Tool goes on the air in May and assists in mapping a thematic network of the natural gas sector and connects research institutions directly with the company.
This week, Generatech, a company headquartered in Campinas, presented to researchers of FAPESP Shell Research Center for Gas Innovation (RCGI) a tool for the Collaborative Registration of Competencies created for Comgás. The natural gas distributor, which has the distribution concession for the State of São Paulo, is present in 80 municipalities.
The register, which will be put on the air in May, is a tool that assists in mapping research institutions and researchers that are investigating natural gas worldwide, as well as their areas of expertise and of interest. “It is more than a register: it is a means of communication of the institution and researches with the company. It allows the tracking of areas of expertise, the exploration of ideas and opportunities, and the exchange of knowledge,” summarizes engineer Vernei Gialluca, Director of Generatech.
[custom_blockquote style=”green”] “Comgás, like many other companies, has difficulties finding institutions that provide specialized knowledge. This tool helps characterize better the institutions that are called Basic Knowledge Units (BKU). Since the register facilitates the classification of those BKUs, it also facilitates locating a specific piece of knowledge within the environment of the institutions.” [/custom_blockquote]
The São Paulo distributor has an annual R&D program in which it invests an amount set by ARSESP (Regulatory Agency for Sanitation and Energy of the State of São Paulo). In 12 years, Comgás has already invested R$ 46 million in Research and Development (R&D) projects, and in the Conservation and Rationalization of the Use of Gas, along with 26 partners. According to the decision of ARSESP no. 683, published in November 2016, The Minimum Amount set for the 2016/2017 cycle was R$ 8,212,374.75 (eight million two hundred twelve thousand, three hundred and four Reals and seventy five centavos).
Generatech is announcing the tool, and the objective is that such institutions as RCGI register themselves. Comgás will begin to prospect for R&D projects in June. “The software makes it possible to register the KBUs and, inside them, the researchers and their areas of interest. Thus, it makes possible the construction of a Gas Thematic Network, with criteria that includes the publications regarding the subject of natural gas – and the types of publication, the mapping of the areas of knowledge linked to the publications and the place of origin of those publications, as well as the registration of patents in the natural gas area, by institution, by countries….”
According to him, among the areas of interest of Comgás for developing projects in a partnership are: quality of the gas measurement and the corresponding revenues; thermal output of natural gas equipment (industrial furnaces, boilers, operating centers for absorption refrigerator systems, motors, turbines, etc.); quality certification and labeling of efficient equipment, especially in the area of domestic consumption; incentive measures for diversifying the use of natural gas in situations where natural gas offers technical and economical advantages, with relation to other energy sources; adaptation of building installations for natural gas in existing buildings; joint use of natural gas and renewable energy sources; impacts on the environment, like urban transportation (substituting diesel fuel), and others.