Coppe and Galp debate their projects and new partnership possibilities

Coppe/UFRJ welcomed on thursday, august 15th, a delegation visit from GALP and its Innovation director, Ana Casaca. Galp is a portuguese energy company that acts in several segments, including the exploration and production of petroleum and natural gas, refining, distribution and commercialization of petroleum products as well as renewable energies. Focused on the “trilemma” sustainability, energy security and affordability, the company is also recognized for its security and risk management practices, essential in a sector exposed to geopolitical and socioeconomic variables. It is currently among the largest Portuguese companies, controlling around 50% of the fuel trade in this country and the totality of Portugal’s refining capacity.

In the meeting, the progress of research and development projects, carried out in partnership between Coppe and the portuguese oil company and the prospects of new projects were discussed.

Coppe’s Director for Technology and Innovation, professor Marysilvia Costa, and the head of Innovation of the Innovation Ecosystem, Marcos Chaves, presented Coppe’s Innovation Ecosystem, its structure and associated services. 

According to professor Marysilvia, the Innovation Ecosystem’s mission is to connect Coppe’s expertise and the industry’s needs as well as society’s. “We have at Coppe all of the elements to make this a reality. Bringing our programs into a more integrated way will make it possible to offer technological solutions that will be more integrated as well. That is why we are structuring interdisciplinary areas, connecting laboratories from different academic programs, but with converging lines of research. The Artificial Intelligence and Low Carbon areas are already well advanced in their structuring”, informed the  director for Technology and Innovation.

“We set up companies that have grown, been successful in the marketplace and established themselves. We have already built a pathway and a foundation upon which we can continue to build. The Incubator has already set up over a 100 startups that earn more than 600 million reais per year and generate over 3.600 jobs. This strengthens the ecosystem as there is a networking of formerly constituted  companies that support the formation of new companies. Our goal is to capture promising ideas and help transform them into viable businesses, providing access to technologies, markets and good practices” evaluated Marcos Chaves.

Executive Director of the Coppetec Foundation, professor Glaydston Ribeiro, presented the university support foundation, originally designed to manage contracts by Coppe, and which, in addition to attending to other UFRJ units, since 2003, also started attending to Unirio, Cefet and Cetem.

During the meeting, professors Luiz Landau (Civil Engineering Program); Carolina Naveira-Cotta (Mechanical Engineering Program); Átila Freire (Mechanical Engineering Program); Henrique Pacheco (Chemical Engineering Program), presented projects developed in partnership with Galp, for example the Sustainable Polycogeneration Island project, and presented themes with great potential for future collaborations with the portuguese oil company.