by Elena Bou, Innovation Director, KIC InnoEnergy.

Technology is revolutionising market places and the energy sector is not immune. Look at Uber and AirBnB, giants in the transport and travel sectors respectively, yet they own no car or hotel and have completely turned their markets upside down. Traditional operators are left shaken or protesting. The thing with innovation and change, as greats such as Facebook, Apple and others have shown, is that you cannot outrun it. It will always find you. And the energy market is no exception. Just look at Telsa, once in automotives and now forging new ground within energy.

This isn’t a one off -it is indicative of a much bigger revolution. As consumers become more engaged in energy issues and it becomes more pervasive in their everyday lives, this opens the door for a stream of new companies with new ideas that will change the face of renewable energy.

For traditional energy companies, these developments are a little scary. It is unquestionable that the business models of today will not thrive in the future of tomorrow. Survival will come from collaboration, start-ups and high growth companies working with the sectors’ veterans to seek answers to questions around energy consumption, storage and behaviour that will only become more complex and challenging.

“It is unquestionable that the business models of today will not thrive in the future of tomorrow” 

That is why an event such as TBB becomes ever more relevant as it fosters the need for innovative partnerships. The beauty of collaboration is that there is so much more potential for disruption. The definition of the term ‘game changer’ is not a literal one, but someone who is able to see new possibilities and is open to listening. This is a big cultural shift for industry stalwarts, but it is one that must be made. The cold hard facts are this: either companies join the revolution or they’ll be side-lined.

“Either companies join the revolution or they’ll be side-lined”