Diego Pavia - The European Commission has outlined an agenda focusing on clean energy and industrial transition as vital for European prosperity. Its Clean Industrial Deal aims to turn decarbonization into a growth and job creation driver for Europe by lowering energy prices and fostering the right conditions for EU cleantech champions to thrive.
Cleantech has successfully supported European decarbonization, as well as its innovation and competitiveness objectives-ultimately, decarbonization and innovation are tightly interconnected here. Besides, momentum has sharply decreased in the US, and China’s demand for cleantech products and services is not as buoyant as forecasted, leading to oversupply. Europe and its single market is conducive to a robust clean energy demand, possesses superior technology, and is encouraged by regulatory simplification promises from the new Commission. However, a significant growth capital gap must be addressed, estimated at €800 billion annually, to realize the full potential of its cleantech ambitions.
Cyril Garcia - In the context that Diego described, InnoEnergy is Europe’s sustainable energy innovation engine.
At Capgemini, we consider that there is a major energy dominance battle today in the world, and, together with Gen AI, energy is the new power play. Our partnership fosters a sustainable future through innovative energy solutions that are creating value, jobs, and synergies in a community of startups and corporate partners with the goal of de-risking and accelerating climate tech deployment across various industries. Our deep sector expertise combined with our intelligent industry capabilities enables their startups to scale quicker.
D.P. - It’s clear no single solution will suffice. A comprehensive value chain approach is essential, as competitors can exploit weaknesses in any link. If I had to bet on a cleantech, I’d choose storage hybridized with renewables. Europe uses 13,000 TWh/year of energy. In 2040, with an electrified economy, the same energy consumption will be 9,000 TWh/year, at constant footprint-so, the same demand but much more efficient. Renewables are not 24/7, but renewables combined with distributed storage can cover 70% of Europe’s energy demand, with the rest served by existing hydro plus a few new nuclear power plants. By 2040, Europe will be over the tipping point and our economy will be independent from third countries as far as energy is concerned. It will be a completely different world, where Europe is back in the game as a leader, with affordable, green, and abundant energy.
C.G. - Our clients are focused on putting assets at scale and accelerating the ramp-up of innovative early-stage solutions. Gen AI models must accelerate innovation in critical areas. InnoEnergy is a great real-time check of the innovation pulse in clean energy. Numerous climate tech solutions exist but scaling them remains a challenge due to the current technical-economic landscape. Our partnership with InnoEnergy aims to accelerate manufacturing and deployment of these solutions to new industrial scales. Successful climate technologies depend on collaboration across the entire value chain, encompassing hardware development and software/AI applications, all driven by global partnerships.
