From the laboratory to the auditorium: during the Open Day, INESC TEC showcased Power & Energy

160 participants, seven pitches, a roundtable with five experts, a technology showcase, and a unifying theme: Power & Energy. At the second edition of INESC TEC’s Energy Technology Open Day, the present and future of the energy sector took centre stage, with discussions on topics like energy communities, electric mobility, digitalisation and renewable energy integration.

What kind of solutions is INESC TEC developing to address the challenges faced by the energy sector? In 2025, the Institute hosted the second edition of the Open Day dedicated to Power & Energy, inviting industry representatives, academia and policymakers to witness – and experience first-hand – some of the technologies developed by our researchers.

The event began with the presentation session “Watt’s Next?”: seven pitches showcasing innovative projects in fields like electric vehicle charging, asset management for hydropower generation, energy communities, communications, Artificial Intelligence, gas detection and microgrid operation.

Next, a group of leading national experts gathered for a roundtable discussion on the present and future of the sector, particularly the challenges surrounding distribution networks. Moderated by INESC TEC Director João Peças Lopes, the panel featured Andreia Carreiro (Cleanwatts Digital), Rui Lameiras (ATE – Alliance for the Energy Transition), João Rosa Dias (Siemens eMobility) and João Miranda Santos (Coopérnico). The discussion focused on the implementation of renewable energy communities, new features for electric mobility infrastructures, digitalisation and the use of AI in low-voltage networks, as well as the integration of renewable energy and other distributed energy resources (DER).

The debate also addressed broader issues such as the energy transition and the importance of access to data – and AI tools capable of leveraging said data to support the operation of low-voltage grids in a digitalisation context; renewable energy storage and the increasing complexity of low-voltage networks; and the interoperability challenges among different DER types and both centralised and distributed management systems.

The event also included the Best Pitch Award, voted on by all participants, who selected their favourite presentation. The winner of the 2025 Energy Technology Open Day Best Pitch Award was INESC TEC researcher António Coelho.

Designed as a platform for sharing innovations made-in INESC TEC within the scope of the domain, the Energy Technology Open Day aims to create opportunities for dialogue and collaboration between participants, bridging science, technology and the business ecosystem. In addition to the presentations and roundtable discussions, participants were also able to explore the technological solutions presented by the researchers in a dedicated exhibition space.

The second edition of the Energy Technology Open Day took place on 15 October at the Grand Auditorium of the Faculty of Engineering of the University of Porto (FEUP).