The lehendakari, Imanol Pradalesand the general deputy of Bizkaia, Elixabete Etxanobehave presented at the Ezkerraldea-Meatzaldea Technology Park in Abanto-Zierbena (Bizkaia), the EIC Foundation, Energy Intelligence Center. The foundation will manage the center, a collaborative R&D&i platform for boost the energy transition and position Euskadi as an international reference in this area. The foundation combines the fight against climate change with industrial and technological developmentpromoting projects that strengthen the value chains of a decarbonized industry. Thus, it coordinates highly qualified talent, generates knowledge and collaborates closely with all the agents involved in this key transition.
“Only through a smart decarbonization strategy will we more competitive our industry in global markets and we will combat the climate emergency that we are experiencing,” said Etxanobe, who also stated that “Moving along this line will reduce the risk of relocationny loss of employment in the industry of Bizkaia and Euskadi. “EIC will contribute to developing decarbonization technologies with high added value, such as those linked to renewable fuels, which are a great opportunity for our territory and will contribute to achieving climate neutrality in 2050.”
Imanol Pradales closed the presentation event of the EIC Foundation. “In Euskadi, energy transition and decarbonization are a shared challenge. Although we are a small and highly dependent country, we have unique capabilities to lead new industrial projects and technological. We need to increase the capacity of our electrical grid, intelligently leverage our strengths and make balanced decisions to achieve an orderly, fair and rapid transition. This effort requires the active involvement of all institutions, companies and society as a whole,” he stated.
The members of the Foundation’s board of trustees are: Mikel Amundarain, general director of the Basque Energy Entity (EVE); José Ignacio Zudaire, president of the Basque Hydrogen Corridor (BH2C); Leire Colomo, president of the Foundation Energy Advanced Engineering; Juan Villar, CEO of Nortegas; José Luque, CEO of Petronor and Elixabete Etxanobe, general deputy of Bizkaiawho chairs the foundation.
The EIC Foundation will articulate actions for the development and evolution of technologies that facilitate efficient decarbonization. It will also focus on the design and advanced manufacturing of subsystems and components for the energy sectorfocusing on difficult decarbonization processes such as heavy or long-distance transportation, high-temperature industrial processes and the production of energy with a low carbon footprint. He objective is to generate new activities and maintain the international leadership of Euskadi companies.
Attraction of investment and projects
To do this, the foundation will carry out technological surveillance; will create talent development, attraction and loyalty initiatives; will carry out active international positioning work with the aim of attract investments and innovative projects and will promote collaborative R&D&i among companies in the EIC ecosystem.
This activity will take place at the EIC, located in the Ezkerraldea/Meatzaldea Technology Park, in Bizkaia, which has spaces for collaborative research and development projects, such as R&D&I offices and laboratories for companies in the energy sector, a specialized laboratory and a large volume area where machines will be installed full-scale tests for the energy transition.
Ainara Basurko, Deputy for Economic Promotion of the Provincial Council of Bizkaia; Jose Luis Elejalde, director of the Energy, Climate and Urban Transition Unit of Tecnalia and Laura Barrio, professor and researcher of the Department of Environmental Chemical Engineering of the UPV/EHU and Eva Gutiérrez, director of the Coatings Technologies Unit by Tekniker plasma, have analyzed the technology roadmap of renewable fuels, a fundamental element to promote collaboration between the technological offer of Euskadi and the demand of companies with specific decarbonization projects.
This roadmap will be base of the Renewable Fuels Hub, key piece to accelerate industrial technological development in Euskadi around the challenge of decarbonization and in which the EIC will assume management.
Iván Martén, president of Orkestra, has also participated, who has had an impact on the positive impact that technological innovation and the decarbonization solutions will have on the industrial development of Euskadi. Martén is one of the members of the foundation’s advisory board, which includes experts who have advised on the definition of its value proposition and on the identification of the first projects to be developed.
#Energy #Intelligence #Center #lead #Basque #industrial #decarbonization #strategy
