A chat with
Jan Michael Hess, Founder and CEO of Ecosummit
What makes energy transition important to you?
The goal of the energy transition is a smart, efficient and 100% renewable energy system that powers our global economy in a sustainable way for future generations. New technologies invented by startups that often will be brought to the global mass market by corporates play an important role for the energy transition. The faster we can reach the 100% renewable energy goal, the better it is for all of us.
How can we reach this goal? What is the biggest challenge in energy transition?
The biggest challenge is to make smart green products price competitive with conventional products in the global market. As you have seen with wind and solar going down the cost curve to become cheaper than coal, gas or nuclear may take 20 years but it can be achieved. The same will happen with electric cars when the cost of batteries is coming down significantly within the next 5-10 years. Then only stupid consumers will buy cars with internal combustion engines that are bad for the environment and more expensive to operate.
Jan, you have decided to do something about that challenge. How does EcoSummit contribute?
Since 2010, we bring together smart green startups, investors and corporates with a focus on energy, mobility and buildings at our conferences in Berlin, Amsterdam, Stockholm, London and Paris. At Ecosummit, startups look for investors and customers while corporates look for innovation developed by startups that they can bring to their global customer base. A few startups manage to stay independent and become a corporate themselves within 10-20 years. That is the ultimate goal for every founder.
Ecosummit is a series of conferences on innovation & energy in Berlin, Amsterdam, Stockholm, London and Paris.
The next Ecosummit takes place 9-10 May 2017 in Berlin and presents over 50 smart green startups.
