Exploitation of Business Models for Deep Renovation

Most of the barriers to energy renovation are non-technical, and financing is one of the main barriers. To deepen this issue, this year, at the Sustainable Places Conference (Cagliari, 5-7 June 2019) the topic of discussion was “Exploitation of Business Models for Deep Renovation” [1] as a key issue for ensuring the future implementation of the project results.

The level of confidence of investors in case of renovation is usually low because of the several uncertainties encountered throughout the process of deep renovation. The actual investments are lower than potential because there are no reliable references that assess such uncertainties. During the Sustainable places conference, several H2020 projects, alongside researcher of 4RinEU, discussed their approaches on exploitations to highlight potential synergies among them.

• Nicolas Péraudeau (DOWEL Management) presented the STUNNING project, aimed at collecting and reviewing the results from previous projects dealing with building renovation, highlighting strengths and barriers and proposing novel business models based on systemic, integrated and user-centred approach.
• Simona d’Oca (Huygen), introduced the TripleA-Reno project, whose exploitation plan aims to develop a gamified platform that serves a service for key stakeholders involved in the renovation journey. The platform is intended to facilitate understanding, communication exchange, decision making, practices among the TripleA-reno users. The TripleA-reno platform also gives the chance to small suppliers to have a bigger audience (that they wouldn’t reach on their own).
• Then, Prof. Annarita Ferrante (University of Bologna) described the approach of the proGETone project, aiming at integrating energy-saving solutions to the seismic renovation of buildings. The benefits of this renovation approach are shared between energy-saving, seismic safety and social added value, that should be included properly in the business model.
• Oana Schippers-Trifan (DEMO consultants) went through the results of the P2Endure project. She compared different renovation products within their e-marketplace. The e-marketplace is a simulation platform to provide clear and comprehensive information to compare energy saving options, this way supporting the entire process of planning and buying at a local district market level.
• Roberta Pernetti (Eurac Research) presented the exploitation plan of 4RinEU project. Here, a detailed value proposition for each project result has been developed with project partner R2M. The business model proposed by 4RinEU for the deep renovation is based on the cost-effective rating tool that will support the decision-making process according to the renovation priority selected by the stakeholders. They will drive the investors in deep renovation, supporting them to identify the level of risk of renovation processand enable well-founded investments supported by tailor-made financial tools.

A matching position was found to between the TripleA-reno, ProGETonE, P2Endure, 4rinEU, STUNNING, and TURNkey Retrofit cluster projects:

• the strong focus on marketing and customer needs, and
• because of the mediation role between stakeholders involved in the renovation process, the platforms have an exponential potential of growth (platforms act as old-fashioned middlemen: they offer products and services based on their knowledge and the need of the end-users).

In the following weeks, the presentation of the workshop will be available on the website of the conference SP2019. A detailed paper can be downloaded here.

[1] The term “exploitation” is been defined under the H2020 Rules for Participation as “the use of results in further research activities other than those covered by the action concerned, or in developing, creating and marketing a product or process, or in creating and providing a service, or in standardisation activities”.