On Thursday March 8^th, about fifty European scientists met in Saclay at the kick-off meeting of EERA (European Energy Research Alliance) joint programme AMPEA (Advanced Materials & Processes for Energy Applications).

AMPEA joint programme aims at fostering and programming basic research for renewable energy and energy efficiency, in the area of physical sciences. AMPEA was officially launched at the SET-Plan ( Strategic Energy Technology - Plan) conference in Warsaw, on November 28^th 2011. EERA now runs 13 joint programmes, gathering over a hundred public research organisations in Europe and more than 2000 scientists (full time equivalent).

The kick meeting on March 8^th was the occasion for a presentation of the programme content to French and European researchers who were not involved yet in its elaboration: sub-programmes are about basic competences essential to the domain of energy (materials science, science of transport phenomena, use of large scale instruments, multiscale simulation) and take also into account future emerging technologies, for example artificial photosynthesis. This studious day also permitted a clearer definition of this year’s goals and tasks. A scientific workshop will be organised during the autumn of 2012.

Hervé Bercegol (Programme CEA-DSM Energie).