Innovation is one of Copel’s values in its strategic reference. In the corporate strategic guidelines, there is the need to foster innovation as a lever for growth, increase customer satisfaction and loyalty, and improve processes.

Considering the theme innovation as a key factor for sustained growth, viability and increased well-being and development of society, innovation at Copel is no longer a matter only for the research and development areas and has become a pursuit of the entire Company. Copel sees clearly the importance of innovation to remain active and strong in the markets where it operates.

To reflect this organizational culture, Copel maintains in its structure, in addition to the areas responsible for R&D regulated by Aneel, an Innovation Department, under the Business Development Board, and an Investment and Innovation Committee, composed of 3 CAD members, putting the innovation theme under debate at the highest decision-making levels. Furthermore, the Investment Policy also considered guidelines for investments in innovation, with the aim of accelerating initiatives of interest to the Group. Thus, the Company now allocates a reserve of resources for investment in business and innovation projects, in addition to the resources traditionally already allocated to Aneel’s regulated R&D program.

Copel has had a great learning experience over the years, developing innovation through Aneel’s R&D program, and is able to put more effort into initiatives aimed at promoting innovative solutions and businesses that go beyond the initial stages of the innovation chain in search of results with greater added value. With this focus, the Copel Volt Open Innovation Program was launched, an initiative that sought scalable solutions in the market for the Company’s challenges.

Urban mobility and smart cities continue to be themes of innovation to which Copel directs special attention. Both contribute to the reduction of carbon emissions and to access to electricity, in convergence with the Sustainable Development Goals prioritized by the electric power sector and by the Company. In 2021, Copel launched the Copel Carsharing Program, for sharing electric cars and short-term rental, in partnership with Renault do Brasil. Two 100% electric vehicles were made available for personal use, upon payment of rent per hour or per day, or professional use by employees at the Company’s Km3 center, in the Mossunguê district, in Curitiba. For Copel, the program is another step toward the consolidation of electric mobility in the company, an initiative that began in 2018 in the implementation of the largest electric highway in the country, with 12 charging stations along 730 kilometers of the BR-277 highway, connecting the far east to the far west of the state.

Copel Generation and Transmission

In effect since 2000, the Research, Development and Innovation Program (R&D+I) of Copel Geração e Transmissão S/A has been responsible for the development of projects that have brought direct and indirect benefits to the Company. In recent years, GeT has advanced in actions aimed at innovation with initiatives that foster the sharing of ideas, knowledge and dissemination of good practices – always seeking to encourage creativity and innovative behavior to improve existing processes or create solutions, products and services for this subsidiary.

Inov+ GeT allows any GeT employee to register an innovation proposal at any time and present it to a Steering Committee. Using its own methodology, it promotes the development of both projects and intrapreneurs.

It also has ETGET, a biannual event that aims at sharing and discussing Copel GeT’s technical works.

Copel Distribution

Copel DIS promotes InovaDIS, a week dedicated to the culture of innovation and learning for its employees, and open to the other employees of Copel Group. The goal is to engage and foster innovation within Copel DIS. Innovation together with culture change are the bases for the distributor to be the most modern in Brazil and thus reach new levels of excellence.

With the challenge of promoting innovation in a highly regulated environment, Copel DIS proposes to co-create solutions for the development of innovative solutions.

Another initiative focused on innovation is the +Dis_aí Program, which consists of gathering ideas from any employee, and which generates some innovation, by registering his or her idea on the program’s channel. In this way, the intrapreneur finds a way to obtain resources to put his or her idea into practice. The +DIS_aí is the main ideation program of Copel Distribution. Democratic, it encourages the Copelian protagonism by allowing everyone to contribute with innovative ideas and proposals for the Company’s processes, regardless of the position held, work sector, city of assignment, or specialty.

Accessible 24/7 through computers or mobile devices (tablets and cell phones), and available even in the field, the platform allows ideas to be registered the instant they come to the mind of any employee, taking advantage of those moments when inspiration arises or problems manifest themselves and are experienced.

More than just a platform for registering ideas, +DIS_aí is a complete program of ideation that accompanies all phases of the process, including the evaluation of the alignment of the idea to the strategic objectives, the improvement of the proposal, and the implementation phase.

Copel knows that being innovative involves those who produce and generate ideas, as well as those who implement them. It is understood that capturing, executing and disseminating projects and suggestions for improvements are sources for a continuous process of development of competitive and innovative differentials. Therefore, during all phases of the program there is an opportunity for various employees to participate and collaborate, including the proponent himself, with the studies, prototyping, and pilot projects. The program has been running since 2018 with excellent results.