SusTec and the Sustainable Energy Initiative at Stanford Graduate School of Business co-host moderated panel discussion with industry leaders on Innovation in the Energy Industry
Bringing together a panel of top managers from four leading utilities from Switzerland (BKW), Origin Energy (Australia), EDP (Portugal), and Engie (France) and a diverse audience of approximately 45 academics, business leaders, policymakers, start-up executives and innovation experts, the event covered a variety of subjects all related to the "energy revolution" currently underway globally.
In a two hour discussion Dr. Cameron Briggs (General Manager, New Energy, external page Origin Energy, Australia), Luis Manuel (Executive Director, EDP Innovation, external page EDP, Portugal), Thierry Lepercq (EVP, Research, Technology and Innovation, external page Engie, France) and ETH alumnus Dr. Suzanne Thoma (CEO, external page BKW Group, Bern, Switzerland) expressed their views on the energy transition, sharing how they make sense of the changing business environment that is characterized by the "three D's" of decarbonization, decentralization and digitalization.
The panel was moderated by Dr. Stephen Comello (Stanford Graduate School of Business, currently Visiting Scholar at SusTec) who brought in his experience from running similar events for the external page Sustainable Energy Initiative he runs at Stanford University.
One key topic was the re-imagining of the electricity market structure, as the marginal cost of electricity production tends toward zero. Another interesting dimension explored was the efforts the panelists and their companies were undertaking to develop new offerings, expertise and business models. These efforts included both internal reorganization, in addition to developing new ways of working with collaborators across the ecosystem.
After the panel, the discussions continued into the evening as part of an Apéro in front of the ETH Alumni Pavillon.