Abstract Besides, national and international funding of infrastructure there are new options to build up the locally developed infrastructure. It can be achieved by three options. There is the traditional private-public partnership where the owner of the energy infrastructure is in private hands. The second - in return for visible exposure a company fund this infrastructure. The last option is to use crowd funding platforms where the contributors hold shares for future profit of surplus energy

1. Jan Softa CEO of Somerco Date: 2013-12-19
Enhance the EC member states competitiveness
Part 17 - The locally developed infrastructure
Abstract
Besides, national and international funding of infrastructure there are new options to build up the locally
developed infrastructure. It can be achieved by three options. There is the traditional private-public partnership
where the owner of the energy infrastructure is in private hands. The second - in return for visible exposure a
company fund the infrastructure. The last option is to use crowd funding platforms where the contributors hold
shares for future profit of surplus energy.
Background
Helping geniuses! Our slogan sums up whom Somerco aims to help. Somerco are a company
that target to help researchers and innovators so that these geniuses can create prosperity and
jobs in society. EU has allocated 5 billion for non-competitive energy infrastructure, which is
deemed as necessary for the development of EU countries in order to meet new improved
requirements for energy. It will enhance the competitiveness of the EU-zone. In addition, to
EU funding non-competitive infrastructure, there are other options to considering in order
building up the locally developed infrastructure - namely sponsored/funded options. In this
paper, I discuss locally developed infrastructure projects for energy.
Introduction
Infrastructure projects are to a large extent funded by the public sector. For a few decades
Private - Public Partnerships (PPP) for developing infrastructure has become an addition to
these projects. In future local infrastructure projects, there will be more of so called people
funding. Perhaps, the people unite in cooperatives. I label it as PP(P)P. Thereby, the
contributors and also owners of these infrastructures includes private companies, venture
capitalists, banks, local and international governmental agencies, people and their
cooperatives.1
What type?
Besides energy infrastructure, the locally developed infrastructure could be sponsorship of
broadband connections into the households from the stem network or let a cooperative
develop and run local Wi-Fi hotspots accessible for those living in an area. I believe, the so
1
Private is private companies and Public is the public sector and the last P stands for Partnership.

2. Jan Softa CEO of Somerco Date: 2013-12-19
called PP(P)P is suitable for locally developed infrastructure projects, rather than large and
therefore expensive projects. It becomes more manageable.
Achieved how?
To include PPP and PP(P)P as an add-on in locally developed infrastructure projects gives
more opportunities to what infrastructure that the private sector and people appreciate. It is
important to emphasize it by no means can replace the public funded infrastructure projects.
However, the public funding only go so far. PPP and PP(P)P are options that could be used
when there is a large interest in develop add-on infrastructure. Energy is important to all and,
in particular, to decide what type of energy that is suitable for an area.
I discuss three options for how to develop locally developed infrastructure. The traditional
private-public partnerships were the owner of the energy infrastructure is in private hands. In
return for private companies building the energy infrastructure, you, I and other companies
pay to the company. The profit falls to private companies.
The second option I label as exposure. Here the initiator is the public sector. When a local
energy infrastructure is to be developed, the public sector asks the private sector to build
these smaller projects. Instead of a private company having the eventual profit, it falls back to
the public sector. (I want to point out it does not have to be an energy company who agrees to
fund/sponsor locally developed energy infrastructure). In return for building the energy
infrastructure the funding company gets exposure during a long period of time. The exposure
could be visible signs on buildings or even branding houses as the funding company. It could
include that the public sector in its information material its inhabitants include information
about the company.
While the two first options was Private – Public - Partnerships, the third is an example on
Private – Public (People) - Partnerships. A fairly easy way to involve people in building
energy infrastructure is to use crowd funding platforms. It is not at all a common approach,
but it could be more adopted in the future. By inviting venture capitalist, banks, companies
and involve people and perhaps their cooperatives it would be possible to also get these
projects funded. In return, they hold shares and get profit from the surplus energy or get an
interest rate on the loans some of these crowd funded platforms enables contributors to
receive.
Attraction
The adaptation of locals deciding themselves what infrastructure projects to build locally
makes it possible for these regions to increase the attraction and the competitiveness to
companies and people. The locals can take on more responsibility for their usage of the
energy infrastructure and society as a whole.

