Transelectrica-UPB Partnership in Research and Innovation
The National Power Grid Company Transelectrica and the Polytechnic University of Bucharest (UPB) signed on March 21, 2023, a strategic partnership in the field of research and innovation. The two institutions strengthen the collaboration agreement on the technological future of the Romanian energy sector.
Aiming to realise a vision over five years, the partnership aims to increase the quality of education and training, in order to facilitate the transition of students and graduates into the labour market, but also to implement research, development or innovation projects to ensure technology transfer and greater social impact.
Transelectrica extends the partnership with UPB to the entire university.
The success of the partnership signed in 2021, which aimed to upgrade the Alba Iulia substation, DigiTEL, has led to the extension of the collaboration and the development of relations between the two institutions that have science, research, and digitization at the heart of their common concerns.
The extraordinary contribution made by Transelectrica and the Polytechnic University of Bucharest, through the new collaboration agreement between the two institutions, will build a bridge between the economic and academic environments. As a result of this extended partnership, practical training and internships will be organised for the university’s students, laboratories, networking spaces and master’s programmes will be developed, scholarships and opportunities for involvement in research projects will be offered, as well as in the business centre of the Polytechnic University of Bucharest.
“The energy transition and the explosive development of new energy technologies are the major challenges of our time. All the more so for us, the transmission and system operator, placing ourselves at the heart of all essential processes. That is why we are convinced that in order to successfully meet these challenges it is paramount to understand the need for an integrated approach to the high technical complexity of our operations, in the key responsibility of ensuring energy security, and the highly skilled human resource capable of excelling and innovating. With this in mind, from our perspective, in order to achieve this goal, it is also necessary to have a strong involvement in the academic education process. The strategic partnership that Transelectrica already has with the Polytechnic University of Bucharest has today reached another level, where we are ready to pool our resources in order to bridge the gap between professional skills and labour market demand in the energy sector. The protocol we are signing today consolidates and brings to a higher level the fruits of years of joint experience in training and supporting students studying energy, in supporting the learning environment to keep pace with the developments in the real economic environment. I am glad that we have reached this stage and I am confident that by working together to train future engineers, the national power system will benefit,” said Gabriel Andronache, President of the Executive Board of CNTEE Transelectrica SA.
“Artificial intelligence, virtual or augmented reality, digitalisation or robotisation are just some of the technologies that will become prevalent in Industry 4.0. The agreement we are signing with Transelectrica aims to familiarise the engineers of the future with the technologies that will be used in the coming years. By providing students with a training environment where they come into direct contact with cutting-edge technologies, we believe we are giving them a competitive advantage in the job market. The increased demand for energy specialists as economies decarbonise is a sign that through this partnership we are investing in the future. We thank our partners from the National Power Grid Company Transelectrica for getting involved in training the engineers of the future,” said Mihnea Costoiu, rector of the Polytechnic University of Bucharest.
