Considering the design of the Energy Ecosystem through Partner Ecosystems
Partnerships are becoming a very effective way to build the Energy transformation. There are a awful lot of challenges in the energy sector where the complexity becomes to much for one player and they need to partner. There is actually a significant interplay between technological, regulatory and market-driven challenges
Lets just take a look at six of the most significant issues that require Partner Ecosystem thinking and design.
Partner ecosystems in the energy sector face a complex interplay of technological, regulatory, and market-driven challenges.
How do you encourage engagement? How do you create the conditions that enable collaboration and cooperation to occur? How can we combine all the forces that make up the Energy Transition?
In the past week or so, I have gained a growing belief we are building the momentum to bring the different sources within the Energy Transition together. The conditions are being created.
Let me briefly provide a few stand-out ones that give encouragement
Firstly in Brussels a Clean Tech Investment meeting took place, nicely summarized by Ann Mettler, the Vice President at Breakthrough Energy. Ann posted “Clean Tech Investment: Top of Mind in Brussels 🇪🇺
💨 What a whirlwind: In less than 24 hours, I had two opportunities to talk investment, at a ‘Clean Transition Dialogue’ hosted by EVP Maroš Šefčovič, in the presence of EC President Ursula von der Leyen and a ‘High-Level Investor Dinner’ with Commissioner Iliana Ivanova.
Briefly she noted the significant talking points: ⬆️ More project finance 💶 Mobilize institutional investors 🤝Double down on public guarantees 🆕 Innovation Fund +++ ✅ EU Climate Bank Needs Laser Focus on Clean Tech 📑Better planning, guaranteed contracts ✔️DG Competition reality check
That set of bullet points gives only the top layer of an incredible amount of work going on in support of clean energy tech to give it momentum and shows just one of Ann’s incredible personal energy and commitment to getting the Clean Energy underway (Link to post)
Designing the Energy Transition with Ecosystem Thinking and Design
By fostering greater collaboration and co-creation within the Energy Industry, it is becoming crucial to consider Ecosystems in design and thinking. Ecosystems designed well are robust for navigating the complex landscape of any Energy transition.
The Energy transition we are all facing has such high levels of complexity and challenge. We are undertaking a radical redesign of our energy systems where renewables based on clean energy, decarbonization or low carbon, new distributed business models and rapidly growing demands for electricity are all compressed into a thirty-year agenda to achieve net zero. Collaboration, cooperation and coordination will be paramount, and this is where Ecosystems and Platform technology will become essential to manage these “multiple” transformations needed.
Here in this post is a structured argument for promoting Business Ecosystem thinking and design for those involved in the Energy System, emphasizing the benefits of sharing IP, knowledge, research, market insights, and general improvement potentials when it comes to considering Ecosystems within the Energy Transitions, where collaborations are growing in importance and need. I outline ten areas of consideration.
So many success stories, specifically across different industries, rely on collaborations and co-creations from essential ecosystem design and thinking. This is partly why I focus on the Energy Transition and Industrial Transformation for my innovation and ecosystem work, as the Energy sector’s potential is enormous for working together and scaling emerging solutions. Managing Ecosystems will become essential.
Energy collaborations are occurring but slower than we ideally want to undertake the massive changes needed to switch energy sources, upgrade systems and infrastructure, and provide reliable energy sources from radically different fuel sources where electricity will dominate our consumers’ needs.
Ask how we can leverage and use Ecosystem thinking and design to promote innovation within the Energy Transition, as it is a powerful approach to radical change. By fostering collaborations and synergies, you can accelerate the development and adoption of innovative solutions for the energy transition.
A range of success stories showcase the value of ecosystem thinking in different industries relating to the energy transition. These are important to emphasise as they recognize the importance of combining a mix of stakeholders, technologies and organizations in interconnected and interdependent ways.
Before we look at examples of ecosystem thinking and designs applied, we should consider a step-by-step guide to using and applying ecosystem thinking and design applicable to the energy transition.
How do we accelerate the Energy transition? What contribution does fresh innovation provide? If we do not learn to share and collaborate more, we will fail. Simply put, the Energy solutions will not scale or resolve the changes and complexities we have in designing a new Energy Structure with radically different designs and capabilities.
I have been revamping my www.innovating4energy.com offering in a more focused way. So besides “latest posts” I raise relevant issues and offer solutions to help traverse differences and individual company needs by suggesting a more open, ecosystem thinking and design in different structured ways to assist in the energy transformation we urgently need.
Questioning the need to change how we approach the Energy transition.
I always determine the end of a year to be a highly reflective one to build out the future rationale, passion, and beliefs in what I do within the Energy transition. You evaluate what you have achieved, missed out on, and built upon all the new understandings and knowledge that constantly “flow” your way.
What really triggered me to go even deeper this year was the outcomes of the CoP28. I wrote a piece “dealing with the raw emotions of the CoP28 event“- it really did “push my buttons”. So much advice and pursuit of making the Energy transition changes seem to be tackled from narrow perspectives, and for me, this needs a very radical rethink and designed approach.
We do seem to be missing out on broader community engagement for this energy transition– I want to change that.
During this year, I felt we were in a growing need to significantly alter the accepted practices of managing the Energy Transition in a new, more innovative, ecosystem-thinking way. Why? We need to engage more broadly in community approaches related to energy. We need a broader energy transition movement.
The goal is to create a more dynamic, interconnected, and adaptable strategy that builds on having a more collaborative mindset on how we approach the transition to shifting energy sources and finding more creative solutions. We must infuse and interact with the community’s thinking to accelerate the energy transition to gain identification, adoption, and change.
So, let’s think of a more “Innovative Ecosystem-Centric Energy Transition Approach”.
That CoP28 was an event that catches many of the basic emotions we are going through for managing the Energy transition to rapidly move towards a safer, sustainable climate and balance with nature.
I was reflecting on the different parts and sought a way to describe these “emotions” as my reflection of the CoP28 event and all it means to me.
The Energy Transition: Navigating a Turbulent Sea
The energy transition is a complex and challenging journey, akin to navigating a turbulent sea. It’s a voyage fraught with both exhilarating opportunities and daunting obstacles, requiring us to steer clear of whirlpools of uncertainty and sail towards the horizon of sustainability.
The search for stability with all the disruption and dislocation. Alamy Stock Photo
How do you reassure those worried that significant changes to their energy system will lead to the inevitable disruption and dislocation none of us like? How can you deal with this to elevate some of those worries? How can we manage so much change occurring to give some level of stability and continuity?
Addressing concerns and reassuring individuals or organizations worried about potential disruption and dislocation resulting from significant changes to their energy systems requires a thoughtful and empathetic approach.
Putting together some areas that are avenues to explore to reduce the concerns, build support, engagement and contingencies are suggested here.
