Efacec Academy, the recently created Corporate University of Efacec, opened its Energy and Automation Schools on November 19, 2010. This is one of the three schools that will operate (in 2011) as the pilot-project of the Academy.

It was created with the purpose of promoting aggregated and global initiatives within the scope of Training and Development and Knowledge Management. The several activities developed by Efacec Academy aim to cross Efacec borders, reaching not only Efacec employees but also the external public, which includes customers, suppliers and young people concluding their university training.

The contribution towards Efacec's future development project, both in Portugal and worldwide, from different areas included in the activities of each of the three pilot schools (the recently opened Energy and Automation School and the other two that will open soon - Energy and Transformers School and Behavior School), will certainly be an asset of great importance.

The launch of the School took place during the annual Automation Business Unit employee meeting. The ceremony was dedicated to the topic of Prediction of Results 2010 and Budget and Objectives Preview 2011. Participants included: Efacec CEO Luís Filipe Pereira; the operational director of the School, António Carrapatoso; and an excellent presentation (already on an academic level) performed by Professor João Peças Lopes of the Faculty of Engineering of the University of Porto, on the subject of Smart Grids.

Besides the Efacec Executive Committee, employees from the Automation Business Unit and guests from other Efacec Units attended the outdoor opening of the Academy. The event (which included nearly 160 participants) also included the presence of customer companies such as REN, EDP and Refer Telecom, as well as invited academic students.

EnergyIn is a private-right non-profit Association, funded by some of the most representative companies in the energy sector, including Efacec, EDP, GALP Energia, MARTIFER, and the MIT Portugal Program.

The goal of EnergyIn is to promote the entrepreneurial and scientific cooperation in the energy area, aimed at developing the competitiveness of this industrial sector, which targets the creation of valuable and qualified employment in Portugal.

EnergyIn promotes several areas of activity, or Rows, with a specific highlight for Energy Efficiency, Offshore Power, Solar Power, Sustainable Mobility and Smart Grids.

In the scope of its activities, EnergyIn has organized a Workshop concerning the Smart Grids subject, which was held at the Efacec offices in Maia.

The Workshop Program included the following sessions:

The Workshop was chaired by Custódio Miguéns, president of EnergyIn, and conducted by Teresa Bertrand, also from EnergyIn. During the opening session, the welcome was presented by the Efacec Automation Unit General Manager, Fernando Lourenço.

Besides Efacec, the other companies and institutions that participated in the Workshop were: EDP, ENEIDA, GECAD Research Unit (Institute of Engineering - Polytechnic of Porto), GENERG, GLOBALTRONIC, GPPQ – FP7 Promotion Office (Ministry of Science, Technology and Higher Education), ISA, MIT Portugal, NOVABASE, SIEMENS, UBIWHERE, UNITELCO and WS.

The EnergyIn delegation also visited the industrial poles of Arroteia and Maia, where the visitors had the opportunity to visit the Transformers, Renewables and Automation units.