Macro-economic models are widely applied across the EU to support strategic planning for R&I and the green transition. However, these models do not include a detailed representation of R&I policies and do not explicitly model green technologies and the economic sectors that develop these technologies, the performance of R&D and its role in creating first mover advantages, monopoly rents, and eventually successful deployment of the green and digital technologies. To respond to these challenges, TWINRD aims to develop new data, technology matrices, models and enhance leading existing macro-economic modelling (GEM-E3 and NEMESIS). To this end TWINRD will develop innovative and interdisciplinary approaches for the enhanced modelling representation of R&I and innovation policy in EU-27 and improve the integration of R&I activities in applied macro-economic models based also on the collection, empirical analysis and integration of new data and technology matrices for green and digital technologies into the macro-models. TWINRD will develop a new innovative, open-source model specifically designed to address the Twin transition that goes beyond the standard approaches and will be both supply and demand driven. The advanced modelling tools will be used for the evaluation and assessment of R&I policy impacts on socio-economic and environmental indicators aiming to distil policy-relevant insights. All datasets, models and sets of software will be made freely accessible to stakeholders and the public in the TWINRD online platform and in other channels. The entire project will be based on active stakeholder interactions and inclusive dialogue to co-design the research and scenarios explored based on the creation of TWINRD open forum.

Innovation has been placed at the heart of the Europe 2020 strategy aimed at facing major structural changes, the increase of global competition and the current crisis, and to tackle major societal challenges such as climate change, energy and resource scarcity, health and ageing. The Innovation Union has the main objective to strengthen the European innovative potential, and sets 13 general objectives and 34 specific (policy) commitments associated to the objectives, and aimed at stimulating innovation. The objective of this project is to deliver a system of assessment for the commitments. The approach starts from the evaluation of the state of achievement of the individual commitments, but puts crucial emphasis on their effects in the innovation system as a whole, as well as on the economy-wide effects of innovation. The basic idea is to retrace the entire chain of effects of the commitments, from their implementation to their final impact in terms of competitiveness, growth or employment. The specific tasks that project sets out to undertake to achieve this are: 1) Data collection and identification of mechanisms; 2) Developing theoretical and econometric models in order to estimate the impact of the commitments; 3) Developing a conceptual model of the innovation system, leading to a reference tool on which the impact analysis of the commitments individually and as a whole will be based, and which will also play a role of interface between the assessments of the commitments impact and the macro sectoral econometric work. 4) A quantitative analysis of the commitments by use of the NEMESIS model, which is an existing macro-structural econometric model, but which will be modified and extended for the tasks at hand; 5) An ex-ante and ex-post policy assessment of the economic effects of the Innovation Union at European, national and regional levels; 6) To present policy conclusions and recommendations on the validation or the efficiency of the policies implemented.

PARIS REINFORCE aims to underpin climate policymaking with authoritative scientific processes and results, and enhance the science-policy interface, in light of the Paris Agreement and associated challenges. In particular, our aim is to develop a novel, demand-driven, IAM-oriented assessment framework for effectively supporting the design and assessment of climate policies in the EU as well as in other major emitters and selected less emitting/developed countries, in respect to the Paris Agreement objectives. Building on an exhaustive facilitative dialogue and a strong ensemble of complementary—in terms of mathematical structure, geographical, sectoral and focus coverage—integrated assessment, energy system and sectoral models, we will create an open-access and transparent data exchange platform, I2AM PARIS, in order to support the effective implementation of Nationally Determined Contributions, the preparation of future action pledges, the development of 2050 decarbonisation strategies, and the reinforcement of the 2023 Global Stocktake. We also seek to enhance the legitimacy of the scientific processes in support of climate policymaking, by introducing an innovative stakeholder inclusion framework and improving the transparency of the employed models, methods and tools. Beyond effectively communicating respective outputs and fostering wider societal acceptance of climate policy, we actively involve policymakers and other stakeholder groups in all stages: from the formulation of policy questions and the definition of modelling assumptions in a demand-driven approach; to the design of I2AM PARIS interfaces and specifications, and the mobilisation of tacit knowledge embedded in them in the aim of bridging knowledge gaps. Finally, we will introduce innovative integrative processes, in which IAMs are further coupled with well-established methodological frameworks, in order to improve the robustness of modelling outcomes against different types of uncertainties.

Recent literature has underlined the interplay among climate mitigation, adaptation, and finance, as well as between climate action and other development agendas, including sustainable resource use, human development and equity, and environmental pressures. Such an interconnected policy environment requires an integrated ecosystem of disciplines, methods, and tools. Despite the significant evolution of integrated assessment models (IAMs) in the last decade, there remain several criticisms on their design, use, and adequacy to respond to unaddressed and emerging questions in the light of the Paris Agreement and net-zero ambition. These include openness, legitimacy, and ownership, as well as technical feasibility to represent demand-side and broader societal transformations, cross-sectoral interactions, physical impacts and adaptation, climate finance and labour dynamics, and other sustainability goals. DIAMOND will update, upgrade, and fully open six IAMs that are emblematic in scientific and policy processes, improving their sectoral and technological detail, spatiotemporal resolution, and geographic granularity. It will further enhance modelling capacity to assess the feasibility and desirability of Paris-compliant mitigation pathways, their interplay with adaptation, circular economy, and other SDGs, their distributional and equity effects, and their resilience to extremes, as well as robust risk management and investment strategies. This will be done via integration of tools and insights from psychology, finance research, behavioural and labour economics, operational research, and physical science. We will develop a transdisciplinary scientific approach to legitimise the implementation process and co-create research questions that stretch the frontiers of climate science, as well as establish vibrant communities of practice to transparently open model enhancements and to develop capacities, thereby lowering the entrance barriers to the established IAM community.