The deadline for the call for sessions has now passed, and no further applications will be accepted. Applicants can expect to be informed about whether their session has been accepted by the end of March.
GENERAL INFORMATION
The Policy Conference of the European Sustainable Energy Week (EUSEW) is the biggest conference dedicated to renewable energy and energy efficiency in Europe. The Policy Conference hosts a number of sessions organised by the European Commission and stakeholders active in the field of sustainable energy to present and debate new policy developments, best practices and new ideas in support of the European Union’s transition towards an energy-efficient, renewable energy-based, climate-neutral and resilient economy.
The 2023 edition will be organised as a hybrid event with both physical and online formats on 20-22 June 2023 only. All policy sessions will be onsite in a venue in Brussels, Belgium. We encourage speakers and participants to attend onsite to benefit fully from the networking possibilities and presentations of companies and organisations at the Energy Fair.
The theme of EUSEW 2023, ‘Accelerating the clean energy transition – towards lower bills and greater skills’, reflects the realities of geopolitics and the energy market that require us to drastically accelerate the clean energy transition and increase Europe’s energy independence. We are inviting applicants to submit their policy session ideas and contribute towards the discussion.
Format of policy sessions
The standard duration of a session is 90 minutes, and the format is up to the applicants (presentation, workshop, panel discussion, etc.), but a creative approach is encouraged.
The number of speakers is limited to seven, including the moderator. Please consider that not all rooms will have the possibility for speakers to connect online, so we recommend having the speakers onsite as much as possible.
All sessions must adhere to the principles of gender balance, plurality of opinion and interactivity.
Successful applicants will be supported by the event organising and technical teams (i.e. for registration, logistics, web-streaming services, training, general promotion, etc.). Nevertheless, all session organisers are responsible for the organisation of their session and are expected to contribute to its promotion (a communication toolkit for promotion will be provided to all successful applicants). Applicants must comply with these guidelines provided by the European Sustainable Energy Week’s organising team.
EUSEW encourages youth participation and intergenerational dialogue in the discussions around clean energy policy and seeks to draw inspiration from the actions, visions and insights of young people to strengthen further the European clean energy transition.
WHO IS ELIGIBLE?
The call for sessions at the Policy Conference of the European Sustainable Energy Week 2023 is open to:
- organisations and associations which fulfil the following criteria:
- working as multipliers using a widespread network of contacts across Europe, and,
- contributing to the development and implementation of sustainable energy policy in Europe.
- representatives of EU institutions, including inter-institutional bodies.
Examples of eligible types of organisations include:
- European institutions and bodies or international organisations;
- consortia of EU-funded projects;
- national, regional/local authorities, agencies, or other public bodies (including their networks);
- business, industry or professional associations;
- non-governmental organisations (consumer associations, environmental organisations, etc.);
- citizens' groups (energy cooperatives, energy communities, youth groups;
- R&I organisations (research institutes, universities, scientific foundations, technical colleges, think tanks, etc.);
- media and press corps.
Policy sessions should be reserved for policy-relevant topics. Those wishing to lead discussions on innovations, academic work, and individual projects or initiatives can apply to have a stand at the Energy Fair and organise a presentation as part of the stand’s activities.
Professional event organisers or businesses aiming to promote specific products or services are not eligible. Sessions should be free of commercial interest.
PREPARING YOUR APPLICATION
The application form allows for only one session proposal at a time.
- A minimum of three and a maximum of five organisations are required to submit a proposal.
- All applications need to demonstrate that they represent plural and representative voices by including a variety of stakeholders and/or umbrella organisations (an umbrella organisation is an association that gathers other institutions working together formally and representing the same goal/interest, such as youth, consumer or industry associations).
- An organisation can be the lead or co-organiser in a maximum of two joint applications in order to ensure diversity across the sessions.
- Ensure gender balance in your speaker list and diversity of opinions in your session. This also means having a good balance with speakers from the industry as well as from public institutions.
