The present “NORTEXCEL2020” proposal is the response of the Portuguese Norte region to the call “WIDESPREAD 1-2014: Teaming” for creating or upgrading centres of excellence, building on partnerships between leading scientific institutions in Europe and low performing countries and regions, in terms of research and innovation performance. This proposal is sponsored and coordinated by the Norte Regional Authority and comes as a direct follow-up to the region’s Smart Specialization Strategy, being born from the entrepreneurial discovery process at the origin of the RIS3, and intended to build on and expand the specialization paths selected for the region, that will be supported under the new regional Operational Programme. The consortium is highly complementary and aligned with the challenges placed by the TEAMING call. The three organizations coming from the low performing region in Portugal (CCDR-N, IPP and INOVA+) have previous experience of working together and perfectly complement each other, creating the necessary conditions for the sprouting of a new, successful, innovation initiative in the region, under the guidance of a very experience partner from a high performing region: JOANNEUM RESEARCH. The Vision for the new centre of excellence is to create a world-leading centre in the Norte region of Portugal, contributing to the regional competitiveness of the research, innovation and business contexts through activities of excellence in applied research, technology development and innovation of an international dimension, becoming the leading regional organization in terms of participation in H2020. NORTEXCEL2020 will develop research and innovation activities integrating core requirements and scenarios from the medical technology application domain (focusing on medical devices, assistive technologies and wellbeing solutions). This application domain will explore new results and research in the areas of health technologies, advanced materials and ICT.

Smart Grid (SG) concepts are rapidly being transferred to the market and huge investments have been made in renewable based electricity generation and rolling out smart meters. However, the present state of the art does not ensure neither a good return of investment nor a sustainable and efficient power system. The work so far in the EU involves mainly larger stakeholders, namely power utilities and manufacturers more focused on production and grid resources. A closer attention to the demand side of the system is required, and especially in the interaction with the new methods for SG management. Efficient power systems require the optimal use of the available resources to cope with demand requirements and Demand Response (DR) programs with adequate business models can leverage demand flexibility both on centralized and distributed models, as renewable energygeneration is highly dependable of uncontrolled factors (as wind and solar radiation) for which anticipated forecasts are hardly trustful. DREAM-GO puts together research teams from the EU and US thus taking advantage of US experience in DR, teaming up academic partners with pioneer work in smart grid management and non-academic partners (SMEs) with the required know how and infrastructure to jointly produce relevant advancements in the state of the art. SME participation will ensure cross-fertilization of ideas and competences to build a knowledge network targeting the scientific community and other smart grid actors, as power resource managers, grid operators and resource aggregators, and ultimately targeting consumers (through consumers organisations and curtailment service providers) on the demand side. The main goal is to create a framework with the required methods and solutions to facilitate the adoption of the results in final applications, by providing grounded scientific knowledge to possible pathways for future implementation of a more efficient SG system in the EU.