On 3 December, a new meeting of the Smart Grids Sectoral Forum of the Basque Energy Cluster, coordinated by i-DE, was held. After just over two years, the session resumed its fully face-to-face format. It was held in the Iberdrola Auditorium in Larraskitu and in the recently inaugurated facilities of the Global Smart Grids Innovation Hub, with the participation of 35 attendees.

On behalf of i-DE, Luis Layo, Head of Innovation at i-DE and Coordinator of the Sector Forum, reviewed the Hub's activity in recent months, highlighting i-DE's commitment to innovation and to investment in R&D&I, with €30M in 2021 and a budget of €10M for the GSGIHub in 2022. He also emphasised the message that all i-DE's innovation activity shall be directed towards the optimal use of Next Generation Funds.

On behalf of the Basque Energy Cluster, its Managing Director, José Ignacio Hormaeche, reviewed the developments in relation to component 8 of the PRTR: 'Electricity infrastructures, promotion of smart grids and deployment of flexibility and storage' as it is the one of greatest interest for the members of the Sectoral Forum. In particular, he highlighted one of the most important reforms that is expected to take place in the first half of 2022: the definition of the basis for the development of regulatory sandboxes related to the digitisation of electricity grids.

After the presentations and the coffee-networking session, the attendees were taken on a guided tour of the GSGIHub facilities, where the second part of the meeting took place: a work activity with thematic tables in which the participants were able to debate and contribute their assessments on various aspects linked to the Hub's activity.

The round tables, led by representatives of i-DE and the Basque Energy Cluster, focused on 4 areas of work: articulation of proposals aimed at aid programmes, with special emphasis on the figure of regulatory sandboxes; assessment of the functioning of the Technical Advisory Committees; analysis of the management model for R&D projects and challenges proposed in the Hub; and finally, attraction and generation of talent.

At the end of the group dynamics, a colloquium was held in which the moderators of the round tables presented the issues addressed and the main conclusions reached by each group, along with some actions identified to work on them in the coming months, which brought the meeting to a close.