Project of innovative solutions to fight against forest fires awarded at the National Innovation Awards

Natureye, a set of innovative solutions for combating rural fires developed in partnership by REN and ADAI - Association for the Development of Industrial Aerodynamics, at the University of Coimbra, won the National Innovation Award in the business segment category – Utilities, Mobility and Infrastructure, at a ceremony held on 3 July at the Hovione Atrium of Nova SBE, in Carcavelos.

The NATUREYE project is part of Agenda Transform, a consortium involving 56 entities in 30 projects that aims to digitally transform the Portuguese forestry sector. It stands out for its strong technological component and concrete response to one of the country's greatest environmental challenges: forest fires. It is an integrated solution that involves the installation of over 80 multispectral cameras on REN's high-voltage towers, which continuously monitor high-risk forest areas covering over one million hectares, mainly in regions most at risk of forest fires. This surveillance network, supported by multisensory data and predictive algorithms, is linked to a central decision support platform, CENTRODEC, based in Coimbra, where alarms will be validated and analysed based on technical criteria, allowing the potential behaviour of a fire to be predicted and response measures to be anticipated.

The National Innovation Award is an initiative of Jornal de Negócios, in partnership with BPI Bank and Claranet Portugal, with institutional support from ANI - Agência Nacional de Inovação (National Innovation Agency) and COTEC Portugal, as well as Nova SBE, as knowledge partner. This was the third edition of the award, which began in 2023.

This recognition is, above all, a contribution to the collective effort of the teams involved and a clear sign that innovation, when focused on concrete problems and real challenges, can generate solutions with transformative effects. REN thus reaffirms its commitment to innovation, sustainability and safety, positioning itself as an active agent in building a more resilient future.