of Regional Innovation Systems (Cooke and Morgan, 1993) can be understood like an extension and adaptation arisen from the concept of National Innovation Systems defined in the works of Freeman (1987), Nelson (ed., 1993) and Lundvall (ed., 1992) and in the subsequent development of Edquist (ed., 1997). It consist of analyzing the existence of actors (institutions, clusters, universities, industries…) and regional competences, and the interactions into Innovation Networks among them, providing regional authorities with a tool to define policies to increase competitiveness. A first stream work in which relations and flows among the main agents of an Innovation System are shown, is the one made up by the works of Scherer, (1982), Pavitt (1984), Archibugi (1988), Galli and Teubal (1997), DeBresson (ed., 1996). Another is due to Andersen (1992, 1996) on Innovation Systems, using “graph theory” and simulation models (Andersen and Lundvall, 1997). Recently, some different research projects can be found in which relations established among the agents in Innovation Systems are studied (European Planning Studies, Vol. 8, Not. 4, 2000). Besides, diverse simulation models created to measure the characteristics of Innovation Systems in different environments (Simulating Self-Organizing innovation networks” -SEIN-) are also detailed. There is a growing need to elaborate indicators that allow to predict changes in the regional innovation capacity beyond those employed in the linear model. We have also noticed the need to measure other processes such as those related to institutional relations and the creation of networks, in order to evaluate innovation policies (Zenker, 2001; Landabaso, Oughton, Morgan, 2001; Saviotti, 1997; Archibugi, Howells and Michie, eds., 1999). This is supported by the fact that several policies fostering innovation have been defined, such as RIS, RTP, RITTS, etc… In this context, and due to the importance of co-operation practices within Regional Innovation Systems, the present research project tries to contribute with a model as well as an Indicator Scoreboard which helps quantify the interrelations that occur among the agents in an Innovation System.Regional Innovation Systems, Innovation Networks, Measures, Interactions.

Outputs of innovation systems: a European perspective

This paper focuses upon the performance of innovation systems from an output perspective. On it, we try to characterize some European countries according to seven innovation output indicators in the manufacturing and service sectors. The data are gathered from the Community Innovation Surveys between 1996 and 2006. Innovation performance measurement is considered as increasingly interesting by several scholars during last years. It is also important as basis for the design and implementation of innovation policies as the comparison among countries allows policy failures to be detected. The approach followed in this paper could also provide insights when applied to developing countries, which are already concerned with the collection of science and technology indicatorsinnovation systems; output indicators; community innovation survey; manufacturing sector; service sector

THE RELEVANCE OF INTERACTIONS IN INNOVATION SYSTEMS: HOW TO CONSOLIDATE THE FRAMEWORK

Innovation Systems constitute an analysis framework which tries to identify the agents, and the interactions produced among them within an innovation system, endowing thus authorities of a tool for the definition of innovation policies. Accordingly, cooperation or interaction related practices become crucial. However, there is a need for the development and implementation of a more sophisticated measures and indicators as regards these interactive patterns, both from a theoretical and a quantitative approach. This papers aims at empirically contributing to highlight the relevance of these interactions. In order to do that, we first start by offering a clear taxonomy of the Spanish regions concerning R&D and innovation activities, to then analyse the extent to which interactions are relevant or not by considering in this case Spain as the unit of analysis between 1995-2002.Innovation Systems, Interactions, Innovation Networks, Measures