INESC TEC and EFACEC sign their collaboration protocol for a further 25 years
21st June 2018
The main goals of the letter that will be signed tomorrow are to identify new collaboration domains, to increase partnership with more agreements and projects and to continue to transfer technology and knowledge in the energy, cyber security and photonics fields for the market, safeguarding the intellectual property.
"There is a myth in Portugal that university and industry do not collaborate. It's just a myth! And the collaboration between INESC TEC and EFACEC, which have been collaborating since the beginning of the 90s is proof of this, "explained João Peças Lopes, Associate Director of INESC TEC and Full Professor at the Faculty of Engineering of the University of Porto (FEUP).
Tomorrow’s ceremony will begin precisely with the contextualisation of this partnership and will be led by João Peças Lopes, from INESC TEC, and by Nuno Silva, Director of Technology and Innovation of EFACEC.
The first agreement of the two institutions dates back to 1993, at a time in which INESC TEC developed an interface for EFACEC's SCADA system. The partnership was expanded to the electricity distribution networks, which back then represented a EUR 2 million turnover a year. 20 years later, the Distribution Management System (DMS) of EFACEC already represents about EUR 30 million.
"We've faced a lot of challenges together. “We collaborated with EFACEC during the deployment of the first Portuguese smart city in Évora in 2007. Together we developed an LV network management system in 2013, among many other projects. When INESC TEC felt the need to create a Laboratory of Smart Grids and Electric Vehicles, EFACEC was one of the institutions that quickly gave its financial support in order for that to be made possible”, reveals the Associate Director of the research institute.
Tomorrow's ceremony will have a debate regarding the theme “Innovate or Die – how, when and with who?”. The panel session will be composed of Adelino Silva Matos, CEO of A. Silva Matos Indústria and President of ANJE, José Manuel Mendonça, President of INESC TEC’s Board, Jorge Portugal, General Manager at COTEC Portugal, António Vidigal, CEO of EDP inovação, Rodrigo Martins, Professor at the Universidade Nova de Lisboa and President of European Academy of Sciences. Ângelo Ramalho, CEO of EFACEC will be the moderator.
For more information:
Joana Coelho
Communication Service
INESC TEC
FEUP’s Campus
Rua Dr Roberto Frias
4200-465 Porto
Portugal
T +351 22 209 42 4297
M +351 91 919 119 271