What are the big issues keeping our energy leaders awake at night and busy by day? The 2018 World Energy Council’s Issue Maps show how decarbonisation, decentralisation and digitalisation are now defining trends. Digitalisation is one of the biggest movers in the issues monitor findings over the last five years. Change is happening, and fast.
Current success by New Zealand’s technology and innovation companies comes off the back of sustained past investment in education, training and R&D. But research by Callaghan Innovation shows New Zealand lagging in current investment into research and development projects.
Asa Cox is founder and CEO of Intela AI, a Wellington based data science company. Intela is working with government agencies and commercial enterprises on opportunities across: predictive analytics, video/image analysis, real time data cleansing and many more interesting applications of machine learning and AI. Asa is also an advisor to a number of Wellington startups, including the recent Lightning Lab Electric.
James Muir is the Business Innovation Advisor – Energy & Environment at Callaghan Innovation, New Zealand’s innovation agency. He has a track record of business leadership through thoughtful analysis, creative strategy and adaptable communication and was previously Director of Operations for the power consulting group at Jacobs NZ. He has worked internationally for almost 20 years across sectors including power, finance, oil & gas, government, water and transport and has a particular passion for clean energy and sustainability.
Tina Schirr is the Energy Policy Advisor at the BusinessNZ Energy Council. Her work includes the BEC2050 Energy Scenarios Project, Energy Trilemma Framework, Energy Issues Monitor and Asia-Pacific Energy Leaders’ Summit. Her fields of specialization include the energy industry, energy technology, energy policy and marketing. Tina holds a Master of Science (M.Sc.) Value Chain Management from the University of Technology Chemnitz, Germany and a Bachelor of Arts (B.A.) Management of Energy Utilities from the University of Applied Sciences, Zwickau, Germany, including a semester at the University of Borås, Sweden.