The energy transition as a societal task: The BEWEGT project aims to make research more visible
Converting the energy system to be climate-neutral is more than just a technical project – it is a social task. That is why numerous research projects are investigating not only technological innovations but also aspects such as participation, affordability, resilience, and democratic design. The new research project “BEWEGT – The Energy Transition Society” by the Fraunhofer Institute for Systems and Innovation Research (ISI) and the Institute for Ecological Economy Research (IÖW) networks and supports numerous research projects in the funding priority “Energy Transition and Society” of the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy (BMWE). The new web portal www.energiewende-gesellschaft.de now presents the diverse research and the minds behind the projects.
New web portal with projects, publications, and expert search
On the web portal, interested parties from politics, business, local authorities, society, and the media can find tailored projects, publications, contact persons, and events on important social aspects of the energy transition. In addition to open keyword searches, the portal also allows users to search for twelve topics. The constantly growing portal already contains the following offerings:
- 35 research projects are presented
These include the project “Failure as an opportunity,” which addresses the question of why energy transition projects fail and what can be learned from this. Four profiles present the case studies. Other projects highlight opportunities for implementing municipal heat planning in their publications or focus on regional topics, such as a study on non-technical challenges in the transformation of Thuringian industry.
- 100 minds for the energy transition
For questions on social aspects of the energy transition, the expert search function allows you to quickly contact around 100 interdisciplinary experts whose expertise is as diverse as the energy transition itself. They can be searched for by topic and research institution for interviews or as technical contacts.
- Online tools, explanatory videos, and dashboards on the energy transition
In addition to a large number of publications, the new web portal also features other media, such as an explanatory film from the “InWaMod” project, which shows how the tenant-landlord dilemma in the heating transition can be resolved by a partial heating rental model. Online tools and dashboards on the topic of the energy transition and society are also included, such as a tool for checking electricity consumption in your own household from the “ProSuffizienz” project. An interactive map (Regional Energy Transition Dashboard) from the “Info-EW” project provides key figures, trends, and background information on the energy transition at the district level and shows the possible effects of three scenarios in comparison.
Karoline Rogge: “Wide range of social issues in energy transition research”
“How we generate, distribute, store, consume, and save energy – all of this is undergoing fundamental change. Every household, every company, every municipality is part of this change,” says Professor Karoline Rogge. The innovation and transformation researcher from Fraunhofer ISI heads the BEWEGT project together with Professor Bernd Hirschl from IÖW.
Karoline Rogge, deputy head of the “Policy and Society” department at Fraunhofer ISI, adds: “Understanding the energy transition as a social project means rethinking innovation beyond technology. Such a broader socio-technical approach can be found in numerous projects in the funding priority ‘Energy Transition and Society’. The still-growing web portal www.energiewende-gesellschaft.de already shows how wide the range of topics in this field of research is. It ranges from topics such as social justice, democracy, and participation to behavior and sufficiency.”
Bernd Hirschl: “Promoting the implementation of the energy transition as a project for society as a whole”
Bernd Hirschl, founder of the research field “Sustainable Energy and Climate Protection” at the IÖW, adds: “With BEWEGT, we are highlighting how many researchers are working to incorporate social insights, needs, and desires more strongly into energy transition research and make them usable in politics, business, and society. We want to bring researchers together in a productive exchange and drive forward the implementation of the energy transition as a project for society as a whole with innovative ideas and their testing.”
The newsletter “Who is driving the energy transition?” now provides the research community, media representatives, and interested stakeholders from practice and politics with news from the research area “Energy Transition and Society.” Starting in February 2026, it will be published three times a year. BEWEGT also provides news and contributes to better networking on LinkedIn.
The project, which is funded by the BMWE's energy research program, will run until mid-2029. The aim of BEWEGT is to connect researchers from all over Germany, summarize overarching scientific findings, and derive recommendations for action. Presented in a clear and concise manner, these recommendations should help to increase the visibility and impact of research on “energy transition and society” in politics, business, the media, and society.
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Further information (all in German):
