Market-Readiness in Renewables: Enabling the Energy Transition in Europe

The REALIZE project invites you to its Online Final Conference “Market-Readiness in Renewables: Enabling the Energy Transition in Europe” on 9 February 2026 from 14.00 to 17.00 (CET).

The REALIZE project, funded under the Horizon Europe programme, aims to present a carefully selected and pre-qualified portfolio of new renewable energy generation technologies to the EU Innovation Fund (IF) through proposals resulting from successfully completed Horizon projects in Renewable Energy Sources (RES). The project will support IF project promoters to win major Innovation Fund support or propose alternative funding opportunities at EU, national and local level.

During the conference, representatives of the REALIZE project, innovative technologies developers, industry and think tank representatives, and private funding providers will share lessons learnt and best practices for market scale-up. In addition, a panel discussion will allow speakers to exchange on the European Competitiveness Fund and how it will deliver for innovative renewable energy start-ups and scale-ups.

AGENDA

14.00 – 14.10: Welcome and introduction: During this introduction, Céline Suchet (EUREC) will cover the scope of the event, the planned schedule, and housekeeping items, followed by a brief presentation of REALIZE by Fernando Gomez Hermoso (Euro-Funding).

14.10 – 14.50: Two years of helping technologies graduate from Horizon 2020 to Innovation Fund – what have we learned?: The objective of this session is to share the project’s results and lessons learned. Participants will hear from the following speakers: Thomas Garabetian (SolarPower Europe) on the IF process and results in bringing innovative renewable technologies to market, and David García Arrate (Euro-Funding) on the Innovation Pipeline, challenges, barriers, progress, and achievements. The session will be moderated by a representative of DG CLIMA (European Commission), and the presentations will be followed by a Q&A.

14.50 – 15.50: Best practices for market scale-up: The objective of this session is to give industry representatives, who were successful in applying to the Innovation Fund, the opportunity to share their road to market and best practices, including insights on co-financing through various instruments. The session will be moderated by Jan Erik Hanssen (1-Tech) and structured as a panel discussion followed by a Q&A.

15.50 – 16.00: Break

16.00 – 16.50: Will the European Competitiveness Fund deliver for innovative RE start-ups and scale-ups?: During this session, Marie Latour (Euro-Funding) will briefly present the context. Greg Arrowsmith (EUREC) will present key messages on the design of Innovation Fund and adjacent instruments. It will be followed by a panel discussion on the EU Competitiveness Fund, the Industrial Decarbonisation Bank, and their relationship to the Innovation Fund and Horizon Europe. Speakers include representatives of think tank, private funding provider and DG GROW (European Commission). The session will feature a panel discussion and debate, and a Q&A.

16.50 – 17.00: Closing remarks: Maria Laura Trifiletti (European Commission) will provide the closing remarks for the event, summarizing the key outcomes and reflecting on the discussions.