November 2, 2023
With the project ending on the horizon, InterConnect’s 8th General Meeting discusses what’s to come
A welcoming and sunny Porto was home to InterConnect’s 8th General Meeting, a day and a half of discussions and ideas broadcasting about the road covered and what’s to expect on the following months. From the need to deliver impactful contributions to Energy Applications across the European member states to the demnad to ensure the project’s sustainability, the October gathering happened with the project’s ending on the horizon.
The Semantic Interoperability Framework (SIF) and the DSO Interface (DSOi), InterConnect’s two main exploitable results, were highlighted, but the focus was also on the seven pilot projects’ activities. One of the challenges ahead is understanding how the pilots are working on their exploitation results, but also how the project will address the exploitation challenges of the joint KERs.
Results of the second Open Call were also shared. From 100 applications, 32 were successfully submitted, and ultimately 10 were selected to present a clear plan for the implementation of energy applications. Seven of these 10 will take part on the next stages, where development and implementation will take place, along with the project consortium.
On the first day, the spotlight was on the assessment of the pilot’s performance, ongoing activities, and problems found. Discussions around InterConnect’s sustainability – the role of business-related partners in the new services and products, and how will interoperability be visible after the project ends – took center stage in the second half of the first day. The afternoon would end with a presentation about the communication, dissemination, and exploitation results, which highlighted the need for continuous communication to share the project’s most recent updates.
A packed half day followed. It started with a presentation of Demonstrators for Energy Applications with the showing of Energy Applications’ ecosystem final architecture and a glimpse of the Portuguese implementation was shared. In the last act, the consortium acknowledged the strong focus necessary to finalize and successfully close the project demonstrators and prepare for the project landing.
The InterConnect project ends in March 2024 and has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme, under grant agreement no. 857237.
