EYEN

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304452

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Submitted

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NEW EUROPEAN BAUHAUS RISING STARS: concepts or ideas submitted by young talents (aged 30 or less)

Project title

EYEN

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Description

The European Youth Energy Network (EYEN) is a non-profit Federation of European energy-focused youth organizations. The EYEN is an emerging, independent, and inclusive network which aims to promote bilateral cooperation between (inter)governmental bodies and youth communities to create dialogue and exchange opportunities on a European, national, regional, and local level. Our mission is to place youth at the heart of the European energy transition, by empowering energy-focused organizations, con

What is the geographical scope of your concept/idea?

Does your concept/idea address mainly urban or rural issues?

Does your concept/idea refer to a physical transformation of the built environment or other types of transformations?

Has your concept/idea benefited from EU programmes and/or funds?

Has your concept/idea won an EU prize?

How did you hear about the New European Bauhaus Prizes ?

On whose behalf are you submitting the application?

Please provide a summary of your concept/ idea

The European Youth Energy Network (EYEN) is a non-profit Federation of European energy-focused youth organizations. The EYEN is an emerging, independent, and inclusive network which aims to promote bilateral cooperation between (inter)governmental bodies and youth communities to create dialogue and exchange opportunities on a European, national, regional, and local level. Our mission is to place youth at the heart of the European energy transition, by empowering energy-focused organizations, connecting them with key actors in the energy sector, and by sharing knowledge.

Our vision is that, in 2030, the European youth will be trusted to lead the sustainable energy transition. They will be meaningfully connected to other changemakers and have the space to deploy their skills within the private and public sector.

The EYEN continues to pursue its mission by valorizing three main objectives:

CONNECT Energy-focused youth organizations with each other and with actors in the energy sector.

DISSEMINATE Opportunities, share knowledge, develop skills and improve the outreach of youth organizations.

EMPOWER Youth energy leaders, facilitating their engagement with national and European governments and their participation in high-level debates.

There is a lack of youth engagement in the energy transition and a lack of cooperation with youth-led energy organizations. Additionally, there is an insufficient understanding of institutions and processes involved in designing measures for the energy transition. Our ambition is to put the youth in the center as the main catalyzer of collaboration between different generations. Today, EYEN gathers 7 member organizations and a group of 38 volunteers who help in the development of this network.

 

Please indicate the main themes of your concept/idea with 5 key words

Please give information about the key objectives of your concept/idea in terms of environmental sustainability (including circularity) and how these would be met.
Please highlight how the concept/idea can be exemplary in this context

Sustainability is necessary in any aspect of our life. As energy supply is a basic need, it is crucial to sustainify this as well. Changing from conventional to sustainable energy generation is a complex transformation (transition)  because it entails technological, economic, societal, regulative and environmental changes. In doing so, it is necessary to involve all types of people. At EYEN, our mission is to include youth in the process of the energy transition because such a future plan cannot be designed without the future society. We consider young people to be important in the European energy transition, which is marked by progressive goals to achieve climate neutrality by 2050. In this process, youth may play a key role to play in enhancing ambitions and catalyzing action, by generating new ideas and meaningful discussions that will affect the speed and outlook of the transition. Young people bring several crucial traits to the energy transition: Altruism - young people are more likely to be engaged with ideas benefitting the common good. For example, the bulk of the global Effective Altruism movement is between 20 and 35 years old. Individual action - young people are less likely than older generations to consider purchasing a vehicle. Investing in their beliefs - millennials are twice as likely to invest in companies with a social or environmental focus. Thinking outside the box – by checking the Forbes 30 under 30 Energy category it is possible to witness the range of new ideas that youth bring to the table to accelerate the energy transition. 

 

Lending a clear structure to youth engagement with the European energy transition would allow these traits to be effectively incorporated into decision-making, and accelerate the journey to a cleaner, more sustainable future.

