OREANDA-NEWS. July 08, 2016. The European Commission's science and knowledge service – the Joint Research Centre (JRC) - has mapped the different interests in energy technology-related research across the EU in a bid to help regions develop collaborations and help policy makers define action plans.

The report found that energy efficiency, followed by smart grids, electric vehicles and wind energy technologies are the key priorities in regions and countries across Europe.

The JRC's research was based on the technologies included in the European Strategic Energy Technology Plan (SET-Plan). It found that energy efficiency was a priority in 23% of strategies, smart grids in 15%, electric vehicles in 13%, wind energy and bioenergy in 9% of regional and national strategies.

Meanwhile, the study found a lack of interest in developing carbon capture and storage technologies.

It also noted that only offshore wind energy and ocean energy are geographically constrained to countries in North West Europe.