Energy innovation & transitions overview | Energy transition and innovation

The energy transition is one of the defining challenges of our time. Europe must cut emissions, secure resilient systems, and remain competitive in a shifting global economy. At the University of Twente, we meet this challenge with our High Tech Human Touch: combining world-class engineering, materials science, and digital innovation with social and governance expertise.

Our Energy Innovation community unites six coalitions, with two more in development.

Energy Innovation & Transition Coalitions

Energy Efficient Computing, Communications & Sensing

The Energy Efficient Computing, Communications & Sensing coalition focuses on cutting the energy needed for each task computers and networks perform in our increasingly digitalized world.

Battery Centre Twente

Our next generation battery solutions are based on advanced concepts for lithium ion, sodium ion, solid state, and flow batteries. Our expertise covers materials science and power electronics to improve energy density, safety, lifecycle, and charge/discharge rates, as well as sustainable manufacturing approaches relevant at industrial scale.

Resilient & Intelligent Energy Systems

The Resilient & Intelligent Energy Systems (RIES) programme performs research that enables a resilient, self-organising, and inclusive energy system that meets the demands of its producers, prosumers, and consumers.

Solar energy

From novel solar cell materials to infrastructure-integrated solutions, UT's expertise in materials science, nanotechnology, physics and optics, applied engineering, computer science and AI, and societal embedding is driving critical innovations for the continued adoption of photovoltaics.

HydrogenUT

Expertise in electrochemistry and catalysis, digital twins, cryogenics, systems engineering, geophysics and earth observation, societal adoption, and many more interdisciplinary areas are brought together in HyUT to explore where H2 can best be deployed to decarbonize society.

The heat transition

At UT we focus on sustainable sources of heat, as well as storage, reuse, and systems integration for residential and industrial heat. Heat remains one of society's biggest challenges to become fossil free, but with an equally big impact when solved.

What sets UT apart is our system-scale approach: from advanced materials to digital twins and governance models, we design solutions ready for real-world deployment. Our work shows that clean energy is not just about climate—it is also about resilience, sovereignty, and competitiveness. Sustainability remains our compass, even as global priorities shift.

The Climate Centre connects this mission with parallel work on Climate Adaptation, ensuring that innovation in energy is synergistic with building resilience for communities and ecosystems.

LET'S WORK TOGETHER

The Energy Innovation group is your entrance to a network of all players in the energy transition: industry, knowledge institutes and governments. Contact us with questions, ideas and remarks - and let's work together to realize a clean, sustainable and economically healthy Netherlands and Europe.