INTELLIGENT VERTICAL: ENERGY
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Fady Kassatly, Senior Vice President, Booz
Allen Hamilton MENA
key players from the renewable energy
sector across the world expressing interest in
financing sustainability against the prospect
of commercially lucrative low-interest loans.
As the UAE continues to move towards a
more sustainable, greener economy, there
are some key considerations that should be
kept at the forefront to avoid any setbacks.
Dr Adham Sleiman, Vice President, Booz Allen
Hamilton MENA, said: “The key to sustainable
success lies in innovation, which is a force
constantly promoted yet all too infrequently
embraced. Energy and utilities companies
often face concerns over the sharing of
intellectual property, stakeholder reluctance to
invest in new research, and financing issues –
all of which can impact innovation.”
To make sustainability a viable alternative,
Booz Allen has identified a number of key
considerations for successful innovation
strategies that could enable GCC energy
players to fuel the region’s growth, long after
the world’s fossil fuels run dry:
• Encourage employee out-of-the-box
thinking: One of the key ingredients
outlined includes encouraging
employees to think outside the box
and making innovation a part of the
corporate mandate. Even for energy
companies rich in natural resources,
human capital counts as their most
valuable asset, and it is imperative that
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INTELLIGENTCIO
Dr Adham Sleiman, Vice President, Booz
Allen Hamilton MENA
they use creative incentives to promote
innovation within the organisation. A
key ingredient in motivating employees
to innovate is to accept failure on the
road to success. It is vital to develop a
‘fail-forward’ culture because unless
employees feel safe to experiment, they
will not be willing to come up with or
share innovative ideas as the fear of
failure and resulting consequences will
overpower their creativity.
• Work out what to share and what
to protect: Industry concerns over
sharing intellectual property have often
hampered the growth of the energy
and utilities sector. Evidence suggests
that the most effective way to access
innovative ideas while protecting vital
intellectual property is to combine both
open and closed techniques. The former
largely revolves around collaboration
between companies on the one hand and
academic institutions, research centres,
start-ups, communities or individuals
on the other. The latter, meanwhile
involves internal R&D and the creation of
corporate ideation platforms. Google’s
mother company, Alphabet, is one
example of how a company can blend
both models successfully.
• Engage stakeholders through
innovative R&D: As a key step to
alleviate the concerns of stakeholders
in the energy and utilities space and
boost investment in research and
ENERGY
COMPANIES
MUST CONSIDER
FOSTERING AN
INNOVATIVE
CORPORATE
CULTURE THAT
ENCOURAGES
EMPLOYEES TO
EXPERIMENT
WITHOUT FEAR
OF FAILURE.
development, organisations must first
make a choice of whether to pursue
fundamental research, or pursue applied
research. Once this choice is made, the
organisation needs to develop a strategy
to make the R&D process more efficient
and transparent. For example, a start-up
could help test a product with a much
faster turnaround, or a crowdsourcing
challenge could be used to create
multiple solutions to an issue. Such an
approach can help manage costs more
effectively, increase stakeholder buy-in
and reduce risk for the organisation.
Fady Kassatly, Senior Vice President, Booz
Allen Hamilton MENA, said: “Innovation is
driving the national agenda of a number
of countries in the region. In the energy
sector, there is a big opportunity to harness
the potential at the grassroots level by
empowering human capital. Energy
companies must consider fostering an
innovative corporate culture that encourages
employees to experiment without fear of
failure. This will go a long way in ensuring
that innovation is not just a buzzword, but
a very tangible outcome of out-of-the-box
thinking that can help address some of the
most pressing global issues today.” n
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