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The Smart Energy Transition research project, launched in 2015, has reached its conclusion. The project focused on studying the global energy transition and how Finland can benefit from the ongoing energy transition. 

The starting point for the Smart Energy Transition (SET) project was that the ongoing global energy transition will inevitably affect Finland, as the fight against climate change will require fundamental changes in the energy system. These changes emerge in new ways of both producing and consuming energy, as well as in new business models, export opportunities, and ways of living and moving. The goal of the SET project was to analyse the progress of the energy transition and its impacts on the Finnish energy system.

When the project started in 2015, energy transition was a phenomenon that was not recognised by many, but in 2021, it is an inescapable part of the energy field. The SET project, alongside many others, has contributed to changes in the energy field by studying transition technologies, experiment-based learning and joint development, and by analysing political actions, institutions and business models. In this time, the amount of renewable energy has increased in the energy system, and smart and clean energy business is now on the rise. The technologies for achieving a carbon neutral energy system already exist, and now we need more systematic decisions to promote the transition.

Active co-operation

A total of 10 different partner organisations and more than 40 researchers and experts from different energy transition sectors took part in the project. In the early years, Professor Raimo Lovio served as the Consortium Leader, and later on the project was headed by Professor of Practice Armi Temmes. Both Lovio and Temmes work at the Department of Management Studies at the School of Business. Funding for the multidisciplinary project came from the Strategic Research Council (SRC), which operates as part of the Academy of Finland. 

The SET project has contributed to helping decision-makers and companies understand the transition and take advantage of the opportunities it brings by, for example, producing policy recommendations and organising various discussion forums. In addition to peer-reviewed publications, the researchers have written blog posts and topical texts for the transformation-themed Teknologiamurrokset series of the Finnish technology magazine Tekniikka & Talous. The best SET blog posts have been compiled into a single (available in Finnish). (in Finnish) have been developed to increase public understanding of the energy transition. In addition, the social impact of the project has been assessed in an (in Finnish). 

Work on energy transition research will continue in future projects – research information is needed to support decision-making and promote carbon neutrality. 

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