To meet increasing demands for growth, efficiency and evolution, energy companies have added the new roles of chief innovation officer, chief digital officer, chief transformation officer and chief strategy officer, as well as senior leadership teams for these rapidly evolving and strategically vital new areas of focus.
However, “digital innovation success” is hard to achieve without supporting content, best practices, experimentation and peer dialogue. As energy executives are tasked to push the boundaries of digital evolution, a professionally coordinated support effort is critical for fundamental transformation.
The Energy Innovators Council (EIC), powered by InnovateEnergy, is the first and only dedicated community of leaders in the energy industry who drive digital technology and innovation in their companies.
“EIC is composed of senior leadership from energy companies across the globe, including directors, VPs and C-level thought leaders who are responsible for devising digital innovation strategies or executing technology strategies for digital innovation,” said Sean Guerre, managing director of InnovateEnergy. “Our mission is to serve, support and connect digital innovation leaders. Members can be a part of any area of the energy industry.”
In addition to being avid about running, cycling and craft beer, Guerre is also passionate about launching innovative technology communities, live events, new digital media brands and start-ups. He is focused on having EIC unite leaders in the energy industry to solve challenges by integrating new digital technologies to drive efficiency, build safety and increase overall operational performance. The council is building a leading community where members and the industry can discuss complex challenges and find answers including:
• How do you build your digital roadmap and adapt your company to a changing world?
• Do you have an action plan and benchmarks for becoming more adept at participating in the digital technology revolution and benefiting from it?
• How do you successfully align your digitization strategy with your business strategy to create the greatest impact?
EIC is in its infancy as an organization, but it is already receiving major recognition from energy companies encouraging their leaders to join and share best practices.
“We’ve had over 60 oil and gas, chemical, power utility and engineering firms apply for membership to join the community,” Guerre said. “We have also been identifying and connecting with a large number of energy innovation, automation and digital technology start-ups so we can showcase them to our growing membership and create both awareness and connections.”
Guerre noted new leaders are being named to their roles for innovation or emerging technologies every day. EIC is constantly searching to find these executives and make sure they are aware of the EIC community.
“Going forward, there will be numerous case studies and field trials EIC will be sharing from our members in the coming months to help the industry build their strategies, tactics and roadmaps in the most economical and efficient way possible,” Guerre said. “Our coverage and relationships with start-ups/early-growth companies, accelerators and incubators will grow significantly in the next year, which will allow for even greater insight into the future direction and trends for energy digitization.
“This is a very exciting time for innovation and digital and emerging technologies in the energy marketplace. The enormous benefits early movers will see reflected from their efforts toward digitization and automation make this a vital area for a new community of leaders.”
For more information, visit www.innovators.energy or email seang@stonefortgroup.com.