This report is a summary of successes and challenges from Year 1 of ARENA’s The International Engagement Program.
Report extract
The International Engagement Program (IEP) was designed and created by ARENA to support Australia’s participation in international platforms and accelerate innovation and technology development to drive commercialisation. This is further enabled by the program’s function to coordinate the wider distribution and exchange of knowledge with international partners. Since the IEP’s inception in early 2018, the program has yielded many positive outcomes and represented a gateway of opportunities for the local development of a range of renewable energy technologies. In the first year of funding, the program has enabled Australian experts to attend approximately 97 meetings across the world and deliver approximately 137 outputs for industry and the public on the latest international knowledge in these renewable technologies.
The IEP has contributed to the participants’ ability to increase Australian representation of experts and researchers in international fora, develop new research projects (Tasks) relevant to the Australian experience, and take on leading roles in existing Tasks. A key challenge related to international governance was commonly cited by program participants.