Following a recommendation from EDF and Trialog, both already members of the initiative, the O-CEI project has been formally invited to join the BRIDGE initiative as an Observer Project, marking a new step in its engagement with Europe’s broader energy innovation
community.
BRIDGE is a European Commission initiative that brings together Horizon 2020 and Horizon Europe projects in the fields of smart grids, energy storage, digitalisation, and islands. Its primary aim is to facilitate knowledge exchange, identify common barriers, and propose consolidated recommendations in support of the EU’s energy transition. The initiative is organised around four permanent working groups: Data Management, Business Models, Consumer and Citizen Engagement, and Regulation. To date, 10 O-CEI consortium partners have responded positively to the invitation and have enrolled in BRIDGE activities across all four working groups. Their participation is
voluntary and aims to foster bilateral knowledge sharing between O-CEI and the broader BRIDGE community. Participation as an observer project provides O-CEI with a structured channel to exchange methodologies, lessons learned, and best practices, particularly in the development and deployment of energy flexibility solutions. This collaborative framework offers the opportunity to engage with other EU-funded demonstration projects facing similar technical, societal, and regulatory challenges.
By joining the BRIDGE initiative, O-CEI partners will be able to contribute to discussions on data interoperability, consumer engagement strategies, market design, and regulatory enablers for flexibility, while also bringing back insights and working group outcomes to the wider O-CEI consortium. This approach is expected to enhance internal alignment across O-CEI use cases and support the project’s broader objective to advance cross-sector energy innovation in Europe.
Ongoing engagement with BRIDGE will be documented and shared periodically with the consortium to ensure that all partners benefit from the knowledge and developments emerging from this European collaborative platform.