Upcoming Energies Summit: Promoting Innovation through Collaboration | Upcoming Energies

Galp has organised a new edition of the Upcoming Energies Summit in Madrid, under the theme Promoting Innovation through Collaboration. 

"We have made innovation a lever for the energy transition and decarbonisation. We know that this is a path we can't travel alone. That's why Galp's philosophy is one of openness to society, support for startups and co-operation with companies from all sectors," says João Diogo Marques da Silva, Galp's EVP Commercial.

The event took place at Galp's offices in Spain and was attended by 90 people. In addition to the participation of leading companies such as Repsol, Telefónica Ventures and the Santander Group, the main players in the open innovation ecosystem were invited to take part in the event, "a collaborative model that allows traditional businesses to be renewed, since the solutions to the challenges that arise have to come from shared knowledge", as Manuel Andrade, Head of Open Innovation at Galp, pointed out. The debate was also attended by Agustín Moro, Global Director of Partnerships at Telefonica Ventures; Sandra Blázquez Borrás, Head of Open Innovation at Repsol; and Diego Calascibetta, Global Head of Fintech Station at Santander Group.

This first round table, entitled Open Innovation in Corporations, centred on innovative models of collaboration to accelerate the transition to renewable energies and new technologies, as well as the challenges of forming successful partnerships between different sectors. The round table ended with interventions from all the speakers on the future, assessing the trends or emerging technologies that will have the greatest impact on open innovation in the coming years.

In the context of Innovation in the field of sustainable mobility and renewable energies, Galp presented two projects:

The first of these is part of the MOVES Singulares programme, part of the European FEDER funds, and was presented in collaboration with the company Minsait, a specialist in digital transformation, with the participation of OMIE and Etecnic, a leading company in sustainable mobility solutions. Under the name Charging infrastructure management in flexible markets, this project aims to solve network congestion by managing the charging infrastructure, improving the customer experience by offering additional services.

The project is currently under development and is scheduled for completion in December 2024, with up to 30 charging points at service stations, shopping centres and public areas in different autonomous communities. Offering valuable information through the data collected at the charging points, seven of which will be ultra-fast and two of which will be associated with batteries. The medium-term objective is to define and demonstrate the complete economic-operational model, serving as the basis for regulating explicit demand flexibility in Spain.

The company also took the opportunity to present its collaboration with Qualifying PhotoVoltaics (QPV) on the SERENDI-PV project, a European Commission-funded project related to innovation in solar power plants, which seeks to guarantee maximum profitability through technological innovation, experience and quality. The value proposition consists of simplifying the monitoring, diagnosis and operation of power stations, giving customers peace of mind and putting the operation of power stations at the forefront of the sector.

The meeting ended with a networking cocktail in which the different key players in the innovation ecosystem were able to exchange views on the challenges of the energy transition and the essential role of innovation as a catalyst for decarbonising the economy.