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Keynote conference sponsor ing being transferred into utilities' business as usual. One delegate said that innovation envi- ronments in utilities were managed in a way that would only ever result in continu- ous improvement, or "sustained innovation" as the HP host described it. While this was agreed to be valuable, it would never achieve step change thinking about competitiveness or the delivery of utility services. A critical outcome of the debate was the consensus that technology innovation and the adoption of new technologies was relatively straightforward compared with business model innovation – but that only through combining the two would utilities achieve the disruptive innovations required. The role of collaboration Collaboration has become a buzzword con- stantly associated with innovation. However, as Nick Wainright, director of open inno- vation for HP's European Research Labs, pointed out, "collaboration should not be seen as an end in itself ". It must have a clear role in accelerating value creation. Participants in the roundtable agreed that there was not always a clear purpose to either internal or external collaborative partnerships. They agreed, however, that it would be useful for the industry to have a common platform for collaboration and innovation. Critically, it was agreed that the regulator should have a seat on this platform. A possible aid to more purposeful col- laboration between utilities, their supply chain and the regulator, was identified in Innovate UK's Catapult network. Wainwright highlighted the role of the Digital Catapult in providing an innovation "sandpit" for test- ing technologies and modelling their impact. This month's launch of the Energy Sys- tems Catapult was also acknowledged as a prime opportunity for utilities to embrace disruptive change. JG 14 | 8TH - 14TH MAY 2015 | UTILITY WEEK Conference & exhibition Utility Week Live, 21-23 April, Birmingham Utility Week Live: review I nnovation emerged as a key strand run- ning through most headline topics at Util- ity Week Live. Whether sessions focused on future strategy, trust or the resilience of infrastructure and assets, conversation grav- itated toward the need for innovation. Despite this, there was an overwhelming sense that change-hungry individuals within traditional utilities are finding their ambi- tions frustrated by the conservatism of their organisations, which, it was observed by sev- eral seminar delegates, have little interest in seeing an overhaul of the establishment. This is not to say that incumbent lead- ership actively avoids or quashes radical change. Rather, leaders find their attention channelled ruthlessly on meeting the expec- tations of shareholders and regulators – leading to risk aversion. Without active promotion of innovative thinking and behaviours at the top, there is limited trickle-down. This was recognised as a major limitation and delegates looked envi- ously to fast-paced companies in other sec- tors where innovative thinking was valued, supported and implemented within business as usual – not as a hived-off function. Of course, the ability of utilities to learn from sectors like manufacturing and digital technology is limited by the heavy hand of regulation. Schemes and funds to stimulate innovation are supplied by regulators, but their effectiveness was doubted. Perhaps the overriding message on inno- vation across sessions at Utility Week Live was that business model innovation must be embraced alongside technology innovation. Conversation and presentations proved that while the renewal of the UK's ageing utilities infrastructure with smarter, con- nected assets and customer touchpoints is a big challenge, it is a technical one which the engineering minds of sector experts are far more comfortable with than the struggle to reroute value streams. That said, there was insight at Utility Week Live into projects like Triangulum in Manchester where partners are now simu- lating potential revenue models for the new energy business ecosystems. JG Disruptive innovation Are utilities being blinkered by continuous improvement mindsets? Innovation: embraced or smothered? O ne roundtable debate challenged the utility sector's approach to innovation and struck on some key issues which, if addressed, could enable it to face the future with greater confidence of profitability. Sponsored by global technology leader HP, the debate reached some key findings. Risk and regulation Running critical national infrastructure sys- tems must be done with responsibility and safety at front of mind. However, in a time of rapid technological and social change, accompanied by a wave of assets requiring replacement, participants agreed that utili- ties need to find ways of overcoming their natural risk aversion. Two major hurdles exist before reaching this end. The first is the traditional, hierar- chical structure of incumbent utilities, which was not seen to foster truly innovative think- ing or to allow room for disruptive ideas to be channelled into business as usual. The second is the highly regulated envi- ronment in which utilities work and a lin- gering "parent-child" relationship between companies and their regulators. One del- egate described the focus on their regula- tor as "preventing us from looking to le or right" for innovative ideas that could change operations and business models. It was also observed that where the regu- lators do supply incentives for innovation, they require defined outcomes in term of projected benefits to the consumer. This is understandable, but defined outcomes are contrary to the premise of disruptive innova- tion or "blue sky" thinking. Immature innovation cultures Attendant utilities and representatives from their supply chains were very aware that their organisational cultures do not pro- vide fertile ground for disruptive innovation when compared with non-regulated sectors. There was a general consensus that great value could be derived from looking to other sectors for innovation models, however there was little evidence of observations or learn-