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Meet the partners:  Manfred and Laure-Anne from the Centre for Social Innovation (ZSI) 

The PHOTORAMA consortium is made up of a team of several organisations, all bringing their specific expertise to the project. We have asked Manfred Spiesberger and Laure-Anne Plumhans from the Centre of Social Innovation in Austria (ZSI) to tell us more about their role in PHOTORAMA. 

Hello Manfred and Laure-Anne, can you briefly introduce your organisation and explain its role in PHOTORAMA?  

Manfred: ZSI is a private non-profit institute for applied social sciences and social innovation based in Vienna (Austria). ZSI implements research and application projects on the social embedding and impact of all types of innovations and contributes to the design and diffusion of socially accepted and sustainable innovations to meet global challenges. Since we believe that ‘all innovations are socially relevant’ we apply our expertise and vision to a wide range of thematic areas from bioeconomy to energy and circularity projects, like PHOTORAMA. 

In PHOTORAMA we work on social acceptance, trust building, foresight, and dissemination of the processes and technologies developed by PHOTORAMA. Awareness raising on the importance of recycling and the PHOTORAMA solutions is another important aspect of our work.  

What are you currently working on? What is happening now?  

Laure-Anne: At the moment we are working on two important outreach activities. The first one is the ‘school visits’, which we launched in spring 2024 and will continue to conduct until the end of the project. The school visits refer to a range of educational activities targeting high-school students. These include the visits of students to consortium members’ facilities, dedicated sessions within schools led by partners, and the participation in educational events, such as the “Long Night of Research”. During those activities, we interact with students about their current perceptions of solar energy circularity’s challenges. This programme aims to raise awareness of the externalities of renewable energy sources and how to mitigate them through a circular approach.  

Manfred: We are also currently working on our final outreach event, which is the demonstration of the pilot line, planned for April 2025 in Tangermünde, Germany. For this event, we are developing a strategy to ensure that the results of the project and its message are widely disseminated. Stakeholders as well as the interested public will have the opportunity to visit the pilot line. It will also be the last occasion to conduct a school visit, this time directly showcasing the pilot line.  

What does your specific expertise add to the consortium?  

Laure-Anne: One of the core missions of our institute is to link society with the realm of research and innovation. As such we have experience in developing solutions that are suited to handle interactions taking place at this borderland. We put ourselves in the shoes of citizens and translate the technical complexities of a project like PHOTORAMA to show how the project is relevant to crucial policy issues such as climate change, environmental protection and energy security.  

Manfred: In practice, ZSI relies on participatory and outreach activities such as school visits or stakeholder workshops, which allow us to bridge this gap between society and science. We strive to build a bi-directional relationship whereby we both inform and learn from society and stakeholders. For us, this approach is key to initiating change. Technological innovations, once developed, need to be suitable for the ‘real world’ which includes the concerns and experience of policymakers, professionals etc.  

Why, according to you, do we need a project like PHOTORAMA?  

Manfred: In the context of the climate and environmental crisis, projects like PHOTORAMA are crucial. To face climate change, it is clear that we have to go through an energy transition, which should rely on the decrease in energy consumption and the substitution of fossil-based energy systems for renewable ones. Photovoltaics play a huge role in this transition, as a cheap and efficient energy source. Yet, the energy transition should not come at the cost of the environment or of energy security and access. In short, the energy transition is a chance for us to do better and to create environmentally sound, ethical, accessible and secure energy systems. By improving the circularity of the photovoltaic value chain PHOTORAMA reduces waste and provides options for a more secure and ethical sourcing of raw materials.  

What is the biggest challenge to bring upon PV circularity?  

Laure-Anne: During our exchange with stakeholders through various workshops and events, one thing that strikes us is the lack of harmonization of the rules within the EU. While the EU has one of the most developed regulatory systems with regard to the end-of-life treatment of PV, there exists substantial variation between countries. This makes it rather complicated to obtain accurate data on the state and condition of recycling in the EU, which is the base for more accurate policy making. Therefore, one of the key challenges lies in the further harmonisation of rules within the EU framework. Understanding better the state of PV waste stream can be the springboard for the development of new factories and to attract investments which needs accurate information to be able to endeavour in this new industry. 

What would you like to have achieved at your scale by the end of the project?  

Manfred: At the end of the project, we are confident that we will have achieved a high level of interactions between the projects and other key stakeholders from the industry, policy, and business spheres, but also with citizens. We hope to set the seed for further discussion on the circularity and sustainability of photovoltaics and other technologies powering the energy transitions across the EU and beyond.  

Laure-Anne: We hope to have raised awareness among a significant number of stakeholders and among the wider public of the significant amounts of PV waste that are expected in the years to come. At PHOTORAMA we have suitable recycling solutions for solving this future challenge, for recovering valuable materials with environmentally friendly technologies and for reducing herewith Europe’s dependency on raw material imports. One important milestone in this respect was the EUSEW Innovation Award 2024, which PHOTORAMA got in June 2024.  

Thank you, Manfred and Laure-Anne for this overview of ZSI’s work in PHOTORAMA!