DTEK starts scouting innovative solutions in Great Britain with Blue Lake

DTEK starts scouting innovative solutions in Great Britain with a partner, London-based VC firm Blue Lake that works with early-stage startups and looks for innovative solutions for large businesses. With the support of its British partner, DTEK plans to build sustainable partnerships between the Ukrainian and British innovative ecosystems.

“The goal of our partnership is to identify international trends in the development of innovative technologies and business models at an early stage, and to help Innovation DTEK team to implement them into business. We are confident that our joint work will lead to successful pilot projects that will once again prove DTEK's leadership in the innovative ecosystem of Ukraine,” commented David Gilgur, Blue Lake Partner.

DTEK Chief Innovation Officer Emanuele Volpe said that the goal of scouting is to find innovative solutions to increase safety, environmental friendliness and efficiency of business. Solutions must meet UN Sustainable Development Goals and ESG (Environment, Social, Governance) principles that the company adheres to.

“We will focus on new exponential and disruptive technologies that have not yet appeared in Ukraine. This project will contribute to the formation of an Open innovation culture for the sustainable development of DTEK's business. Studying the best world practices, sharing experience, attracting international expertise will help to enhance the adoption of new approaches into the innovative ecosystem for transformation of the Ukrainian energy sector,” said Emanuele Volpe.

According to him, with the help of this project, DTEK will introduce promising innovative solutions in the Ukrainian market, as well as serve as a ‘window’ for Ukrainian startups to the most developed international innovative ecosystem in Europe. He added that DTEK develops partnerships both in Ukraine and abroad, and is an active industrial partner in the international innovative ecosystem.

Chief Innovation Officer said that solutions for decarbonisation, energy storage, carbon neutral hydrogen production and hydrogen system components, as well as solutions for grid flexibility and energy management are top priorities. The best innovative solutions will be piloted in business with the aim of further scaling.