Central Bank for Energy Innovation Wins Global Competition Aimed at Inspiring Innovation in Energy

LONDON, April 3, 2014 /PRNewswire/ --

The winner of the Energy Realities energy innovation competition managed by The Economist Intelligence Unit and sponsored by Statoil has been announced. The competition was designed to generate ideas and build awareness of innovative solutions to the world's energy challenges.

The winning idea, 'A Central Bank for Energy Innovation', brings together the vision and expertise of the best talents in industry, government and worldwide academia to implement innovative solutions in energy.

The Central Bank for Energy Innovation would monitor research in energy, identify gaps and provide funds to ensure high potential innovations in the energy sector become a reality. This would be a permanent institution, and would be underpinned by hard cash, put to work to deliver tangible results in realistic time frames. The board would reflect the funding provided by stakeholders, but with a one-third stake held by developing countries to ensure the interests of poorer nations are served.

The bank would be run by a small team of permanent administrative staff acting independently of government and corporate stakeholders, and reporting directly to a board of directors who would be rotated every three years to ensure that innovative ideas did not dry up, and that innovative research led to results that could be implemented practically within a certain period of time.

Statoil, the main sponsor of the competition, is a company founded in innovation, that has pioneered many ground breaking, energy efficient technologies, including carbon capture and storage and the 'subsea factory'. As Europe's second largest supplier of gas, Statoil is already contributing to the transition to a low carbon future. The company also invests in research and development for new technologies to improve energy efficiency and develop a more diverse energy mix.

Statoil and the Economist Intelligence Unit launched the global competition as a way to stimulate new creative thinking and build awareness of innovative solutions to the world's energy challenges. Students, graduates, business executives and energy experts were invited to contribute ideas in three categories: 'Skills for innovation', 'Diversifying our energy mix' or 'Ensuring access to energy in developing countries'.

The competition itself culminated in a 90-minute live-streamed webinar this morning, where Peter Stewart an analyst at Interfax, who entered the 'Skills for innovation' category, was announced as the winner.

The judging panel included renowned experts Mark Kenber, CEO of The Climate Group; Christoph Frei, Secretary General of the World Energy Council; Professor Rita Marcella, Dean of Aberdeen Business School, at Robert Gordon University; Dr. Fatih Birol, Chief Economist, International Energy Agency;and Jose Goldemberg, the former Brazilian Secretary of State for Science and Technology.

The two runners up were Diogo Freire, a Consultant from the US for Boston Consulting Group for his idea of a decentralised energy model for Africa based on solar photovoltaics, and Qin Xiang Ng, a student at the National University of Singapore, who proposed using spent coffee grounds to produce biofuels.

In recognition of the winning ideas, all finalists have been awarded a trip to Statoil's 2014 autumn conference, where the IEA's World Energy Outlook is presented and key global energy issues will be discussed by specialists from across the world. Peter Stewart will also have an advertorial in a digital edition of The Economist about his winning entry.

For more information about the competition please visit http://event.wavecastpro.com/energyrealities/