Transelectrica and the Politehnica University of Bucharest (UPB) signed on March 21, 2023, a strategic partnership in the field of research and innovation. The two institutions consolidate the collaboration agreement regarding the technological future of the Romanian energy sector.
“Following the materialization of a vision over the course of 5 years, the partnership aims to increase the quality of education and training, to facilitate the transition of students and graduates to the labor market, but also to implement research, development or innovation projects, to ensure technological transfer, but also a greater social impact,” say Transelectrica officials.
“The success achieved as a result of the partnership signed in 2021, which pursued the retechnology of the Alba Iulia station, DigiTEL, led to the expansion of collaboration and the development of relations between the two institutions whose common concerns are science, research and digitalization.”
The extraordinary contribution made by Transelectrica and the Politehnica University of Bucharest, through the new collaboration agreement between the two institutions, will build a bridge between the economic and the academic environment. As a result of this expansion of the partnership, internships will be organized for university students, laboratories, networking spaces and master’s programs will be developed, scholarships and opportunities for involvement in research projects, and also in the business center of the Polytechnic University of Bucharest, will be offered.
“The energy transition and the rapid development of new technologies in the field represent the major challenges of our days. Even more so for us, the transport and system operator, who place ourselves at the center of all essential processes. Therefore, we are convinced that in order to successfully face these challenges it is essential to understand the need for an integrated approach regarding the high technical complexity of our operations, in the key of the responsibility to ensure energy security and the highly qualified human resource, capable to excel and innovate. Considering this, from our perspective, in order to achieve this aim, a strong involvement of us in the academic educational process of the profile is also necessary. The strategic partnership that Transelectrica already has with the Politehnica University of Bucharest has today reached another level, the one in which we are ready to pool our resources in order to mitigate the gap between professional skills and demand on the labor market in the energy sector. The protocol we are signing today comes to consolidate and bring to a higher level the fruits of a common experience of years in training and supporting energy students, in supporting the learning environment to keep up with the developments of the real economic environment. I am glad that we have reached this stage and I am confident that by combining our forces together to train future engineers, the national electric energy system will only have to benefit,” said Gabriel Andronache, president of the Directorate of CNTEE Transelectrica SA.
“Artificial intelligence, virtual or augmented reality, digitalization or robotization are just some of the technologies that will become prevalent in the Industry 4.0. The agreement we are signing with Transelectrica aims to familiarize the engineers of the future with the technologies that will be used in the coming years. By providing students with a training environment in which they come into direct contact with cutting-edge technologies, we believe we are giving them a competitive edge on the job market. The increased demand for energy sector specialists as economies decarbonise is a sign that through this partnership we are investing in the future. We thank the partners from the Transelectrica National Energy Transport Company for the fact that they are involved in training the engineers of the future,” said Mihnea Costoiu, rector of the Politehnica University of Bucharest.