The workshop was part of the Five-Party project financed by the Research Council of Norway. The aim is to utilize the participating partners’ complementary expertise to enable research-based business innovation. Another object is also to create win-win opportunities for further advancement within the areas of solar PV research, technology development and deployment. The slogan of the project is “Growing together for a Greener world”. Members of the Five Party project are Prediktor, NTNU, SINTEF, Shanghai Jiaotong University and Hanwha SolarOne. In fact, the five parties have now been enlarged to seven, with the Shanghai Institute of Microsystem and Information Technology - CAS and Si Pro as two new partners. This workshop was the third time the network met.
The opportunities for creating joint projects in the future within prioritized areas were addressed with enthusiasm and realism. Among the issues discussed during the workshop were PhD exchange programs between the two participating universities and establishing research cooperation with the two newly joined partners. The parties underscored that future projects have to be based on an equal footing focusing on identified priorities based on the several partners’ interest and unique competencies. Financial support should be sought through national financial sources as well as EU.
Mr. Pål Arne Kastmann, Sector Manager for Energy and Environment, North East Asia, Innovation Norway, talked about the global trends, the potential in the markets for renewable energy for the industries in both countries. He also touched upon the strength of the Norwegian solar cell cluster in his remarks. Mrs. Kari Kveseth, Counsellor of Science and Higher Education at the Norwegian Embassy in Beijing, furthermore emphasized the potential of this collaboration and the importance of addressing R&D issues to further develop the technological platform for the solar PV industry. Moreover, she underlined that these issues are quite different depending on what kind of challenges in the value chain is being addressed.
Solar PV has a great potential globally to contribute to addressing both the climate challenges as well as the increasing demand for energy. Solving issues like reduction of production cost, increased efficiency and development of new techniques are of the utmost importance. The global PV industry is now facing difficulties due to the financial crisis in Europe. New partners and new structures of the industry are therefore to be anticipated in the future. For the industry in both China and Norway, a strong research platform based on unique technology is important to retain their strong international position.