Top Global Energy Leaders Turn Their Eyes to Vilnius
The recent pandemic has not only awakened the world to the climate change but also encouraged businesses to look for more environmentally friendly solutions. Last week, Vilnius hosted the biggest global energy tech and e-mobility conference of the year so far. Due to the outbreak of COVID-19 and travel restrictions, Energy Tech Summit 2020 was moved to an online platform, saving over 900 people from catching flights and significantly contributing to the reduction of CO2 emissions.
As the demand for new and sustainable innovations is growing rapidly, Energy Tech Summit is an annual event, introducing the latest developments in energy and mobility sectors, while bringing an impressive network from the Baltics and Nordics for a constructive debate with Global industry leaders.
Although many conferences were cancelled due to the pandemic, Energy Tech Summit 2020 found an environmentally friendly solution to host the event despite the unprecedented situation. Originally a two-day event taking place in Vilnius in April, was changed to a five-day live virtual event in September.
In 5 days, the conference hosted over 140 top industry’s experts in more than 70 sessions. It was joined by over 900 attendees, more than 120 venture capital funds, 50 corporates, and over 200 start-ups participating from more than 40 countries from 5 continents. The line-up included such energy sector giants as Japan’s Tepco, Italy’s Enel, the UK’s British Petroleum, the Estonia’s Eesti Energia, the Lithuania’s Ignitis, and U.S.-headquartered Chevron. The event also featured representatives from the most substantial venture capital funds, including delegates from Bill Gates’ Breakthrough Energy Ventures and BMW’s venture capital fund BMW i Ventures.
Throughout the event, the viewers also had a chance to observe the finals of New Energy Challengers. It’s an initiative that brought energy, transport and sustainability start-ups from all around the world to compete for equity free money prize, and the attention of global media, and over 75 VC’s and CVC’s.
New Energy Challengers received over 200 applications from 20 countries globally and only 30 top jury voted companies were invited to the finals. Start-up companies competed in six categories that play an important role in the sustainable energy transition: Batteries, Hydrogen, E-mobility, Digitalization, Automation & AI and Future grid. The ultimate winner was announced on Friday, which was Soteria Battery Innovation Group.
Despite New Energy Challengers, the viewers were in for another treat: "Innovation for #EnergySmart World Hackathon". It was a two-day challenge organised by Ignitis Innovation Hub and the Lithuanian Ministry of Energy, where enthusiasts from different fields got together in teams to find the best proposal for the Lithuanian energy sector. The winners of the competition were also announced on the last day of the event.
Since Energy Tech Summit 2020 was a huge success, the next year’s edition will take place 28-29 of April, 2021. It will be a hybrid event dedicated to acknowledging leading investors in the sustainable energy transition that will combine both, virtual and physical platforms.