There are two main ways that EIT categorized RD&D projects: by technology and by innovation phase. The technology dimension indicates the technological focus of the project, and has two levels, a broad category (e.g. Electricity) and a more detailed sub-category (e.g. Solar). The innovation phase dimension indicates what part of the innovation cycle the project is involved in.
The specific categories are defined below on the special category called Uncategorized. For both dimensions and the technology sub-category, Uncategorized is used to indicate that we were unable to further categorize the project for some reason. There are three common reasons:
- The project description was unclear.
- The project clearly applies to more than one category or sub-category
- The money is set to be distributed as grants, and the grants have not yet been awarded yet
As a result, much of the money which has been marked as Uncategorized in some dimension may be re-assigned to a specific category at some point in the future.
Innovation Phase Categories
Basic Science – Fundamental science (i.e. chemistry, biology, physics, etc.) that enables a class of solutions without obvious commercial value.
RD&D – Applied research, development, and demonstration of a specific design or technology to address explicit technological need. Includes concept demonstration and prototyping, and work on innovative manufacturing techniques for clean energy technologies.
Training – Education and training related to energy technologies targeted at anything from science to deployment.
Technology Categories
There are five top-level technology categories, plus Uncategorized. They are:
- Electricity
- Fuels
- Buildings
- Industrial
- Transportation
- Uncategorized
In turn each category has sub-categories that are used to provide more specificity whenever possible. Note that in some cases a top-level category is assigned, but Uncategorized is used for the sub-category.
Electricity:
- Solar
- Wind
- Geothermal
- Hydro
- Fuel cells
- Nuclear
- Coal
- Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS)
- Grid (including smart grid)
- Storage (aka batteries)
- Electricity – Uncategorized
Fuels:
- Hydrogen
- Biofuels
- Petroleum
- Direct solar
- Fuels – Uncategorized
Buildings:
- Efficiency
- Solar heating
- Buildings – Uncategorized
Industrial:
- Efficiency
- Industrial – Uncategorized
Transportation:
- Internal Combustion Engines (ICE’s)
- Electric Motors
- Efficiency
- Transportation – Uncategorized