The Board of Directors of Red Eléctrica Corporación, at its meeting held today (corresponding to its ordinary session for May), has approved the creation of the new technology company of the Red Eléctrica Group. This new company has been created within the framework of the 2018-2022 Strategic Plan and, over the next five years, plans to invest 100 million euros, of which 17 million correspond to 2019. Furthermore, the Company is considering an investment in technological developments that could represent an additional investment of between 40 and 50 million during this period.

The technology company will strengthen two key strategic areas that will help drive the development of the new economic production model: electricity and telecommunications. In addition, it will finance projects in any geographical area and in the different phases of the life cycle of the idea.

With the setting up of this company, the Group seeks to contribute, by means of the main technology verticals (i.e. Artificial Intelligence, the Internet of Things, virtualisation, robotization, grids of the future, new technologies such as 5G and satellites and power electronics, etc.) in order to facilitate entrepreneurship and innovation in the following areas: integration of renewable energy; energy efficiency; energy storage; smart asset management; and advanced telecommunications and IT services that make the citizen a key protagonist, such as smart cities.

One of the most significant characteristics of this new company is the agility and flexibility in its processes and its management model. In other words, the company will help bring to fruition opportunities at various project stages (idea, prototype, minimum viable product or start-ups) not only by offering financial and logistical support, but also by making its infrastructure and the extensive experience and knowledge of its employees available to any opportunity or initiative.

Lastly, the company will address innovation from a dual perspective: digital and physical. This means that it will not exclusively promote hardware projects, but it will also promote those associated with the development of new management models based on platforms or software.

The newly created company will have a specific focus team of between 20 and 25 professionals managed and spearheaded by Silvia Bruno, Manager of the Technology area of the Red Eléctrica Group. Silvia Bruno, who joined the Company in 2011, is a civil engineer and has a master's degree in materials engineering and has passed the IESE Business School ‘General Management Programme’(PDG). The team of the new technology company will receive the full support of the Red Eléctrica Group, thereby taking full advantage of the Company’s internal talent and the expertise of its employees when defining and carrying out. Furthermore, from time to time, the new company will contract external experts. In this regard, the company was founded with the aim of developing a dynamic culture within the organisation that fosters and promotes collaboration among professionals and that can help it become a catalyst for the professional development of internal and external talent.