The Opportunity
The objective of this opportunity is to shortlist the submissions that best answer the brief, with the aim of
attending a presentation day with the Energy Innovation Centre (EIC) Industry Partners, where it can be discussed in greater detail with a technical panel. The EIC welcomes submissions from individual companies or companies working in collaboration with each other.
What’s the Problem?
In 2019 the Energy Innovation Centre (EIC) launched its digital platform the EIC Hub, which plays a crucial role in supporting engagement and collaboration between innovators and energy networks.
The EIC Hub is an accessible platform designed to support the end-to-end innovation process, facilitating collaboration between Innovators, networks and EIC staff.
The platform was developed using Laravel/PHP, with a PostgreSQL database and is maintained with GitHub version control. A ‘Staging’ environment exists for testing updates before deploying changes to the live system. Laravel Nova serves as the administration portal for staff, who manage content and oversee user interactions.
It currently enables the following:
- Innovators to submit ideas that propose solutions to energy industry challenges
- Networks to review and provide feedback to innovators
- Key documentation storage to support ongoing innovation projects
- Daily activities and tasks to be tracked
- EIC staff to oversee the overall process to drive pace and collaboration.
An upgrade is required to continue meeting the evolving needs of the industry and its users. This
will build on the EIC Hub’s existing strengths, transforming it into a cutting-edge platform that
drives continuous engagement and streamlines the innovation process for all stakeholders.
Key areas of focus include (more detail provided in design specification section):
- Signup process
- User interface and experience
- Live document collaboration and version control
- Project management
- Automated notifications and alerts.
The EIC was established 16 years ago to accelerate the discovery, development and deployment of innovation in the energy networks. The EIC scans the globe on behalf of networks from the gas and electricity sectors to find and support innovators who can develop ground-breaking new ideas to improve efficiency, safety, accelerate the transition to net zero and support consumers in vulnerable situations.
Preferred Output:
The preferred output is a proposal to either enhance the existing EIC Hub platform or suggest alternative options. The solution must meet the design specifications outlined below and should retain all existing historical data.
Deadline:
The deadline for submissions to this opportunity is 23 May 2025. Please submit your proposal by clicking the button above.
Q&A Registration:
The Q&A for this opportunity will take place on 1 May 2025 at 11.30am. You can register to attend by clicking the button at the top of this page, or directly below. Please pre-submit any questions by 5pm on 29 April 2025 to ensure the smooth running of the meeting.