As Aussie environmentalists and renowned clean tech thought leaders, we are thrilled that Danny and Saul joined us when back in Australia.
Watch this lively debate attended by more than 100 industry leaders online and at our UNSW campus.
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About the event
The complexity and scale of what's needed to mobilise the the right resources to supply the world with 100% clean energy can be overwhelming.
With major disruption and innovation happening in equal measure, how do we ensure discoveries move from the lab to the economy to create real world impact?
Saul Griffith has the answer! In his book Electrify - launching in October 2021, Saul outlines his blueprint to electrify everything. In so doing, we create jobs and a healthier planet.
Danny Kennedy joins from Silicon Valley with insights from his entrepreneurial journey. Now at New Energy Nexus, where he runs programs across China, India, US and Africa help clean tech entrepreneurs with funding, support and networks, Danny will share learnings from founder journeys around the world.
About Danny Kennedy
Danny Kennedy is the CEO of New Energy Nexus, connecting entrepreneurs everywhere to capital to build an abundant clean energy economy that benefits all. New Energy Nexus is a global platform organization for funds and incubators, with chapters in the USA, China, Indonesia, Vietnam, Thailand, the Philippines, Uganda, and India. He acts as Managing Director of the California Clean Energy Fund, overseeing the CalSEED.fund of $25m for very early-stage companies driving innovation and building equity in the California economy and the $12m CalTestBed initiative with UCOP.
About Saul Griffith PhD
Saul Griffith is an engineer and inventor. He is the co-founder and Chief Scientist at Rewiring America, a nonprofit dedicated to fighting climate change and jump-starting the economy through widespread electrification. As Founder and Chief Scientist at Otherlab, an independent R&D lab, he helps government agencies and Fortune 500 companies understand energy infrastructure and deep decarbonization. He’s been a principal investigator and project lead on federally-funded research projects for agencies including NASA, Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), Advanced Research Projects Agency–Energy (ARPA-e), National Science Foundation and United States Special Operations Command (SOCOM). He was awarded the MacArthur “Genius Grant” in 2007.
About Scientia Professor Martin Green AM
Martin Green is the globally renowned as the ‘Father of PV’ and invented the PERC solar cell in 1983, that in 2020 is estimated to be 85% of worldwide solar module production. Martin is a Scientia Professor at the UNSW Sydney and Director of the Australian Centre for Advanced Photovoltaics.
Martin’s group's contributions to photovoltaics are well known and include holding the record for silicon solar cell efficiency for 30 of the last 37 years, described as one of the “Top Ten” Milestones in the history of solar photovoltaics. Major international awards won by Martin include the 1999 Australia Prize, the 2002 Right Livelihood Award, also known as the ‘Alternative Nobel Prize’, the 2007 SolarWorld Einstein Award, the 2016 Ian Wark Medal from the Australian Academy of Science and the prestigious Global Energy Prize in 2018.
About Professor Renate Egan
Renate is Co-Founder and Chair of Solar Analytics.
Renate joined UNSW in 2014 after a 20 year career in industry where she led manufacturing and technology development in Australia, Germany and China and is a leading authority on manufacturing costing and technology transfer.
Professor Renate Egan is Deputy Head of School (Engagement) and leads the UNSW activity in the Australian Centre for Advanced Photovoltaics, the national centre for photovoltaics research led by UNSW, in partnership with ANU, UQ, CSIRO University of Melbourne and Monash, with the objective to work together on the next generation of photovoltaics.
About Justine Jarvinen (JJ)
JJ is an energy executive with international experience spanning the energy, finance, education and non-profit sectors over 27 years. JJ has a wealth of experience across the entire energy value chain, and has worked in operational, investment analyst, strategy and advisory roles in Australia and the UK for organisations such as Exxon, Shell, JBWere and AGL Energy.
JJ is CEO of the UNSW Energy Institute, Chairman of energy technology company Wattwatchers, non-executive director of ASX-listed Milton Corporation, and director of Climate-KIC Australia.