The building sector is one of the key enablers to achieve low carbon economy goals for 2050. To deliver this potential, buildings need to transform from passive isolated elements to smart buildings, able to adapt to occupants needs and act as active nodes well integrated to the energy grids and other infrastructures. The 2018 revised Energy Performance of Buildings Directive (EPBD) promotes the use of ICT and smart technology in buildings to streamline the existing rules. Smart technologies indeed play an essential role and can also trigger new business opportunities. However the market uptake and wide-scale roll-out of these solutions is slow due to challenges like engaging building occupants, connecting and managing various devices and systems, achieving optimal building operation, integrating buildings to energy markets, as well as the high fragmentation of the ecosystem. These challenges are common to projects related to the smart building topic and would be most efficiently addressed by breaking silos, sharing information and bridging the gaps between innovation, markets and policy. SmartBuilt4EU will consolidate the Smart Building Innovation Community with, at its core, EU-funded projects, and provide it with a package of supporting activities with two objectives: - facilitate the exchange of information between EU-funded projects and national initiatives in the field of smart buildings and the related business, policy and media; - coordinate contributions of the Smart Buildings Innovation Community to the SRI promotion, experimentation and implementation and the identification of R&I priorities to accelerate the roll out of smart building innovation, in line with the EPBD. The CSA brings together 5 partners plus 5 linked third parties, with solid complementary expertise and geographical coverage. It is structured in 6 work packages to reach the targeted impacts and unlock the smart building potential, with the Smart Readiness Indicator as key instrument.

Within Horizon Europe, the Built4People partnership (B4P) aims, among other objectives, to connect to a set of national or regional Innovation Clusters in viWithin Horizon Europe, the Built4People partnership (B4P) aims, among other objectives, to connect to a set of national or regional Innovation Clusters in view of maximizing innovation impacts. The NEBULA projects will build upon this B4P and the New European Bauhaus initiative to activate and nurture a network of B4P Innovation Clusters, by implementing: - Improved visibility, adoption and uptake of innovative solutions that are in line with the New European Bauhaus thanks to increased awareness on benefits from innovation and better access to co-financing - Intensified, cross-sectorial and interdisciplinary peer-learning from front runners as well as cross-border cooperation and networking, - preparation for the long-lasting activities of the network of B4P Innovation Clusters and the integration of the next clusters. This project will therefore accompany a first batch of existing and emerging clusters to increase their maturity along five dimensions: full value-chain coverage; cross-sectoral integration; combined local and national/EU networking; cross border connections; and access to testbeds and demo spaces such as pilot buildings and living labs. NEBULA will support these clusters through ‘maturity push’ activities including peer learning on New European Bauhaus concepts, support to open innovation, business & finance help desk, match-making and promotional events. A minimum of 5-7 clusters will be supported by NEBULA, some already identified being part of the consortium. At least 1 of them will reach full maturity on the 5 dimensions listed above, thus becoming a B4P Front runner, model for replication. NEBULA consortium, that involves two contractual partners of the B4P partnership, will elaborate a Strategic Replication Plan to reach the contractual target of 10-15 B4P Innovation Clusters by 2028.

The European Construction sector faces unprecedented challenges to achieve ambitious energy efficiency objectives, that can be met only if successful training initiatives and supporting policy instruments are put in place, acting as a springboard to stimulate the demand for energy efficiency skills. The INSTRUCT project aims to act at a market level by providing an operational framework and set of services serving a new generation of skilled and certified workers and fitters and paving the way to legislative changes that overall will stimulate the demand for energy skills across lifecycle and supply chains. Key outputs include: (a) quantitative and qualitative evidences that corroborate and reinforce the correlation between (i) skills and education and (ii) energy performance and quality; (b) a set of tools and instruments facilitating the mutual recognition of energy skills and qualifications in the construction sector; (c) real-world demonstrations (in 5 geographical European areas) of the usefulness and ease of use of the deployed instruments for recognition of energy skills and qualifications; (d) dissemination and awareness raising actions in consortium members countries, scaled up to the wider Europe; (e) new legislative frameworks enabling reliance on skilled workers in public / private procurement. The Consortium draws on (a) the engagement of internationally leading industry best practice and vocational training, (b) the educational excellence of leading institutions in Europe, (c) the robust experience of accrediting bodies in the construction domain. It provides a Europe-wide coverage with 7 participating countries, scaled up to 5 clusters, representing a multi-expertise ensemble of stakeholders and energy value chains deploying the INSTRUCT methodology and supporting tools in country-based pilots. It is supported by a network of stakeholders, involving the Build Up Skills chapters across Europe, and a Europe wide community of interest of 200+ members.

EEnvest aims at supporting investors´ decision making process by translating building’s energy efficiency technical requirements into economic indicators. These indicators are in turn used to evaluate financial risks associated with deep renovation investment and to include non-energy benefits in asset evaluation models. EEnvest will allow the financial sector to match the EE investments demand and offer for commercial office buildings located in Italy and Spain. EEnvest will increase financers’, investors’, owners’ and users’ mutual trust, by identifying, quantifying and mitigating technical risks associated to those investments as well as by reducing the cost of credit for lenders through targeted risk reduction actions. EEnvest will develop effective evaluation methods for the technical/financial risk correlation by categorising a number of major technical risks and quantifying their impact on investors´ confidence. Those risks will be i) evaluated exploiting existing databases on building energy efficiency (e.g. DEEP database of Energy Efficincy Financial Institutions Group), ii) organized into investor friendly bechmark track record and iii) transferred on a web-based platform through secured blockchain networks The investment demand and offer will be supported by the EEnvest - search&match investment evaluation web-based platform, integrating building stock evaluation data, both from the technical and the financial side. EEnvest approach will be replicable in more countries and business cases thanks to the standardization of technical/financial due diligence framework for energy efficiency renovation of buildings and to the search&match web-based platform allowing deep renovation investments to be more appealing on the financial market.

Leveraging on the business operations of consortium partners (4000 integrated building renovations conducted to date), TURNKEY RETROFIT will develop and replicate an integrated home renovation service which will be initially operated in 3 EU countries - France, Ireland and Spain - with an expected 335M€ investment pipeline for home renovation within the first 5 years (approximately 14 700 dwellings renovated, leading to 96,6 GWh/year Primary energy savings triggered) beyond the end of the project. The project will point to further replication across Europe and Internationally in particular via the Green Building Council network. The TURNKEY RETROFIT service will be developed as a home-owner-centric renovation journey, which will transform the complex and fragmented renovation process into a simple, straightforward and attractive process for the home-owner. It will include the initial technical and behavioural diagnosis, technical offer, contract development and agreement, structuring and provision of financial support, as well as the on-site coordination of works and quality assurance. It will be a service-oriented model where the home-owner is offered tailor-made solutions through the whole customer journey. The service will be accessible through a user-friendly digital platform and it will address drivers of building renovation that go beyond a desire to reduce energy bills and increase asset value, such as home improvement, increased comfort, enhanced health & quality of life.