- Make sure that the speakers and moderators have agreed to be part of the session during the possible dates (20-22 June 2023).
- Be interactive and allocate sufficient time to facilitate interaction between your audience and the speakers. A minimum of ¼ of the time of your session should be dedicated to Q&A or other interactive elements (word clouds, polls, quizzes, etc.). The Policy Conference is a platform for constructive exchanges on sustainable energy issues.
- Focus on fine-tuning the agenda according to the criteria set and highlight the relevance of each speaker.
- Think carefully about what you wish to achieve by hosting a session at the Policy Conference.
- Keep your objectives in mind and fill in the application form as clearly as possible.
- When preparing the session agenda, please consider that there will be a keynote speech by the Commission summarising the key policy initiatives in the field before each thematic block starts.
You may save your application as a draft to make as many changes as you want but note that once your application is submitted, you will not be able to change it.
For inspiration, see last year’s sessions.
EVALUATION
Proposals for hosting a session at the Policy Conference will be evaluated by a selection panel comprising European Commission staff. Please note that the Selection Committee reserves the right to group applications or propose to merge session applications where there are synergies.
The panel will assess the information provided in the application form, with specific attention given to the following:
A. Concept and focus
B. Relevance of the topic (content)
C. Quality of the agenda
A. CONCEPT AND FOCUS
- What is the objective of the session?
- Which target groups are addressed?
- What is the structure/format of the session?
- What interactive elements does the session include?
The proposal will be scored on how well it presents its leading question or topic (clearly defined objective/purpose of the session) and how this will be tackled during the session (format and interactivity of the session).
B. RELEVANCE OF THE TOPIC (CONTENT)
What will the session (and the variety of stakeholders/speakers) bring to the policy debate?
How does the content of the proposed session fit with the EU sustainable energy policy agenda and the activities needed to deliver the clean energy transition?
The proposal will be scored based on how relevant it is for Europe’s sustainable energy policy to tackle the proposed question or topic in the current context and linked to the overarching theme of EUSEW 2023: ‘Accelerating the energy transition – towards lower bills and greater skills’.
Your proposed session should contribute to the current debate in the field of sustainable energy and the European clean energy transition (2030 and 2050 energy and climate targets). Selected sessions will be clustered around specific thematic blocks:
Skills for the clean energy transition (e.g. education, training, reskilling, skills for all)
Energy Efficiency (e.g. energy performance of buildings, products, industry, transport, reduction of energy demand)
Renewables (e.g. solar strategy, permitting processes for renewable energy, local energy cooperatives)
Ensuring affordability and inclusion in the clean energy transition (e.g.: citizens and consumer empowerment, energy poverty, prosumers)
Decarbonisation of EU and international energy systems (e.g. Green Deal measures, SECAPs, ETS, COP28)
C. QUALITY OF THE AGENDA
Proposals will be scored according to the following criteria:
- profiles, relevance, line-up of the speakers (as well as whether relevant speakers have been invited to tackle the question or topic) and the content they deliver;
- plurality of opinion within the panel;
- gender balance.
Should your application be retained, it is your responsibility to inform the Secretariat of the changes in the speakers' line-up and agenda as soon as possible.
DEADLINE AND NEXT STEPS
The deadline for the call for sessions has now passed, and no further applications will be accepted. Applicants can expect to be informed about whether their session has been accepted by the end of March.
If selected, you must provide the final session description (final title, description of the session, list of speakers, etc.) by 18 April 2023 at the latest.
Failure to meet deadlines or major alterations in the sessions’ focus, content and agenda may result in the removal of the session from EUSEW.
Make sure you check the timeline to understand the process that will follow if your application is selected for EUSEW Policy Conference:
QUESTIONS AND CONTACT
We invite you to read our FAQ section. Should you have any additional questions about the Policy Conference sessions, please do not hesitate to contact the EUSEW Secretariat at conference@eusew.eu.