All Energy & Utilities

Article Entergy VP on Driving Sustainability and Running an Innovation Lab
February 2, 2022 | By Alexander MacDougall
Michael Cross explains how Entergy’s KeyString Labs is set up; the need to start with concrete, near-term results; and how his team stays close to customer needs.
Article ExxonMobil Exec on the Three Questions Startups Should Be Asking Corporate Partners
September 14, 2021 | By Lilly Milman
Xinjin Zhao of ExxonMobil shares the top three questions he wishes startup leaders asked corporates during meetings, and other tips for successful relationships.
Article How Shell and AXA Approach COVID-era Corporate Venture Capital
March 5, 2021 | By Kaitlin Milliken
Investors from the insurance firm AXA Next Americas and energy giant Shell shared how they’re approaching corporate venture capital in 2021.
Article How Reliant Energy and Google are Addressing a More Competitive Market
January 5, 2021 | By Lilly Milman
Utility companies typically aren’t known for innovation. But Texas-based Reliant, a subsidiary of NRG Energy, and partner Google are forging a new path…
Article ExxonMobil Exec on Getting Your Innovation Program Started
June 1, 2019 | By Scott Kirsner
Starting in 2014, Christopher Bailey helped to create a new Digital Ventures team and new innovation programming within ExxonMobil’s IT organization, under an umbrella group that was known as #innovation. Here’s his advice on getting a program started.
Article Inside Baker Hughes’ Energy Innovation Center
August 6, 2018 | By Kaitlin Milliken
Four years ago, Baker Hughes opened its Oil & Gas Technology Center in Oklahoma City. This July, the company reinvented the facility, unveiling the Energy Innovation Center.
Article GE VP: ‘The Way We Sold in the Past Isn’t Going to Work’
March 26, 2018
GE VP Cate Gutowski discusses how the company approaches innovation and the importance of weaving the digital thread. Listen to the full call…
Article Fast Prototyping and Feedback at Shell’s TechWorks Innovation Lab
December 28, 2017 | By Kaitlin Milliken, Kelsey Alpaio
Julie Ferland of the Shell TechWorks innovation lab, offers an inside at the space; the types of projects it works on; and the team Shell has assembled from outside the oil and gas industry.
Article How GE Fuse Prototypes with an Online Community
April 17, 2017 | By Kelsey Alpaio
Amelia Gandara of GE Fuse discusses the program's community, and the right and wrong ways to source solutions from outside. Read more for insights.
Article Creating an Place for Innovators at India’s Reliance Industries
March 22, 2017 | By Kelsey Alpaio
Sushil Borde, VP of Innovation at Reliance, discusses how the company is working to institutionalize innovation and the five tenets that guide innovation at Reliance.
Article NRG’s Portable Power Kiosks from Concept to the Super Bowl
February 1, 2017 | By Scott Kirsner
NRG Go’s automated kiosks rent out fully-charged battery packs so that people can recharge their phones and tablet on the go. Find out more.
On Demand Live Call Company Culture Through Grassroots Innovation
November 15, 2016
Christopher Bailey of ExxonMobil, discusses operationally-focused innovation and how ExxonMobil promotes innovation through its Grassroots Innovation Forum.
Article Shell and Thales Execs on Innovation Outposts
July 27, 2016 | By Scott Kirsner
Executives from Shell TechWorks and the Thales xPlor discuss what they hope to accomplish with their Boston innovation labs, and how they're being measured.
Article Treating Projects Like Startups & Keeping Leaders Engaged at Johnson Controls
June 13, 2016 | By Steven Melendez
Johnson Controls’ execs explain how new projects are funded and how they work with senior leadership to make decisions about their fate.
Article At Shell’s TechWorks Lab, It’s ‘All About Deploying’
April 11, 2016 | By Patricia Riedman Yeager
Shawn Murphy of Shell TechWorks shares the lab’s projects, funding, and mission — finding innovative ways to drill for oil and gas, and exploring future energy sources.
Article Operationally-Focused Innovation at ExxonMobil
February 22, 2016
The innovation team at ExxonMobil provides a look at their Grassroots Innovation Forum, focused on sourcing and testing operational innovations.
Article How Elon Musk Builds Organizations That Can Achieve Anything
October 13, 2015 | By Stephen Ellison
We talk to Ashlee Vance, author of a book about Musk, about how the founder of SpaceX, Tesla, and SolarCity hires people, battles bureaucracy, and dispatches problems fast.
Article AECOM’s Innovation Video It Uses with New Hires
April 22, 2014 | By Scott Kirsner
How do you get new hires to contribute to a culture of innovation from Day One? Warwick Absolon of industrial giant AECOM shares a video the company produced...
Article VC the GE Way: Lessons from the Firm’s Strategy
March 31, 2014 | By Scott Kirsner
GE chief executive Jeff Immelt called a meeting in 2012 to rethink the company's investing strategy. The result was the creation of a new GE Ventures team...
Article Lessons from Reliant on Setting Goals
March 18, 2014 | By Scott Cohen
Director of Innovation Scott Burns takes us inside the annual goal-setting process at Reliant Energy, part of the $8.4 billion electricity giant NRG Energy Inc...