Business Readiness Acceleration for Innovative Regional Energy Ecosystems (BRAVE) will develop scalable investment programmes for low-carbon energy systems to break out of the ‘pilot trap’ for cleantech at the local level.
Addressing the regional investment gap for cleantech in Europe
The European Union requires an estimated boost of €700bn per year in clean, smart, local energy systems to deliver on the energy transition. For this to happen, investment is needed for energy projects of all sizes and maturity stages, from early stage demonstrations to full-scale deployment across Europe.
But though the EU is increasing its share of global cleantech investment, an investment "valley of death" at regional level remains a stubborn challenge. Between one-off pilot demonstrators and large-scale renewable investment projects such as off-shore wind parks, there is limited financial support or demonstrated partnership models for scaling mid-stage projects across Europe.
Cleantech investments with ticket sizes of €10-100m are failing to attract capital beyond public subsidies. This leaves technologically mature innovations stuck in the ‘pilot trap’, unable to scale to regional or city level.
BRAVE brings together 13 frontrunners to build new regional investment ecosystems
Backed by the European Union, 13 organisations have formed the BRAVE partnership to develop seven regional public-private investment ecosystems across Northern Europe to break out of the cleantech pilot trap. Partners will trial new ways to scale cleantech solutions - with a focus on increasing ‘business readiness’ in the Netherlands, Belgium, Denmark, France, Sweden, and Germany.
Supported by professional finance experts, BRAVE partners will define their scale-up challenges, identify effective models for public-private partnerships, and design novel business and investment models between public authorities and private energy investors that can de-risk in Europe’s local energy sector.
In the next four years, BRAVE partners have committed to:
- Deliver seven regional ecosystems in diverse energy domains, including low-carbon public mobility, residential solar, energy communities and industrial hydrogen hubs
- Mobilise a combined €150m in regional energy investments, crowding in public and private finance into the ‘missing middle’ of energy finance
- Develop replicable business models and public-private partnership frameworks to accelerate cleantech uptake across Europe
Meet the BRAVE partnership
BRAVE unites local public authorities, regional business support organisations, the cleantech private sector, and applied research to develop replicable business and partnership models for cleantech ecosystems:
- City of Rotterdam, BRAVE Lead Partner, will expand on its existing flagship regional start-up subsidy programme with €10m of new investment, supported by local investment organisations including InnovationQuarter and ICOS Capital.
- French cluster organisation Pôle MEDEE and sustainable transition accelerator CD2E will roll out replicable investment models for the City of Amiens’ €130m low-carbon (EV and biodiesel) public bus fleet.
- The Swedish City of Malmö will work with social housing developers to identify business models to scale-up around €5m of investment in smart local energy systems.
- Dutch business support organisation BOM will identify the business and market conditions required to crowd in €30m new investment to scale up an industrial hydrogen hub in Brabant, the Netherlands.
- Flanders cluster organisation Flux50 will work with the City of Antwerp and local ESCOs to build a €2m investment case for residential heat pumps for low-income homes.
- Hamburg’s business development agency Hamburg Invest plans to connect its Scaleup Landing Pad programme to the next generation of investment for scaling GreenTech solutions.
- The City of Aarhus in Denmark will combine private loans with public guarantees to leverage €13m in new investment for 70,000m2 of municipal rooftop solar.
The seven regional ecosystems will receive commercial development expertise from:
- Cluster organisations Cambridge Cleantech International and Cleantech Scandinavia, which bring a network of hundreds of clean energy investors and practitioners to ensure BRAVE’s results are spread across Europe.
- The Erasmus Center for Entrepreneurship, which will provide academic entrepreneurship expertise to the project, ensuring BRAVE’s results serve SMEs while measuring pilot effectiveness.
- The University of South-Eastern Norway, which will support the development of investment cases within BRAVE, producing investment model templates for future uptake across Europe
- Mobility and logistics consultancy LNC, which support the partnership with insights and expertise for cleantech scaleup in Germany
Co-financed by Interreg
BRAVE is an Interreg North Sea project co-funded by the European Union.
Project start: July 2024