ATVINNUVEGA- OG NYSKOPUNARRAOUNEYTI

Their core work

Iceland's Ministry of Industries and Innovation is the national government authority responsible for energy policy, industrial regulation, and business development in Iceland. In EU research and coordination projects, they act as a national competent authority implementing EU renewable energy directives, contributing Iceland's exceptional experience — nearly 100% of its electricity comes from geothermal and hydropower — to European-level policy dialogues. Their H2020 participation is focused entirely on transposing and applying successive EU Renewable Energy Directives into national law and practice. They bring a real-world, fully-deployed renewable energy system to a table where most other members are still building toward targets.

What they specialise in

How they've shifted over time

Their two projects are not a pivot but a direct continuation — both are consecutive phases of the same EU concerted action on renewable energy directive implementation, moving from the 2009 directive (CA-RES3, 2016–2020) to the updated 2018 directive (CA-RES4, 2021–2026). The early phase left no keyword record, while the recent phase explicitly names dialogue platforms and knowledge exchange, suggesting that their engagement matured from basic transposition support toward active peer-learning and structured best-practice dissemination. The trajectory is linear: deeper involvement in the same policy area, with a stronger emphasis on facilitated dialogue as the EU's renewable ambitions have grown more demanding.

They are deepening their engagement with EU renewable energy governance — moving from passive implementers of directives to active contributors to the knowledge platforms that shape how directives are applied across member states.

How they like to work

This ministry always joins as a participant, never as coordinator — consistent with the structure of Concerted Actions, where a technical lead manages the project and national authorities contribute as implementing members. Their consortia are extremely wide (33 partners across 29 countries), reflecting the all-member-state nature of EU policy coordination actions rather than selective partnership. This is not a relationship-driven collaboration style; it is a mandate-driven one — they are present because Iceland, as an EEA member, is required to participate in EU directive implementation networks.

Their network spans 33 partners across 29 countries, which is very broad but reflects the mandatory multi-country architecture of EU concerted actions rather than an organically built network. Geographic reach is pan-European, covering virtually all EU and EEA member states.

What sets them apart

Iceland's Ministry brings something no EU member state can offer: a country that has already achieved near-total renewable electricity supply through geothermal and hydro, giving them direct operational experience with the end-state the EU Renewable Energy Directive is designed to reach. For a consortium building around renewable energy policy, governance, or transition benchmarking, Iceland's national authority is a rare reference point for what a post-fossil electricity system actually looks like in practice. Their value is not research output but demonstrated national-scale implementation.

Highlights from their portfolio

• CA-RES4
  The active project (2021–2026) positions them within the core EU mechanism for implementing the updated 2018 Renewable Energy Directive, placing them at the center of Europe's current clean energy transition governance network.
• CA-RES3
  Their first EU project established their role as an EEA national authority in the original Concerted Action on renewable energy, giving them continuity and institutional standing across two successive EU policy generations.