Hack Utilities is an open innovation event for engineers, operations specialists and business developers. It is aimed at creating ingenious and unorthodox solutions for the most pressing issues the Utilities industry is facing.
WHY
Companies across the Utilities industry face similar challenges: ageing infrastructure, increasingly unpredictable supply and demand, and growing impact of climate change. Digital technologies offer a great promise, but a new kind of collaboration is key to solving these challenges: a closer connection between the industry and cities, regulators, scientists, water and energy users and technology companies.
WHAT WE DID
Participants explored (during an early ideation session) the challenges of mutual interest between all ecosystem players. Participants co-created (during the main event) technology-driven solutions for these challenges.
RESULTS
80 participants of Hack Utilities created hundreds of ideas, formed nine teams around the most relevant of those ideas, and validated them over the course of two days from both business and technology perspectives.
Several companies are currently fast-tracking three of the nine projects developed at Hack Utilities: De Watergroep, Merkator, Aqua n and SABCA. Several of the other ideas are under further evaluation by NGage, Fluvius and Luminus.
In addition to the immediate results, the event has helped participants forge new collaborations for the future and explore new technologies.
