New partnership set to build bridges between tech entrepreneurs and energy leaders

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The World Energy Council and the German Energy Agency (dena) are joining forces to create the premier global platform to celebrate and promote innovation.

The project, agreed in Mexico City at the World Energy Leaders’ Summit, 12 September, will connect innovators with opportunities for development, investment, and research. Starting today the two organisations will work together to build a strong collaboration leading to the 24th World Energy Congress to be held in Abu Dhabi in 2019.

World Energy Council Secretary General, Christoph Frei said:

“The energy world is undergoing a Grand Transition driven by a combination of factors. The fast-paced development of new technologies and an unstoppable digital revolution, as well as global environmental challenges, present innovation opportunities for companies and start-ups all over the world. That is why we need to empower the entrepreneurs of tomorrow and support the entrepreneurs of today.

“We are excited to partner with dena on systematic identification of most promising innovation ventures around the world and make sure we work with leading innovators to understand scope, time frame and success factors of key innovation areas."

As the world’s foremost principal impartial network of leaders and practitioners, the World Energy Council’s partnership with dena, who are developing the Start Up Energy Transition (SET) initiative, will leverage the insights and experience of innovators in the Council’s work.

The aim of SET is to be a leading international competitive process that identifies the top 100 innovators in five to seven Innovation Categories in the field of sustainable energy solutions, drawing on critical energy issues identified by energy leaders in the Council’s Issues Monitor. The “GET 100” list will feature heavily in the Council’s activities to connect with promising innovators with energy leaders.

Andreas Kuhlmann, Chief Executive of dena, said:

“SET will build on critical energy insights and create opportunities for the identification and promotion of energy system innovators and start-ups who deliver measures to achieve the energy transition through strategic partnership of the SET. It will influence global, regional, and national energy networks and their approach to the energy transition by creating the premier global platform that celebrates and promotes innovation connecting innovators with opportunities for development, investment, and research.”

The partnership will also support cooperation between energy leaders and countries in tackling the challenges of the energy trilemma and climate change providing a platform for engagement between innovators and energy leaders.

Key activity in the run up to the 2019 World Energy Congress includes:

A joint activity at COP-23 in Bonn with the support of dena and the Federal Ministry of Economic Affairs and Energy in November 2017
A joint activity at the Tech Festival alongside the Berlin Energy Transition Dialogue organised by the German Government
A joint activity at the World Energy Leaders’ Summit in Argentina in June 2018 to be held alongside the G20 Energy Ministers meeting
A joint activity at the World Energy Council’s Executive Assembly in Milan in October 2018

The World Energy Council will be actively engaging with dena’s network of tech entrepreneurs to ensure that cutting edge developments in the energy space are incorporated into the Council’s analysis.