On 25-27 May 2021, SMARTSPEND, a project aiming to improve and increase public and private funding for clean energy technology research and innovation will organise an online conference. “European Conference on Risk Access Finance for the Clean Tech Sector“ will be divided into two parts: morning sessions with interesting speakers and afternoon matchmaking sessions. ZABALA is a partner of the project in the representation of ETIP SNET.

The objectives of the conference are to showcase the EU’s funding offers for clean energy demonstration projects, make public and private Financial providers better aware of the energy community’s funding needs, and connect with representatives of public and private financial organisations through an online matchmaking event.

The target of the conference

The conference targets the following stakeholders:

1. Clean energy solution providers from research & private sector that develop new technical solutions to enable the clean energy transition in Europe
2. Public funding programme authorities in the clean energy sector who propose public funding schemes, through grants or loans, in the clean energy sector at the EU, national or regional level
3. The private cleantech finance sector ready to fund clean energy technology solutions with high potential

Four sessions

The conference is divided into 4 sessions:

1. The EU’s funding and financing offer: new tools for a new decade

Session 1 will provide a better understanding of the latest EU funding schemes for clean energy technology and answer the energy community’s specific questions regarding 2 types of EU funds InvestEU and ETS Innovation Fund.

2. National/regional funding opportunities: exploitable synergies to accelerate the clean energy transition

The Session 2 will present further funding opportunities which finance clean energy technologies at the national or regional level It will focus particularly on the ESIF ERDF opportunities the brand new Just Transition Mechanism and more precisely, on how these funding schemes can be combined with other funding opportunities.

3. Unlock Private Funding for clean energy demonstration projects

In Session 3, the deeper knowledge of private funding for clean energy technologies will be presented. Typical preconditions that demonstration projects should gather in order to get private funding will be defined.

4. How to successfully access funding schemes to achieve clean energy transition and the EU 2030 climate targets?

ZABALA and EUREC will present two of the main findings of the SMARTSPEND project, through the reports Funding instruments for energy transition and Alternative funding instruments.
The Session 4 will provide hands-on feedback from 2 successful applicants on their experiences, recommendations and best practices with related funds.

Matchmaking event

The matchmaking event is dedicated to Clean Tech Developers to help them find the best funding opportunity to bring ideas to life. Through face2face meetings in 20-minute timeslots, the participants will have space to pitch their innovative solutions.