Future Living & Spaces

Sustainable collaborations at Future Week

Caroline Wendt
November 30, 2020

To be able to transition to a more sustainable society, private and public actors may need to collaborate on several levels. At the seminar "Energy in collaboration for a sustainable future" during Lund University's event Future Week in October, Fredrik Nilsson, professor of design science, presented his work on the need for a paradigm shift towards a more collaborative society. Meanwhile, E.ON's and Medicon Village's collaboration with the energy system Ectogrid, which is an example of a successful collaboration and was initiated at Future by Lund, has already created a sustainable and scalable future solution.

Future Week's seminar Energy in collaboration for a sustainable future in mid-October revolved around E.ON's energy innovation Ectogrid, which will be installed at Medicon Village in Lund. The system is a way to balance excess heat and cold between different premises. Once the facility is completed, it is expected to have reduced the energy demand to the area by almost 80% and reduced the energy cost by 20%. The savings this entails can be reinvested into research at Medicon Village.

Stefan Johnsson, sales manager at E.ON Energy Solutions AB, described the new energy landscape with three important megatrends. The first, decentralization, where more private individuals and companies own their own production facility. Secondly, decarbonisation, where harmful emissions are reduced, and lastly, digitization, where AI can control energy systems to make them more efficient. Ectogrid at Medicon Village meets all three of these trends.

– Ectogrid is an example of how we through collaborative innovation can help save the world, says Stefan Johnsson. Surplus energy can be collected, balanced, and used so that you don’t have to build new production facilities as often. The world's first Ectogrid is the one at Medicon Village and it is also E.ON's global demo platform. The facility was made possible by Future by Lund who identified that we could be introduced to Medicon Village.

Fredrik Nilsson is a professor at the Department of Design Sciences at LTH and his research is concerned with the importance of collaboration between different actors. Fredrik described the organizational gaps that arise between many actors - such as, in healthcare, in food supply chains, and in energy contexts - and emphasized the need for a paradigm shift to a collaborative approach on several levels, both operationally and strategically. One rationale for why a shift is needed is identifying deficiencies - especially from a user perspective - even when the actors act "correctly". Therefore, it is important to include the end-users to ensure that the collaboration really works.

– I work with many different projects where new types of collaboration between industries and between industry and the public sector are required for us to achieve the sustainability goals. Society has become increasingly specialized, now the challenge is to bring these specializations together. I think we can do it but we are inexperienced at it. A different approach is needed, and this means, the approach of the paradigm shift, says Fredrik Nilsson.

Erik Jagesten is the CEO of Medicon Village real estate company. About 170 companies operate within the facility today and any surplus the real estate company creates goes back to operations. To many of the businesses, it is important that the facility takes its responsibility for the climate.

– We want to be a test bed for technology both for the sake of the companies and to take our climate responsibility, says Erik Jagesten. It was through the Future Living project, a project on the innovation platform Future by Lund, that E.ON and Medicon Village initially met and saw that Ectogrid could work well in the area. That was the starting point.

Peter Kisch described how Vinnova has invested in Future by Lund and similar innovation platforms to bridge the gaps that exist, for example between the public and the private sector.

– The energy issue is complex and deals with everything from issues of fuel and distribution to having a user perspective. Everything is interconnected, but it is managed by many different actors and organizations. To locate solutions in the energy field, we must work across borders. The public sector must revive the way it collaborates with the private sector and see how it can be done without encountering legal obstacles.

Ectogrid's showroom at Medicon Village. Photo: E.ON

The seminar ended with Jacob Skogström, responsible for Ectocloud at E.ON, offered a digital viewing of Ectogrid's showroom, which is also located at Medicon Village. The exhibition illustrated both challenges in the energy field, information on how Ectogrid was developed, and a wall that showcases where the system is utilized. Perhaps the most interesting component is Ectotable, a digital table where you can be introduced to how heat and cold are transported between premises at Medicon Village, but also try adding devices to the system or build an entirely new system. On the wall next to it, Ectocloud calculates forecasts for whether it is worthwhile to pair different facilities with heating and cooling.

Moderator was Anna Evander, Energy Office Skåne. The seminar was organized by Lund University, Medicon Village and E.ON.

E.ON's press release on Ectogrid at Medicon Village

More from Future by Lund about Ectogrid at Medicon Village (in Swedish)

Ectogrid is being built here

Ectogrid's showroom at Medicon Village

Lund collaboration behind the launch of energy innovation

Translation: Ben Dohrmann

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