OREANDA-NEWS. October 09, 2007. The Research and Development Council, meeting at Stenbock House under the supervision of Prime Minister Andrus Ansip, approved, in principle, a five-year energy technology programme, the aim of which is to establish uniform coordination for supporting research and development activities in the energy sector, reported the Official website www.valitsus.ee.

Other significant aims of the programme are to define sub-sectors important for Estonia, which will be supported, and to assemble all parties responsible for various sectors of energy.

The energy technologies programme develops three major sub-sectors. First, the manufacturing and processing of oil shale is developed, as the second topic, development of the use of renewable energy sources is planned, primarily the development of second generation liquid biofuels, and the third sub-sector is new high-growth energy technologies.

In the latter sub-sectors, attempts are being made to identify niche sectors in which elsewhere in the world there are reliable technologies, the implementation of which would be economically justified in Estonia.

With respect to research and development activities, the main goals are the establishment of internationally competitive human resources at research institutions and universities, the supporting of companies for the development and implementation of new technologies in the energy sector and the facilitation of work to reach these common goals.

The initial budget for the five year programme is approximately MEEK 500. Four ministries are related to the programme via various means: The Ministry of Economic Affairs and Communications, the Ministry of Education and Research, the Ministry of Agriculture and the Ministry of the Environment.

The leading ministry in the programme is the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Communications, alongside which a steering committee for the programme will be created. The steering committee will include representatives from ministries, representative organisations of business in the sector, research institutions and the field of higher education, as well as the programme manager.

As planned, the energy technology programme will be approved by the government together with the implementation plan for research and development activities and innovation strategy in December of this year. The programme will last from the second quarter of 2008 till the end of the first quarter of 2013. The steering committee for the programme is expected to assemble for their first meeting in January of next year.