Technology developed by spinoff and UAlg researchers promotes energy efficiency in hospitality

It's called MTI (Managing The Intelligence) and was born from a spinoff which originated at the University of Algarve. Based at the UAlg Tec Campus, it received more than half a million euros from Portugal Ventures and is preparing to invest in the internationalization of a solution developed at UAlg that will help the hotel sector to spend less energy without harming customer comfort.

“Our solution is composed of devices/sensors and an application websites which, together, automatically control the air conditioning system in hotel rooms so that there is always a comfortable temperature”, explains Miguel Silva, CEO and founder of MTI.

In addition, “our solution automatically turns off the air conditioning system if someone opens a window and whenever it detects that the system is still on, even after guests leave the room”.

Among other factors, he exemplifies, “through our application it is possible to verify the savings made and parameterize the desired temperatures in the rooms”.

This startup was created in October 2019 through a spinoff of a European Research & Technological Development (R&DT) project in co-promotion with the University of Algarve and with the support of the former community framework QREN 2012-2016.

Through a partnership between MTI and researchers from the University of Algarve, the project consisted of developing Internet of Things (IoT) devices and training artificial intelligence algorithms, in this case genetic algorithms to optimize and reduce electrical consumption in the use of various equipment. .

“Considering that air conditioning systems consume between 50 and 60% of the electrical energy in buildings, our solution undoubtedly contributes to a more sustainable tourism, as it allows energy savings associated with these consumptions in the accommodation unit ( hotel room, tourist villa, tourist apartment, local accommodation) of at least 50%”, says Miguel Silva.

According to the CEO of MTI, “air conditioning systems, especially in hotels/lodges, are normally used irrationally and inefficiently in terms of energy, as there is a great waste of energy when the guest leaves the air conditioning on and stays away from the room or when leaving the window open, or even when the guest tries to force the machines to extreme temperatures very quickly”.

In this sense, “our solution controls and corrects all these situations, thus contributing to the sustainability of the tourist activity developed in these buildings”.

The potential stakeholders for these artificial intelligence algorithms are owners, tenants, users who access and use these buildings, whether residential, commercial, tourist, or services, which use electrical energy consuming equipment/devices, such as air conditioners. , and who want to reduce the electric bill of these buildings, through the use of said equipment.

For Miguel Silva, “the investment by Portugal Ventures is undoubtedly a milestone in the company's history, and is already contributing to the industrialization of the solution, development of the marketing department and recruitment of a team of excellence”.

In this way, he reveals, “even this year we plan to scale the business in Portugal and in the Spanish market, in the coming years we want to be present throughout Europe, and one of our goals is to be a reference worldwide”.

Finally, Miguel Silva, who holds a degree in Electrical and Electronics engineering from UAlg, referred to the importance of the University of Algarve in this whole process, explaining: “in addition to having our headquarters at the UAlg Tec Campus, the connection with the Academy has always been very important, not only for the initial learning and knowledge sharing, but also for our connection to CRIA – Division of Entrepreneurship and Technology Transfer”.