The Institute’s distinctive transversal themes are:

• decentralisation of electricity production from renewable sources (photovoltaics)
• decarbonisation in the built environment and in mobility
• digitalisation in electricity management (smart grids), and in building construction and maintenance procedures (Building Information Modeling
• democratisation of energy by way of the prosumer, and involvement in technological choices and in their utilisation in real-life conditions (living lab)

Research projects are based on a variety of regularly-revised methods, and benefit from productive collaboration agreements with other research units, public bodies, non-governmental organisations and industries.  The Institute promotes technological transfer in a number of developing countries.

The operational fields concern:

• the gradual increase in decentralised electricity generation (photovoltaics) and intelligent energy management (smart grids)
• the development of photovoltaic elements and their integration into building envelopes 
• improvements to the energy efficiency of buildings by way of refurbishment work and appropriate maintenance strategies 
• local and regional energy planning, and the energy policy 
• analysis of the socio-technical barriers blocking the adoption of a sustainable lifestyle   

A photovoltaic laboratory and two competence centres are related to the Institute: 

• SUPSI PVLab laboratory
• Competence centre in Cooperation and development
• Competence centre in detection of natural radon in the built environment

 
The Institute also has two spin-offs:

• HivePower: develops community consumption solutions based on the Blockchain technology;
• iWin: patented an innovative window solution to integrate flexible thin film photovoltaic cells into venetian blinds that are enclosed inside an insulating window.