Johannes Teyssen - Energy industry: Where from here? | Digitalisation

Thank you everybody for being present throughout these three exciting days. It was a first of a kind—not just an Eon Innovation event, but the first online one. It taught us to learn a little quicker. I believe this online format offered a number of advantages: clearly a better reach, easier access for people like you. I believe the debates were much sharper and quicker and changing, and I hope you see it as I do that we sometimes received more tangible results instead of more words. So let's see if it's not one of those things that we better keep than let go. What it reminded us of is that innovation is key for almost everything: for pure questions of survival on this planet, for living a better life, for just being happier and healthier. And for us at Eon, it offers a fast, broad reach of opportunities. We are living at the core of mankind's biggest issue: creating a truly sustainable world, a world that can only be built on the foundation of a different energy landscape. And we at Eon offer, I would say, the most decisive building block of that new energy world. Nothing—nothing, nor renewables, nor hydrogen, nor anything—will evolve without the critical infrastructure that connects the people to the technology. I'm so happy that we decided to double down on such green infrastructure, which is now the most decisive building block for societies at large, for the people we are allowed to serve, and for us as a company. The second building block is our access, our trust—the trust 50 million people put in us, invest in us, and we should not forget that, not for a single second. This undertaking we are talking about is huge, as are our ambitions. Our ambition is to truly improve people's lives—yes, through the infrastructure, through the reach out to the people, and through the solutions—to create a more sustainable world, bringing technology in a sustainable way into the picture, energizing the technology in a green way, and digitizing, enabling energy in a way that is sustainable, and finally giving the power back to the people, allowing those people that we call customers, the politicians, all voters, to have the control and the say in the future of our planet, in the way we solve the energy equation. If you want to be a decisive player in this, I believe one thing is clear: the problem is huge, so we are forced to focus even sharper. There are billions of issues to solve; we need to focus and double down on just a few to truly make the difference. And there we need to apply and bring innovation home, make sure that it truly works in the interest of the people and not just using people as a harvest ground, and making sure that such innovations get scaled and applied, and as I said, into the hands of the people. None of that is possible without technology—be it the hardware, be it the way we produce, we share, we transport energy, but also the software that enables everything to work smoothly, efficiently, and in a safe manner. We should never forget: we do not need to create all technologies, be it hardware or software, always by ourselves, but we should be the ones that truly make a difference in innovating the business models and scaling the technologies and making them applicable to the people and to society at large. There we need to make the true difference. And yes, if in a few bits and pieces we also are the creator of important technologies, hardwares or softwares, that's great, but most importantly we need to be always at the forefront of where technology evolves and then bring it to the people and bring it home. And as I said, the last building block is always the 'we'. You might remember that the American Constitution, at least the documents that survived for more than 200 years, starts with the words 'We the People'. In energy, the people have been disowned for too long, and also in other instances often people were put behind issues. We strive to bring energy to 'We the People'. We cannot do things alone; we cannot do it alone inside nor outside alone. We need to create an open environment that is interesting for the outsiders and attractive for the insiders, where there is the ground where innovation can flourish, where the people can invest trust, and where people enjoy to work. And if we create that environment, I believe you also have created the environment where people will not ask what other people, what society, what technology can offer to them, but as John of ConEd said, what they can bring to the table to make it even better, more sustainable, more supportive for the people, more attractive, and make this planet for a long, long time the place to live, and by the way, make the most attractive place in that Europe, our home, and in Europe as a technology place, as the energy place—obviously Eon. And a final word: we just celebrated the 20th, or in reality the 90th birthday of our company. In average, corporations live less than 10 years before they are taken over, dying, or being dissolved. We have survived 90 years. We have survived also the last 20 years that might have been the toughest battleground that anybody could create. And why so? I think it's because in the end it's about our culture, our adaptability to a changing environment, our dedication to the common course, and the loyalty we invest in each other. And if you combine that culture with an openness and attractiveness to new technologies, to innovation, to solving mankind's biggest issue, I think we today can make the difference. We can make the difference together. And I hope that spirit goes out also from these Innovation Days. And so I invite you all: think about all we've heard, bring your own creativity in, and make sure that we drive the common cause forward in the interest of our customers, of the societies we serve, of mankind's purpose, and obviously sustaining and making this company an even better place to innovate, to work, to live, and to enjoy being together. I thank you all for being here for these three days, and I invite you all to continue innovating, continue fighting the common course, and have fun and stay healthy, and hope to see you either again in a digital online way or embrace your physical if COVID environment allows. So take care, everybody.