Collaboration Groups

The Solar Heating and Cooling Collaboration Groups (CG) were officially created in 2025 at the 97th Executive Committee meeting of the SHC in Bratislava, Slovakia. Collaboration Groups are designed to maintain expert engagement between formal tasks, fostering ongoing cooperation and knowledge exchange with minimal bureaucracy, to create synergies, activate and develop expert networks, fostering development of joint activities that can lead to the proposal of new task concepts encouraging new task development, and supporting the TCP mission of technology deployment and policy support.

The goal of the Collaboration Group is to create and maintain interest in new or/and existing areas of research with the aim of starting new Tasks.

Objectives

  • Facilitate Collaboration: Promote cooperation and exchange of ideas among members.
  • Encourage Discussion: Provide a platform for open and constructive dialogue.
  • Share Knowledge: Enable the sharing of knowledge and experiences.
  • Repository of knowledge: Ensuring topics and ideas are not lost of forgotten
  • Support the SHC mission: Developing high quality information and capacity building through collaborative work

Scope and Level of Activity

The Scope is broader than a Task or Working Group and will focus on a strategic area of importance to the SHC TCP. 

The level of activity is dependent on the Collaboration Group Leadership but at a minimum there is 

  • One annual meeting (virtual or hybrid) 
  • Annual summary report to the SHC ExCo in at the June ExCo meeting containing
    • list of activities carried out that year 
    • planned activities for the following year
    • list of members 
  • CG's work will continue even when a Task is created within its sphere of influence 

Creation

Submission of an application to the SHC ExCo on the topic area. CG's are considered permanent based on annual review from the SHC ExCo. 

Leadership and Membership

  • CG's are lead by volunteers from participating countries in the SHC TCP.
  • The leadership can be shared with a co-leader from a member country of sponsor
  • Members must be from member countries of sponsors 
  • Non-member countries/organization can participate as Observers, being subject to an annual review and approval by the ExCo. 
  • There will be one ExCo volunteer for each CG as overseer. 

Publication and Reporting

Only a summary report is required annually.  Should the CG wish to publish, any publication would be reviewed the same way a Task publication is reviewed.