 

Please give information about the key objectives of your concept/idea in terms of aesthetics and quality of experience beyond functionality and how these would be met.
Please highlight how the concept/idea can be exemplary in this context

Given the socio-technical nature of the energy transition, the need to facilitate interdisciplinary exchanges between different actors is recognized as a real priority, to which traditional academic programs still struggle to find an answer. A survey conducted by the “European University Association” (EUA) on research and education in the areas of the “European Strategic Energy Technology Plan” (SET-Plan), found that interdisciplinary research in the European academic landscape represents more the exception than the rule, despite its substantial potential. Furthermore, given the technical specificity of academic disciplines, the demand for human resources with strong collaborative skills is increasing. Through various initiatives which seek to “break down silos”, third sector organizations such as research institutions and NGOs can give rise to new forms of communication, both inter-sectoral and inter-generational. By doing so, those who participate in such initiatives adopt the role of active facilitators, catalyzing connections between actors otherwise structurally “disconnected” and creating transversal collaborations, fundamental for the implementation of the European Green Deal. Such initiatives prove to be extremely advantageous on two levels: firstly, stakeholders in the energy sector become the beneficiaries of new opportunities, and secondly, participants in these initiatives develop interdisciplinary soft skills, which are increasingly requested in the workplace.

Considering the above-identified benefits that highlight the gap for a youth organization to deliver similar advantages to youth. We propose a novel solution to facilitate international cooperation in energy: the European Youth Energy Network.

 

Please give information about the key objectives of your concept/idea in terms of inclusion (equal opportunities, public participation, citizen engagement, co-design, universal design, accessibility, affordability, etc.) and how these would be met.
Please highlight how the concept/idea can be exemplary in this context

The European Youth Energy Network (EYEN) is an emerging, independent, inclusive, network of energy-focused youth organizations from across the European Union and beyond. In the framework of the European Climate Pact and of the Green New Deal, the EYEN aims to promote bilateral cooperation between (inter)governmental bodies and youth communities by co-creating youth dialogues and exchanging opportunities on a European, national, regional, and local level.

The EYEN is currently serving as a Regional Focal Point for the recently established SDG7 Youth Constituency (SDG7 YC), the official youth engagement mechanism on energy topics under the umbrella of the UN Major Group for Children and Youth (UNMGCY). The UNMGCY has over 8000 member organizations and EYEN is working to establish a similar platform inspired by the SDG7 YC for connecting energy-focused youth organizations, downscaled to the EU level. At this point, EYEN has 7 active member organizations and is scaling up by also connecting to funding partners.

The EYEN will achieve its mission and address the issues mentioned above by pursuing three main objectives:

• CONNECT – Energy-focused youth organizations with each other and with actors in the energy sector.
• DISSEMINATE – Opportunities, share knowledge, develop skills and improve the outreach of youth organizations.
• EMPOWER – Youth energy leaders, facilitating their engagement with national and European governments and their participation in high-level debates.

These objectives pose an urgent need for the establishment of a formal organization that coordinates and leverages the capabilities and strengths of the youth. We strongly believe young people are essential for the energy transition in Europe given that they represent an active group that relate deeply with the problem. Our scope is to provide them with the tools and the platform necessary for developing their potential ideas into real action.

 

Please explain how these three dimensions would be combined in your concept/idea.
Please highlight how this approach can be exemplary

As of January 2021, we have recruited several youth-led energy-focused organizations within the EU and its neighboring countries who have expressed interest in becoming founding members of the network. Within a year, EYEN has expanded its membership portfolio with a diverse set of organizations. Our team regularly liaises with the Directorate-General (DG) for Energy of the European Commission, which is actively engaging with youth since the 10th Clean Energy Ministerial/4th Mission Innovation Forum. Following the Forum, we have collaborated with the DG in other conferences, such as the Commission’s 2019 Research & Innovation Days and supported the organization of the first-ever European Youth Energy Day in June 2020, including a dialogue with Executive Vice President of the Green Deal, Frans Timmermans. One of our co-founders spoke at the Closing Ceremony of the European Sustainable Energy Week together with Director-General of the European Commission - DG ENER Ditte Juul Jørgensen, where she urged European institutions and the whole policy spectrum to take the lead in treating the youth potential for what it is: an incredible resource which can add great value to the European energy transition.

The EYEN has up to this point gathered 38 volunteers from 10 different European countries to collaborate for youth advocacy in the energy transition. The network is therefore becoming a gateway for youth involvement in the energy transition by creating opportunities to grow as an energy expert, discuss your visions and express your knowledge from a youth perspective. 

