SEIDO Lab, the connection between Télécom Paris and EDF R&D

A strategic partnership

Collaboration between EDF R&D and Télécom Paris goes back to the creation, in the 1990s, of a joint research laboratory dedicated to Business Intelligence. The relationship of trust established between the two partners led to the launch of SEIDO Lab in 2012, the aim of this new joint laboratory being to respond to the challenges of cybersecurity and the Internet of Things (IoT) in the energy sector.

For EDF R&D," explains Jean-Paul Chabard, Scientific Director of EDF R&D,"a joint laboratory is a privileged way of taking advantage of innovations from the academic world. Indeed, one of the roles of EDF R&D is to act as a kind of bridge between the academic world and the Group's businesses. In addition, R&D is centralized and covers the needs of all the Group's activities, from energy production to marketing, striving to meet challenges such as the development of renewable energies, the adaptation of the grid to decentralized production and the development of new customer services. We call on various forms of partnership to cover this vast field, which requires skills in multiple disciplines. One of the advantages of a joint laboratory is that it brings together the needs of industry and academic expertise in a given field, in a win-win situation. This type of partnership also contributes to the training of our engineers.

For Sylvain Lamblot, Director of Development and Partnerships at Télécom Paris, "the joint laboratory with EDF is a strategic partnership for the school. Indeed, research and innovation are an integral part of our raison d'être, which was recently formulated as 'to train, imagine and undertake to design digital models, technologies and solutions for a society and economy that respect people and their environment'. We have embarked on a fundamental transformation that will further strengthen the school's academic excellence by focusing on research and, in particular, increasing the number of PhD students. Laboratories such as SEIDO Lab contribute to achieving these objectives, firstly by pooling skills and equipment, which creates value. Secondly, by illustrating the benefits of continuing one's studies right through to a doctorate, in order to provide relevant solutions for tomorrow's industry. Lastly, by providing training and the opportunity to carry out internships and even theses at the EDF R&D site next door to the school. The joint laboratory is also an attractive tool in the war for talent being waged by companies.

A results-oriented organization

Within a joint laboratory, cooperation is closer than in the case of a chair. In particular, the industrial partner plays an active role in defining the scientific program.

Indeed, SEIDO's raison d'être is to study the use cases provided by EDF, which present a number of challenges for academic researchers.

For Télécom Paris, SEIDO Lab is an important laboratory, with 7 to 9 theses being carried out at the same time and, since the beginning, more than a hundred publications and a dozen patents," recalls Gérard Memmi, head of the IT and Networks department at Télécom Paris. To meet EDF's technological challenges, we need to complement the department's skills with those of other departments at the school, as well as calling on researchers from Télécom SudParis, CNRS LAAS, and soon École des Mines de Saint-Etienne. It's an open approach.

One of the keys to SEIDO Lab's success is the effective coordination between EDF R&D and the Group's business divisions, with a view to creating value through new services. This function is carried out by program departments within EDF R&D, which give visibility to the results of research work and determine transfer procedures. 70% of R&D activity is directly financed by the business lines, while around 30% is financed by a corporate budget to promote scientific and technological anticipation. In this respect, the joint laboratory develops prototypes that are replicated by EDF before being scaled up and transferred to the business units. One example is a local energy transaction platform, which detects and aggregates needs, makes energy allocation choices and ensures the traceability of exchanges.

Evolving themes

Over the years, research themes have diversified to take account of technological developments and the change in scale of the applications envisaged in intelligent energy management, which extend from the individual home to the connected city, via the building and the neighborhood. For example, EDF has developed and produced a model for the self-management of an apartment from an energy point of view. Current challenges include taking into account the power demand linked to the integration of charging stations for electric vehicles in multi-family housing, and forecasting the secure and traceable bidirectional flows that will enable transient storage on batteries (V2G or vehicle-to-grid approach).

To meet these needs, phase 3 of SEIDO Lab is preparing for the advent of breakthrough networks in terms of transport time and capacity. It thus includes the themes of 5G and blockchain. Indeed, 5G will bring an order-of-magnitude improvement in the various parameters characteristic of a transmission (bandwidth, latency, etc.). "In particular, with latencies reduced to a few milliseconds, it makes it possible to envisage critical real-time applications including radio transmission, which is revolutionary," enthuses Gérard Memmi.

One of the challenges is to maintain the economic benefits of the expected improvement in technical performance, despite growing demands in terms of security and protection of privacy, which tend to be met by reinforcing hardware and software devices. One of the questions that arises is that of energy consumption, which needs to be studied in detail before seeking to optimize it. Another is the trade-off betweenedge computing, which consists of processing raw information from distributed sensors and actuators in situ (with advantages in terms of respecting the confidentiality of personal data), and the centralized transmission of more or less aggregated data.

To meet these challenges, the skills required are also evolving: whereas the first SEIDO Lab phases brought together specialists in cybersecurity and software engineering, they will now be joined by specialists in radio communications. Great opportunities ahead for Télécom Paris students!