Conference Agenda

Overview and details of the sessions of this conference. Please select a date or location to show only sessions at that day or location. Please select a single session for detailed view (with abstracts and downloads if available).

 
Tue09June
Auditorium
Poster Hall
Catering & Exhibition Area
Entrance Hall
8:00am
9:00am
10:00am
11:00am
12:00pm
1:00pm
2:00pm
3:00pm
4:00pm
5:00pm
6:00pm
7:00pm
Welcome Speech by Dag Eirik Nordgård, Workshop Chair
9:45am - 10:00am
Auditorium
Dag Eirik Nordgård
Location: Auditorium
Session Chair: Dag Eirik Nordgård, SINTEF, Norway
Keynote Speaker 1 - Layla Sawyer: Up Against the Clock: Using Innovation to Win the Race Against Time
10:00am - 10:20am
Auditorium
Location: Auditorium

Since 2022, Layla Sawyer is the Secretary General of CurrENT, the voice of innovative grid technology companies in Europe.

She advocates for policies that will speed up the deployment of innovative grid technologies to support the mass uptake of renewables, increase European Competitiveness, and phase out fossil fuels. She was previously Head of Business Development at smartEn, where she worked on demand-side flexibility, digitalisation and the future of prosumer models. She has also worked at Urgenda, a national climate NGOs in the Netherlands, advocating for more urgency in the Dutch energy transition, and she spent a year in the Philippines working for a social investment fund specialized in climate resilient enterprises. She studied Sustainable Business and Innovation at the University of Utrecht, with a special focus on energy and material transitions and p2p energy trading.

Keynote Speaker 2 - Ulrich Adam: The Geopolitics of Electrification: Delivering Decarbonisation, Industrial Strength & Energy Resilience for Europe
10:20am - 10:40am
Auditorium
Location: Auditorium

Ulrich Adam is the Director General of Orgalim, the voice of Europe’s Technology Industries, representing the EU’s largest manufacturing sector and, with it, 770,000 innovative companies operating in the industrial branches of mechanical engineering, electrical engineering and electronics, and metal technology.

As Director General, Ulrich is responsible for setting Orgalim’s strategy, acting as the senior representative of the European technology industries in Brussels and managing the operations of the association.

Ulrich joined Orgalim in March 2025, with more than 20 years of professional experience in European association management and Brussels-based public affairs. He served as Director General of spiritsEUROPE from 2018 to 2025 and Secretary General of the European Agricultural Machinery Industry Association CEMA from 2013 until 2017. Prior to that, he worked nine years for the international consultancy Hill+Knowlton Strategies.

A German national, Ulrich holds a PhD and MPhil degree in History and Social and Political Sciences from Cambridge University (UK).

Round Table 1: Regulation for Innovation – at European / National Level
11:10am - 12:10pm
Auditorium
Quentin Antoine
Location: Auditorium
Session Chair: Quentin Antoine, ENGIE Laborelec, Belgium

Panelists

  • Hannes De Schrijver (Fluvius, Belgium)
  • Santiago Gallego (i-DE (Iberdrola) / E.DSO Member, Spain)
  • Luca Lo Schiavo (ERRA, Italy)
  • Alexis Meletiou (European Commission, Greece)
Scope\nThe transformation of Europe’s electricity distribution networks is not only a technical challenge but also a regulatory one. As grids evolve to integrate high shares of renewables, electrified demand, and digital solutions, innovation becomes essential to ensure reliability, efficiency, and sustainability. Yet, innovation in regulated sectors often faces structural barriers: cost recovery mechanisms, risk allocation, and compliance obligations can unintentionally discourage experimentation and adoption of new technologies.\nRecent European initiatives – such as the Clean Energy Package and evolving Electricity Market Design – signal a shift toward enabling innovation through regulatory frameworks. Concepts like regulatory sandboxes, performance-based incentives, and innovation allowances are emerging as tools to reconcile innovation with consumer protection and system security. At the national level, approaches vary widely: some regulators actively promote pilot projects and flexibility markets, while others remain cautious, prioritizing stability over change.\nThis round table will explore how regulation can become a driver rather than a barrier to innovation. Key questions include:\n\nWhat mechanisms at EU and national level best support innovation in distribution networks?\nHow can regulators balance experimentation with fairness and reliability?\nWhat lessons can be drawn from countries that have successfully implemented innovation-friendly frameworks?\n\nBy bringing together voices from regulatory authorities, system operators, policy makers, and industry experts, the discussion aims to identify practical pathways for embedding innovation into the regulatory DNA of Europe’s energy transition.
Theme 1 Oral Session – New Methods for Planning Reliable, Resilient and Sustainable Networks
1:25pm - 2:55pm
Auditorium
Fabrizio Pilo, Riccardo Lama
Location: Auditorium
Session Chair: Fabrizio Pilo, University of Cagliari, Italy
Session Chair: Riccardo Lama, CEI - Comitato Elettrotecnico Italiano, Italy
Keynote Speaker 3 - Inne Mertens: Innovating as a DSO to Energize Tomorrow
4:55pm - 5:15pm
Auditorium
Location: Auditorium

Inne Mertens is CEO of Brussels distribution network operator Sibelga.

She holds a masters degree of the University of Leuven as an Electrical Engineer. She began her career at Electrabel in 1998. She accompanied the liberalization of the energy market in Wallonia in the early 2000s. Between 2009 and 2021, she was a member of the Executive Committee of ORES, the Walloon distribution network operator, where she was responsible for the Market & Customers department. She is also member of the board of Atrias and Synergrid and Chairman of the Board at the Royal Belgian Society for Energy.

Poster Session 1 (Theme 2 & Theme 3) & Coffee Break
2:55pm - 4:55pm
Poster Hall
Jan Desmet, Ingrid Schürrer
Location: Poster Hall
Session Chair: Jan Desmet, Ugent, Belgium
Session Chair: Ingrid Schürrer, Salzburg Netz GmbH, Austria

The coffee break is sponsored by alfanar.

Coffee Break
10:40am - 11:10am
Catering & Exhibition Area
Location: Catering & Exhibition Area

Sponsored by alfanar.

Lunch
12:10pm - 1:25pm
Catering & Exhibition Area
Location: Catering & Exhibition Area
Welcome Drinks Reception
5:15pm - 6:15pm
Catering & Exhibition Area
Location: Catering & Exhibition Area

Sponsored by Sibelga.

Registration & Welcome Coffee
8:00am - 9:45am
Entrance Hall
Location: Entrance Hall

User your QR code to check-in to the workshop and enjoy a nice coffee before the sessions start!

The welcome coffee in sponsored by alfanar.