The Belgian Energy Research Alliance (BERA) is an umbrella organization for 16 academic research institutes which are developing sustainable technologies in Belgium. BERA is a key steering committee member of the European Energy Research Alliance (EERA), an association of more than 250 research institutes, representing around 50000 researchers. The mission of EERA is to streamline regional, national and European research efforts and advance the technological readiness level of several sustainable technologies. Through the BERA, the members participate in European Joint Programmes, which unite research institutes over all Europe on a certain sustainable innovative technology and initiate joint projects to advance the current state-of-the-art. As unit manager at VITO-EnergyVille, I am proud to be the chair of BERA and help Belgian technology research find partners and applications across Europe.
