The lead-time for the development of a new energy technology, from the initial idea to the commercial application. can take many years. The reduction of this time has been the main objective of the EC DGTREN, who have funded two related recent projects, EMINENT and EMINENT2 (Early Market Introduction of New Energy Technologies). These projects were implemented to identify and accelerate the introduction and implementation of leading edge European technology in the field of energy saving into the market place. The principal features included the production of a software tool and an integrated database of new technologies and sectoral energy supplies and demands. The software tool has the capability to analyse the potential impact of new and underdeveloped energy technologies in different sectors emerging from different countries. In addition, the software tool has been used to perform case studies which have been used to illustrate the new technologies. (C) 2008 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.