Initiate! - Main Stage

What is AI and what are its business cases to disrupt?

How to identify blindspots and translate the unexplored innovation space

What is the feasibility of free energy energy? What would be the consequences for society and industry?

Research Bureau Gartner predicts that a technology like blockchain will result in a programmable economy with new economic systems to disrupt the old ones.

The perspective of free energy is exciting, but can also be worrisome. What will change for whom?

This session will be a summary output of the workshops and previous presentations in the Free Energy track. Industry professionals will reflect on the presentations, workshops and how this translates to their vision and strategy.
How will you contribute?

How are communities paving the way to circular? 

The next decade or two, may very well be the most important since beginning of mankind. There’s no room for spectators  in this game. Either we become the assholes who let the climate change tragedy unfold, or we become the hero generation who speed up and scale the transformation to attractive cities and a fossil-free future.

Circular and value based economy– where goals and opportunities meet behavioral challenges

The purpose of this workshop is to discuss the new attitudes and behavioral choices that are needed for the transition to a circular based economy, and accordingly identify opportunities and challenges for businesses and policy to realise the circular transition. 

When it comes to climate change, cities are where the action is. In recent weeks months 364 mayors in the US came together to commit to meet their cities’ climate goals, push for new action to meet the 1.5 degrees Celsius target, and work together to create thriving, fossil-free, sustainable cities where it’s great to live and work.

This session will be a summary output of the workshops and previous presentations in the Circular and Value Based Session.  Industry professionals will reflect on the presentations, workshops and how this translates to their vision and strategy.
And how will you contribute?

Collaborative, co-creative solutions are the key. How to align stakeholders objectives and requirements in a decentralised system. And what will be trend impacts and benefits?

Almost by definition, regulated energy market players are unable to innovate. The returns on infrastructure investment, their role in the market and how and what they communicate and sell to consumers are all highly scrutinised by government regulators. For decades, electricity systems have remained largely unchanged and systematic incentives encouraged utilities to resist startups and new market designs. Today these systems are being challenged politically, technically and financially, driven in no small party by the threat of climate change and an urgent agenda to provide energy access for all. At the same time, a combination of technology trends in energy (such as new battery capability) and computing (such as blockchain) show the promise of moving toward a much more decentralised, decarbonised energy system. 

During this workshop we will focus on challenges such as the opportunities and business models arising from co-created decentralised eco-systems and how the future trends (e.g. IoT, batteries) will have an impact on these partnerships and business models. How will the grid manage the complexities of distributed power (e..g grid congestion, visibility of load)

The wrap up will be a brief reflection on the discussions that took place during the workshops and will follow into a panel discussion where policy makers and other established stakeholders in the field of decentralised power will elaborate on what is currently being developed and has been proven to work or should work differently.