3. Jan Softa CEO of Somerco Date: 2013-12-19
Cross-border
Local cross-border development with neighbouring cities in other EU countries is possible to
develop more easily.
Maintenance
All infrastructure needs maintenance. It could be negotiated by contractors that you write an
agreement with during the project or be provided by those who build the energy
infrastructure.
Two scenarios
It is difficult for national and international governmental agencies to be aware of local
opportunities in improvement of energy infrastructure and it is not possible for them to fund
all these projects. In these cases, it is possible for the locals to build a locally developed
energy infrastructure by adopting one of the options discussed above.2
A small town has a
steel manufacturer based in its region that generates a lot of energy. However, this
spill/surplus energy is not yet efficiently taken care off. It is decided that they will implement
technology at the steel manufacturer that lets this surplus energy go into the grid. When
implementing this technology option two was chosen by the public sector. In this case, it
means the profits for this surplus energy will be given to the local public sector. In return, the
company who funded the project will get visible exposure in the region on buildings, on
public transport and on work clothes worn by employees in the public sector etc.
A rural area has very favourable conditions for using geothermal heat pumps. Sometimes,
these technologies are subsided by government, but to decrease the cost even further they
apply the crowd funding option. There will be a surplus in energy production off-peak hours
as during working hours. To fund this they invite local business angels to become investors in
this technology by contributing on the crowd funding platform. Since the project is on an
online crowd funding platform the opportunity for others to contribute is increased. In return,
the contributors get a share of the profit that the surplus energy generates.
EU
In these types of projects, EU is often not main funding contributors. However, EU can still
be an active partner in the development of the locally developed infrastructure. In fact, the
EU Commissions Enterprise and Industry gather information about how crowd funding can
2
In building energy infrastructure it is a new concept, but it is a widely used option in sport.

4. Jan Softa CEO of Somerco Date: 2013-12-19
be used and adopted in society. Issues that are on the agenda are whether there is need for
authentication of projects by both the people who seeking funding and those who contribute.
I believe it will be difficult to apply on all projects. If it is necessary to adopt authentication,
apply it on larger projects. For those who need securities, authentication can be adopted as an
alternative on these platforms and thereby a cap of how much funding projects can seek is not
necessary to adopt. Other issues to consider for EU is that they have an excellent cooperation
network that could be used for information sharing of new ideas for how local regions can
take charge of their own locally developed infrastructure project. Hopefully, the suggestions I
have pointed out and others will be debated at the commission and also at the parliaments
ITRE committee and later also dispersed to regions throughout Europe.
Final remarks
In this example, I have pointed out the benefits for regions to adopt an add-on or extra
strategy for its locally developed energy infrastructure. In reality, these three options can be
used on all types of locally developed infrastructure.

5. Jan Softa CEO of Somerco Date: 2013-12-19
Draft proposals
Enhance the competitiveness of EC member states Part 1 - Designated tax to science
Enhance the competitiveness of EC member states Part 2 – Strategy to support the software industry
Enhance the competitiveness of EC member states Part 3 – Actions to support women in ICT
Enhance the competitiveness of EC member states Part 4 – Going abroad–Competitive assets
Enhance the competitiveness of EC member states Part 5 – Business incubators, financial recycling and
incentives into reward
Enhance the competitiveness of EC member states Part 6 – Standardization as a tool to increase competitiveness
Enhance the competitiveness of EC member states Part 7 – Different types of innovations
Enhance the competitiveness of EC member states Part 8 – Open source from science to society
Enhance the competitiveness of EC member states Part 9 – Crowd sourcing and crowd funding
Enhance the competitiveness of EC member states Part 10 – Green VAT for business
Enhance the competitiveness of EC member states Part 11 - Keep talent in Europe
Enhance the competitiveness of EC member states Part 12 - Research leftovers
Enhance the competitiveness of EC member states Part 13 - Science Parks-Specializations
Enhance the competitiveness of EC member states Part 14 - Patent trolls
Enhance the competitiveness of EC member states Part 15 – Science e- Parks
Enhance the competitiveness of EC member states Part 16 – Expansion options
Enhance the competitiveness of EC member states Part 17 – The locally developed infrastructure.
Enhance the competitiveness of EC member states Part 18 – Treaty (Knowledge transfer)
Enhance the competitiveness of EC member states Part 19 – Different types of infrastructure
Enhance the competitiveness of EC member states Part 20 – Build infrastructure (In progress)
Enhance the competitiveness of EC member states Part 21 – Energy infrastructure (elsewhere) (In progress)
Enhance the competitiveness of EC member states Part 22 – Quick market entry (Medical)
Enhance the competitiveness of EC member states Overview – Old and new key areas in order to increase the
competitiveness of the industry (In progress)
Input on threats against information society