Blog of Fraunhofer ISI

The global sales figures on the electric car market are clearly developing in one direction: upward. An analysis of the individual models and countries shows differences. In addition, a forecast for 2022 is already possible.

The Fraunhofer Institute for Systems and Innovation Research ISI launches its Battery Update: a new blog format in which scientists present core results from their current battery research. In addition, the blog serves as a platform where current topics around the battery supply chain are accompanied and discussed.

Estimating the macroeconomic effects of investments in public research and innovation is of central interest to policymakers, scientists and the general public alike. Many studies have attempted to provide quantifications of these returns, often finding substantial effects (Carree et al. 2014, Jones and Summers 2020, Comin 2021) in terms of GDP, employment, investment and tax revenues (Roy et al. 2021). Two very recent examples by Schubert (2021) and Allan et al. (2022) analyze the case of Fraunhofer as the biggest organization for applied research in Europe. One of the central findings of these studies was that increasing the Fraunhofer budget by one euro increases GDP by 21 euros.

Within Europe, heavy-duty vehicles are responsible for a quarter of greenhouse gas emissions in the transport sector and therefore play a central role in achieving the climate targets set by the EU. The limited range of electric trucks requires a European public fast-charging network to enable the widespread deployment of battery solutions. To investigate the existing electrification potential, we modelled the European road freight flows based on the ETISplus dataset.

The potential of plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEV) to reduce local pollutant and global greenhouse gas emissions strongly depends on their real-world usage and the share of kilometres driven on electricity, the so-called utility factor (UF). In the European CO2 fleet targets, generic functions for UF of PHEV are used derived from in standardized testing procedures, or test cycles, such as the Worldwide Harmonized Light-Duty Vehicles Test Procedure (WLTP). We find that the current WLTP UF parameters are too optimistic about real-world UF since long-distance driving was missing in earlier estimates, actual charging is less frequent than commonly assumed and real-world all-electric ranges are lower than WLTP ranges.

Regional strategy development processes have started again in many European regions and RIS3 (Research and Innovation Strategies for Smart Specialisation) are perceived as an interesting new research topic. There is a call for papers for the “Journal of entrepreneurship, management and innovation”, the submission deadline ist the 30 September 2021.

Dr. Susanne Bieker coordinates the interdisciplinary research field “Transformation and innovation systems for urban areas” at Fraunhofer ISI. In this interview, she gives us a general introduction to the new topic.

Dr. Bernd Beckert coordinates the “Artificial Intelligence” interdisciplinary research field at Fraunhofer ISI. In this interview, he talks about his work and his research objectives.

Recent research shows that while the EU promotes social and ethical values in research and innovation, such values are not well integrated in research policy or practice. Responsible research and innovation principles have been designed to enhance an inclusive and democratic approach to enabling research and innovation (R&I) to reflect values, needs and aspirations of society. Research from the Fraunhofer ISI, the University of Wageningen, the Institute for Advanced Studies, Vienna, and 18 partners however suggest a lack of integration of ethics and public engagement in European research projects.

This week, PhD students and junior researchers from the NEST PhD-Network and the STRN methodologies thematic group are gathering at Fraunhofer ISI. Regularly we ask a participant of the NEST Winter School on “Methodologies and Methods for Sustainability Transitions Research“ to complete a questionnaire. Today: Berit Piepgras.