Hemma Bieser of Avantsmart on the Importance of Biz Model Design to Drive the Energy Transition.

We sat down with Hemma Bieser, Founder & CEO of Avantsmart to discuss the topics of agility, promising startups and cheap (but dirty) energy in the context of sustainable development and the energy transition.

Avantsmart is Hemma’s brainchild and is exclusively focusing on collaboration with startups and scale ups in the areas of renewable energy and e-mobility with the objective to accelerated the go-to market and customer development. Business model generation, design thinking and the lean startup methodology are the main underpinning frameworks Hemma and her team are capitalizing on. The approach may vary from case to case while the emphasize on validated learning cycles, field testing, customer development and agility are always given components of the process.

The startups she has been pointed out were Twingz which analysis energy consumption data and EET that produces plug & play micro power plants that everybody can put on their balcony. Clearly, we do not lack technology but solutions and business models the market actually is willing to absorb and adopt. With that in mind it was particularly interesting to hear that based on her observations the main challenge startups and sustainable technologies in a broader sense face are the too cheap energy costs. This in turn has resulted in spoiled consumers.

Even though the climate change and its negative impact on humans is well documented and accepted, there is a majority of people that care less about where their energy comes from and solely asses the resource based on its price. This in turn indicates that new incentive mechanisms have to be put into place to funnel citizen’s decision towards the collectively desired outcome. The new EU directive that gives communities more freedom on how to organize local energy communities is certainly a directive that points into the right direction while the real boundaries are of legal nature and not physical.

Where do you expect the biggest leverage for the energy transition to truly unfold? Let us know and we will put it forward to policymakers as we continue engaging with them.