Furthermore, the EYEN has been selected as one of the 98 youth initiatives from around the world for the Youth Sustainable Energy Hub (YSEH), a flagship project developed by SDG7 Youth Constituency in partnership with the world’s leading energy and climate change organizations, including SE4All, UNIDO and UNICEF. The project is a milestone for galvanizing youth engagement in sustainable energy as we

Please highlight the innovative character of the concept/idea as compared to mainstream practices in the field of the concept/idea.

From an innovative perspective, EYEN is an innovation-pull mechanism, therefore existing because there is a need for youth advocacy in the energy transition. Because the necessity of the network was evident to the co-founders from the very beginning, there are many innovative elements to way EYEN functions. First of all, communication between workgroups is very high, simply because we often need multi-disceplary solutions to the lack of  youth involvement. A conventional manner of working in an organisation is to have a taskgroup for a specific problem, at EYEN, even this prize application required volunteers from the board, membership, partnership and communcation workgroups. In addition, the network foundation that we have built enables EYEN to communicate opportunities to youth much faster and coordinated than before. With the international profiles of our volunteers, many challenges and chances are picked up and shared to any youth interested in the energy transition. Furthermore, our members bi-weekly update us on activities which we also share with followers or readers of the newsletter.

Please detail the general plans that you have for the further development, promotion and/or implementation of your concept/idea.

EYEN imagines the power of people in the same way one thinks about energy: as a valuable source that can be harnessed. In order to harness a valuable energy source, it needs to be fully accessed, developed and channelled. Yet, the energy of youth is not renewable, if young people do not see results in their efforts. EYEN aims to generate results by having a wide-ranging, meaningful, inclusive and direct engagement of youth with the European energy transition. These results will be measurable with key performance indicators along with the pledges that EYEN has submitted under the Climate Pact:

• Gather and coordinate 50 European youth-energy related organizations by end 2022
• Send a delegation of EYEN Ambassadors to COP27
• Establish national youth energy representatives in 27 EU member states
• Deliver minimum 10 training or skills development opportunities

Imagine that your idea/concept is awarded in the New European Bauhaus Prizes 2022. What kind of initiatives would you take throughout the following year (June 2022- June 2023)

The next steps for the EYEN are to register as a non-for-profit organisation in Belgium (legal establishment expected by Q2 2022),  begin formally recruiting more members and appoint an Executive Board to coordinate the operations of the network. We are seeking to create a strong network of youth representatives in all countries within our scope of work, with the aim of formalizing a delegation of young energy representatives, to be directly engaged in the European energy policy-making process and participating in important energy and climate conferences.

 

By ticking this box, you declare that you are not in in one or more of the exclusion situations foreseen under Article 136 of the Financial Regulation.

By ticking this box, you declare that all the information provided in this form is factually correct, that you assume sole liability in the event of a claim relating to the activities carried out in the framework of the contest, that the proposed concept/idea has not been proposed for the New European Bauhaus Prizes 2022 in any other category or strand and that it has not been subject to any type of investigation, which could lead to a financial correction because of irregularities or fraud.

By submitting your application, you guarantee that you are the author or have the rights to proceed with the application and to authorise the use of the project, concept, idea, and that you have obtained any necessary consents, licenses or assignments from third parties and included copyright notices when necessary.

By submitting your application, you understand that all the applications that meet the eligibility requirements will be shared for the purposes of the selection processes, and notably published on the secured platform https://prizes.new-european-bauhaus.eu/ and for the purposes of the promotion of these on the New European Bauhaus website and/or other European Commission communication channels. In this sense, the applications would be widely available. Applicants should ensure that they present their ideas, concepts, projects, in such a way that they could be shared without giving rise to intellectual property related concerns. If your submission is selected as one of the finalists, it will additionally be shared for the purpose of the public vote that will take place. The European Union is granted a licence to use and share your application with the general public and the official external experts for the purposes of the selection process, including the voting. The European Union has the right to use the images and visual materials and the description provided in the application for communication purposes related to the contest and beyond. Rights granted comprise the right to store, reproduce, display, publish and communicate or distribute copies in electronic or digital format, including, but not only, through the internet. Unless you have disclosed your name, the European Commission has no obligation to share your name when using or disseminating your contribution to the public. The European Union cannot be held responsible in case any submitted idea, project, concept is found to infringe third parties rights. The European Union shall be neither responsible for the use that third parties may do of the applications or related content.