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At a conference held at the San Agustín de Guadalix Corporate Campus, Iberdrola chairman Ignacio Galán explained the company's commitment to universities as the basis for promoting entrepreneurship. The aim is to strengthen links between business and universities through knowledge transfer and by attracting young talent, through, among other initiatives: research chairs, R&D&i projects, grants and internships for students, internal training for employees and support for young entrepreneurs.

Galán was accompanied by representatives from universities that cooperate with Iberdrola: the University of Salamanca, the Pontificia Comillas University, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), the University of Strathclyde and the Monterrey Institute of Technology.

During his speech, as well as thanking the universities for their support and recognising the importance of their work as drivers of talent, Ignacio Galán ratified the company's desire to continue to establish its role as the utility of the future.

In this regard, the Group's chairman stressed the importance of innovation as "a seed for social and economic progress" adding: “I would go so far as to say that, in the near future, large companies will either innovate or go out of business”.

“Few sectors better reflect this reality than the electricity sector, which is fully involved in energy transition, enabling us to improve supply security, sustainability and competitiveness at a pace that no one could have foreseen", explained Galán.

Iberdrola, ranked among the world's top four investors in R&D+i

Our company, which according to the European Commission is the most innovative Spanish 'utility' and the third in Europe, invested €246 million in R&D&i in 2017, 17% more than the previous year. This makes us one of the top four companies in the world in terms of investment in innovation.

The company sees innovation as the main tool for guaranteeing sustainability, efficiency and competitiveness. It has also been decisive in the success of the transformation towards the clean-energy-based model introduced in 2001, which has made us a world leader in wind power.

During the event, Galán also presented awards to young entrepreneurs who have developed disruptive projects for the energy sector.

These include the Ecomapp, an app developed by students from Pontificia Comillas University and Iberdrola scholarship holders that encompasses all the electric mobility platforms, the ICAI Speed Club, an electric racing team managed by students from ICAI and ICADE with the aim of designing and building an electric racing car and motorcycle, and the Future project, in which students from the Monterrey Institute of Technology have developed a network of city farms for sustainable farming managed with blockchain technology.

Innoday, Iberdrola’s innovation fair

On the same day, Ignacio Galán also officially opened the first Innoday, the group’s innovation fair.

Iberdrola's different business areas met with suppliers and startups from five countries, creating a meeting point for presenting solutions for tackling the challenges facing the energy sector.

More than 600 Innoday attendees were able to see first-hand how, for example, Iberdrola uses drones to service wind turbines and get a first hand look at how an electric car works. They also made a virtual visit to the Wikinger offshore wind farm, which the company operates in the waters of the German Baltic Sea, and saw what is inside a nuclear power plant like the one in Cofrentes. There was also an opportunity to see new customer-focused products, such as Energy Wallet, which allows customers to purchase energy packages.

In addition, some of Iberdrola's suppliers, such as IBM, Ingeteam and Atlas Innovative Engineering, showed how they are responding to the challenges faced by their operations in the energy sector.

This collaborative work with partners is enabling the group to maintain its leadership at the technological cutting edge of the energy sector.

"Innovation allows us to produce more and better energy for our customers, and also enables us to generate wealth and employment through procurement and investment," concluded the chairman of Iberdrola.