With a focus on innovation and development of new solutions and products concerning energy, environment and mobility, Efacec has taken a step further in its Research and Development field. The Portuguese company leads, together with the Faculty of Engineering of the University of Porto (FEUP), the Vasco da Gama CoLAB, a collaborative laboratory focused on energy storage technologies, gathering inputs and synergies among the academia, companies and startups, with the purpose of designing solutions for the energy transition challenge.
Besides Efacec, through its Automation business unit, and FEUP, the Vasco da Gama CoLAB is integrated by Instituto Superior Técnico, INESC-TEC, EDP Innovation, A400, Visblue and C2C-NewCap startups.
The collaborative laboratory was formally established on November 2019, and it has now begun to operate, with highly qualified working groups and first projects kickoff. The laboratory has a 3 M€ funding until 2023, co-financed by the 2014–2020 North Portugal Regional Operational Program and by the Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia, with the implementation oversight by Agência Nacional de Inovação.
Under the theme “Innovation for a better world”, the Vasco da Gama CoLAB aims to design and develop technological solutions which serve as innovative and international pioneers on the energy transition sector. With a focus on energy storage, the laboratory will delve into complementary technologies that can help with society challenges, such as renewable energy integration, electric mobility development, sustainable smart cities and clean energy hubs building.
In the next 3 to 5 years the program will also undertake several strategic research and technology development projects, focused on three essential technological development branches: vanadium redox flow batteries, supercapacitors and power electronics and energy management. Stemming from these projects, there will be a possibility to create, develop and give innovative features to energy storage products and solutions already developed by Efacec and other partners.
Efacec invests in its innovative technological vector as an essential element for future added value. By taking an active role in the Vasco da Gama CoLAB, Efacec intends to accelerate the growth of innovative and disruptive technological solutions, to reinforce its position as a benchmark technological player with an ability to design solutions with a positive and sustainable impact on the environment, as well as strengthening the cooperation with industrial, technological and scientific partners, both in Portugal and worldwide.
With a comprehensive value chain of Energy, Mobility and Environment, Efacec acts as solution provider, EPC (Engineering, Procurement and Contracting) integrator and O&M (Operations & Maintenance) service provider. Efacec Group is present in strategic markets such as Europe, the United States of America, Latin America, Asia, Middle East, Maghreb and Southern Africa.
> Go to Vasco da Gama CoLAB.
