I aim to put more innovation into the front end of Energy

I see the front end of energy as the critical feeding-in point for the energy transition. So what does this mean exactly?

The front end of energy for me is the point of discovery and validation. It is the place I feel I can make the best contribution within the energy transition. The discovery is where the stimulus and catalyst point to take an idea to commercialization. 

This capturing, evolving, exploiting and exploring needs a clear management process and the understanding of how to undertake this. This needs a focused innovation specialist or a systematic approach to building those innovating capabilities and capacities.

I believe there is a real gap for many organizations involved in the Energy industry, often in the recognition, they are lacking a real lasting robust innovation capability, capacity and competency, as the sustaining way to help accelerate the Energy Transition journey.

There is often a mistaken belief that they are undertaking innovation as they simply react and copy others, not recognizing their own distinctive needs and never building their innovation capacity in systematic ways.

Innovation is vital to the energy system’s evolution, its need to be fully integrated and operational in design, and we need to further recognize its crucial role.

I certainly argue the systematic approach for the Energy transition

Innovation begins with discovery, then it moves through the innovation pipeline through its experimenting, validating, testing, often multiple trials, commissioning and eventual commercialization roll-outs.

The early you can do this validation, investigation, and conversation, my front end of energy, the better. We need to always relate, even “ground” the thinking and determine the real value and potential as a progressive journey and sometimes the external person can become a valuable partner in this process to keep the thinking on track.

Innovation is made up of many enabling technologies that support energy.

This complexity requires innovative approaches to be built in highly systematic ways. Its ultimate result is to offer innovation that can continually look for re-imagining new market designs and business models to stimulate the changes and solutions for our future energy transformation.

To undertake the Energy Transition requires a radical transformation in the way we supply, transform, and use energy. This requires a profound transformation in technologies, systems, and infrastructure. The complexity in the discovery, validation and lengthy process time to fruition is highly challenging.

Having a “system of innovation” enables the potential concepts to be captured in common, identified ways for all involved, the inventor, the developer and production groups to identify with the evaluation process.

When you establish a recognized system that others can follow as it is transparent to all, you can evaluate innovation activities through common “hurdle points” and evaluation criteria. It focuses on efforts that bring common identity and purpose.

What do I mean by a systematic process here?

Well, we know that Innovation often begins with discovery, a new realization something can make a fundamental change to what is existing. That concept then moves through the innovation pipeline, through its experimenting, validating, testing, often multiple trials, commissioning and eventual commercialization roll-outs.

That can be fairly complex and demanding. It needs a combination of solution understanding (researchers, engineers, designers) but it also needs a constant “mapping back” to the commercialization and to relating to the other stakeholders that can help facilitate or block progress.

There is nearly always a need to bridge the awareness gap or others to provide the validation. Knowledge is gained when it is shared and exchanged. I put a lot of my time into researching the energy transition.

Often external views can make a decisive difference in any discussions, they offer independence to balance the vested interests often defending what they have, and can show a different way to see new possibilities.

I have focused increasingly on the Energy transition, it fascinates me

Besides writing about innovation and energy on two dedicated blogs of innovating4energy.com and digital4energy, I recently launched a  website of innovating4energy.website, for my business offering.

I set out to offer the external perspective to those busy inside organizations by focusing on mapping out the future of energy and where they fit and what gaps they have in need to fill.

This role is to support, complement, and provide different value points to this thinking and eventual work. I see this as more advisory to complement their insights, more feeding into and augmenting their expertise with different points of value.

My role is to be a “translator” and take the innovator’s perspective looking for fresh opportunities, supporting and accelerating your existing ideas and concepts.

We need to relate, even “ground” thinking and determine the real value and potential. to leverage all that innovation offers the energy transition.