EDP Comercial will invest more than two million euros to develop new solutions that accelerate the energy transition in Portugal. This project will be developed jointly with the national academic community and the consulting firm Accenture, and will be focused on creating and developing solutions and products for the user.

Smart Energy LAB will be a center of innovation with the aim of developing technological solutions and design products that facilitate and support customer needs in areas such as mobility, storage, flexibility management or community energy management. Products developed in these areas will then be purchased by EDP Comercial or by other entities that wish to market them.

This initiative will be developed in a collaborative laboratory model (CoLAB), promoted by the Portuguese Government and which is already used in countries such as Germany and the United Kingdom, bringing together academics and companies in a joint bid to develop innovative and market-oriented solutions.

This innovation laboratory will be part of EDP Comercial and Accenture; Instituto Superior Técnico; the Faculty of Sciences of Lisbon; the University of Coimbra; the Institute of Systems and Computer Engineering, Technology and Science (INESCTEC); and the Institute of Systems and Computer Engineering, Research and Development in Lisbon (INESC ID). In this way, they will work collaboratively in the creative process: EDP Comercial employees will bring business experience and a genuine market testing platform for the developed products; researchers from Portuguese scientific development entities will bring knowledge and advanced technological capabilities; and the consulting firm Accenture will provide the ability to accelerate, being a leading global platform for digital transition.

For the value of this project, a CoLAB title has been awarded by the Foundation for Science and Technology €2.2 million in funding for the creation of new, highly skilled and innovation-oriented jobs. Together with EDP Comercial's initial investment, the project will have an initial funding of 4.4 million euros.

While promoting scientific employment, key to retaining talent in Portugal, this is also a different way of attracting people with highly specialized knowledge in new technologies such as artificial intelligence, big data, analytics, Internet Of Things HW or service design.

EDP Comercial thus invests in the discovery of new products that will enable it to provide an ever closer, faster and more efficient service to its approximately four million customers.