The integration of increasingly higher shares of renewable electricity generation into electricity grids, as well as the need to connect newly electrified sectors such as electromobility or electric heating, pose a unique challenge for distribution grid operators in the coming years. At the same time, the energy sector is digitalising at a fast pace, and DSOs are at the forefront of using the benefits of digitalisation to improve their services for consumers and to increase the security of energy supply.

E.DSO, as well as its members, engages in R&I projects and initiatives to facilitate the integration of new technologies and solutions for the energy system of the future. The role of E.DSO Innovation & Research Committee (IRCO) is to facilitate diffusion of learnings from such projects, so that they can be replicated around Europe. The goal of IRCO activities is also to highlight the relevant policy recommendations from the projects to shape the energy sector regulation and to provide inputs for the drafting of future R&I programmes.

In praxis, the following points form the main pillars of IRCO activities:

• Providing an informal platform for DSOs’ innovation experts from across the EU to meet and discuss the challenges they are facing in their countries;
• Sharing relevant experience from R&I projects, exchange on best practices to implement innovative projects;
• Regular monitoring of innovative projects funding opportunities and facilitation of cooperation between member DSOs; Support to DSOs looking for collaboration with external partners
• Sharing the learnings from DSO innovation activities with policy makers and other relevant stakeholders through: 

1. DSO events, such as Projects in the Spotlight and others;
2. Providing feedback to policy design on EU level through public consultations and other channels;
3. Participation in R&I focused platforms, such as ETIP SNET (E.DSO representative shares the platform chairmanship with ENTSO-E), BRIDGE, AIOTI and others.