Entrepreneurs from all over Brazil have until August 23 to to apply for the 2017 EDP Open Innovation award. The global competition, which last year awarded a Brazilian team, is looking for innovative projects that can transform the electricity market. Once again, the best startup will be awarded Û50,000.

Candidates from anywhere in Brazil can register on the website: edpopeninnovation.edp.pt.

The teams will be evaluated by a panel consisting of representatives from EDP and Grupo Impresa, a communication company which was invited to be this year partnering company. The best 15 teams will join an accelerator program in Portugal, where they will have the opportunity to develop and test the solidity and viability of their projects.

This second stage will be held during the month of October and decide the three finalist startups. The teams will then pitch their solutions before a new jury, in an event to be held on October 26 in Lisbon, where the Big Winner will be chosen. In addition to the cash prize, EDP Open Innovation will offer all finalists the opportunity to present their projects on the Web Summit, the most important innovation event in Europe.

"Brazil won the competition last year, and we are confident that Brazilian teams are prepared to present excellent projects in 2017," says EDP Director for Innovation L’via Brando.

Brazilian winners

EDP Open Innovation winner in 2016, Brazilian startup Delfos Predictive Maintenance (from Fortaleza) surprised the jury by presenting a solution that sought to address wind energy main problem: how to increase the productivity and life cycle of wind turbines without hiking operating and maintenance costs. To that end, they have created a system that monitors, analyzes and predicts possible equipment problems in real time.

The team is currently working with EDP Inova‹o and EDP Renov‡veis to develop a pilot project and test the application in a real environment.

"EDP Open Innovation has given us a quality and credibility certificate which has opened many doors," says Delfos partner Guilherme Studart. "The acceleration program and the opportunity to interact with a major player were certainly crucial to adjust our project to the reality of the market," he adds.

EDP Brasil Innovation Ecosystem

Based on an understanding of innovation as an ongoing process, EDP Brasil has created an ecosystem to foster innovative ideas and processes. With the implementation in January this year of a task automation system, EDP has become the first company in the Brazilian electric power sector to invest in process automation.

Identifying innovative projects and potential partners is crucial in this endeavor to anticipate future changes. Supporting and investing in startups is therefore a vital strategy for the company. Besides Open Innovation, the company has recently brought to Brazil the EDP Starter program, an initiative designed to help early-stage startups come up with innovative ideas that can be adapted to the electric power sector.

Recently, EDP has also joined seven other global utilities to hold one of the largest startup acceleration programs in the world: Free ElectronsGlobal Accelerator. The competition brought together several energy-related projects that will be important to the next generation of ideas pertaining to clean energy, energy efficiency, electrical mobility, digitalization, and customer support services.

Internally, EDP Brasil fosters innovation with competitions and initiatives where workers can present new ideas, such as Innovation Day.

To learn more, visit: https://edpopeninnovation.edp.pt/