The development and adoption of renewable and sustainable forms of energy has become a major priority for Europe and is an important theme in H2020. Research into new, energy-related technologies to reduce Europe’s reliance on non-renewable fossil fuels is a critical need, and requires more newly qualified people in areas such as renewable-energy infrastructure management, new energy materials and methods, as well as smart buildings and transport. Bio-energy is particularly relevant to the Work Programme, because it is at the crossroads of several key European policies – from the Strategic Energy Technology Plan Roadmap on Education and Training (SET-Plan) to the European Bio-economy Strategy for European Food Safety and Nutrition Policy. So far, technological development has concentrated on using crops and wood for fuel, energy and industrial products. These conventional bio-resources are, however, limited, and the use of nonconventional, currently unused or under-utilised bio-resources provides the best possibility for the growth of the bioeconomy. However, European development in this priority field is failing to keep pace with demand due to a lack of qualified personnel, a lack of cohesion and integration among stakeholders, and poorly developed links between professional training and the real needs of industry. Based on seven work packages the Phoenix RISE project will address these issues by exploiting the complementary expertise of its partners and creating synergies between them through the targeted secondments of staff to advance research and innovation knowledge in bio-energy research. Phoenix is an international, interdisciplinary, cross-sectorial project, bringing together a total of 16 partners: 14 from the EU (5 companies and 9 academic organisations) and two Third-Country academic partners to enhance its collective research excellence and create new, post-graduate-level research training in key disciplines that support the provision of bio-energy.

The development and adoption of renewable and sustainable energy has become a top priority in Europe, and is Horizon 2020’s most prominent theme. Research into new energy methods required to reduce humanity’s carbon footprint is an urgent and critical need, and is reliant upon a flow of newly qualified persons in areas as diverse as renewable energy infrastructure management, new energy materials and methods, and smart buildings and transport. Bioenergy is a particularly important field in this respect as it is at the cross-roads of several important European policies, from the Strategic Energy Technology Plan Roadmap on Education and Training (SET-Plan) to the European Bioeconomy Strategy to European Food Safety and Nutrition Policy. European development in this prioritised field is stalled due to a lack of qualified personnel, a lack of cohesion and integration among stakeholders, and poor linkage between professional training and industry needs. To address these problems, BioEnergyTrain brings together fifteen partners from six EU countries to create new post-graduate level curricula in key bioenergy disciplines, and a network of tertiary education institutions, research centres, professional associations, and industry stakeholders encompassing the whole value chain of bioenergy from field/forest to integration into the sustainable energy systems of buildings, settlements and regions. The project will foster European cooperation to provide a highly skilled and innovative workforce across the whole bioenergy value chain, closely following the recommendations of the SET-Plan Education Roadmap.