Support to the HOPE Chair dedicated to the fight against fuel poverty

Background 

According to the National Fuel Poverty Monitoring Center, one in five people in France has difficulties paying their energy bills, which exceed 10% of their income. This causes public health issues and exclusion.

In response to this situation, in September 2018 the Grenoble INP Foundation created the HOPE Chair, its ninth Chair of industrial excellence, placed under the patronage of the Ministry for the Ecological and Inclusive Transition. Its research and innovation work is supported by 12 public and private partners committed to the fight against fuel poverty, including the Rexel Foundation.

Project description

The Chair’s mission is to research, in collaboration with its partners and stakeholders in the field, the best ways to measure energy poverty and its impact and to support technical and social innovation in order to generate new sectors, solutions and services tailored to the needs of the most vulnerable.

It focuses on four areas that will enable the Chair to accompany the development of technological innovations with economic, organizational and governance models:

• Experience: turning field experiments into durable and marketable solutions
• Knowledge: working on business models, organizations, methods and tools to fight fuel poverty  
• Innovation: stimulating innovation and the creation of solutions by describing the range of possibilities
• Promotion and communication: sharing, informing, connecting with the network of actors, associations and institutions committed to the fight against fuel poverty.

Objectives 

• Explore not only technological solutions but also economic, organizational and governance models, methods and tools to fight fuel poverty.
• Transform field experiments into scalable, marketable and durable solutions

More on the Grenoble INP Foundation 

The Grenoble INP Foundation was created in July 2010 in order to establish a new kind of partnership between Grenoble INP and businesses in the field of education and research as well as through common initiatives affecting civil society. Financed by an initial funding offered by 6 founding members and the ongoing support of partner companies and individual donors, its actions are designed for the mutual benefit of all contributing parties and are aligned with the Foundation’s three strategic pillars: social responsibility, technical excellence and international influence.

Other project partners  

The Schneider Electric Foundation, EDF, Gaz Electricité de Grenoble (GEG), InnoEnergy, Udimec, Tenerrdis, CEA LITEN, Banque des territoires, Banque Populaire Auvergne Rhône-Alpes, Grenoble Alpes Métropole and Roannais Agglomération.