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From Agile to Accelerated Fostering Innovation for Carbon Neutrality
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00:00Hello and a very warm welcome to all of you joining us from wherever you are around the world.
00:04Welcome to VivaTech in Paris and thanks for joining us on this innovation for carbon neutrality session.
00:10My name is Louise Eklund, I'm your host, I'm the journalist here.
00:14If you have any questions in the audience, please use your application to send those questions through.
00:18We want this to be as interactive as possible and those of you watching us from a distance, please do
00:23the same via the application.
00:25So reaching next zero is a very complex situation, of course, and becoming increasingly urgent.
00:34Can companies really solely rely on their internal departments to drive sustainable innovation?
00:41It seems it might not be enough.
00:43And to tell us about ways of driving innovation to accelerate the energy transition, we're here with Julien Vidray, Chief
00:49Innovation Officer at EDF.
00:53Julien, really nice to see you. How are you doing?
00:55Nice to see you. Great. Thank you.
00:56Great to have you on the set here today. Lots of questions to get through. We have 12 minutes together,
01:01exactly.
01:02First of all, why is it important for global groups like yours to foster an innovation ecosystem?
01:10First, I mean, we have to innovate to stay relevant. The world is ever-changing, as you know.
01:16And we have to tackle the biggest issue the world has faced to date, which is climate change, as you
01:24said.
01:24So innovation is key for us to do what we have to do, which is reaching net zero in 2050.
01:31And we need to tackle this problem together. I mean, of course, with our internal innovation, but through open innovation,
01:38through partnerships.
01:39And we all have something to do with it.
01:42OK. So you have fostered an innovation ecosystem with EDF. Can you tell us a little bit about it and
01:49how it works?
01:50Of course. So we're using, in fact, all leverage we can through those relationships with startups mainly.
02:00We do open innovation and partnerships with startups that help us bring to the market, to our clients, those solutions.
02:07But we also invest in startups. We have a corporate venture arm, which is called Pulse Ventures.
02:13And we invested 270 million euros to date in approximately 20 startups.
02:20Some of them are in the audience. Actually, I can see Elliot from Persephone here.
02:25Maybe. Do you mind if you join us?
02:27Come and join us, Elliot. I think it's great to have a case study.
02:29I mean, if Elliot's with us, we should enjoy this moment together.
02:33Sure. First of all, maybe, Julian, you can present Elliot and what the company's doing, and then we can hear
02:38it from your side, Elliot.
02:40Yeah. So Elliot is part of Persephone, which is a company we invested in last year, a few months ago,
02:47actually.
02:48It's an American company working on a carbon accounting software with software with lots of AI benchmarking capabilities.
02:56And it's really quite interesting because we thought they had the best technology.
03:01And I think their interest in EDF is that they wanted to enter the European markets.
03:07And we think there's a huge market in Europe for those kind of solutions.
03:11That's where I think we found our middle ground.
03:15Okay. Wonderful. So Elliot, let's hear from your side.
03:18Tell us a little bit about what you do, first of all, to set the scene.
03:23Persephone in general?
03:24Yeah. Yeah. Persephone.
03:26So essentially, like Julian mentioned, is Persephone is a climate accounting management software.
03:31And so what we do is we work with financial organizations as well as large enterprises across Europe and across
03:38the world.
03:39And we help them measure their carbon footprint through software.
03:43So as Julian mentioned, is we've encoded the most important framework for carbon accounting into the platform,
03:51thus enabling us to do everything automatically and instance calculations on the platform.
03:57Okay. Maybe you can give us an example so we could understand it, like a concrete example of how it
04:01works.
04:02Sure. Absolutely.
04:03So if you'd look at, for example, a fashion retailer, they would have operations all across the world.
04:10They'd be operating, they have very complex supply chains.
04:13And we'd be looking at gathering all types of data from their financial departments, operational departments, supply chain.
04:21We take that data, put it into the platform, and it would actually calculate a carbon footprint
04:27that would really exemplify where the carbon lives within the organization.
04:34Fantastic. So it's like, yeah, go for it. You want to add something?
04:37I mean, carbon, to reach our goals for decarbonization, you need to measure to reduce emissions and then to offset
04:46emissions.
04:47And that's the first brick, actually, is how to measure your emission and how to benchmark yourself with your competition,
04:55for example.
04:56How do you do that? It's through those kinds of software.
04:59So you're saying this is the first brick, so I guess you're pretty happy that you found them, right?
05:03Yeah, of course.
05:04I mean, this is a great accelerator for you guys as well.
05:08As you were saying, it's interesting for you to be integrated into the European market or have this contact with
05:14the European market.
05:15But I'd like to hear it from your, in your words, I mean, why was it interesting to sort of
05:20set this deal up with EDF?
05:23Sure.
05:24Well, they invested in you guys, right?
05:26Yeah.
05:26Yeah, so we're incredibly fortunate to be able to have partnered with EDF because they have extremely deep relationships with
05:35clients all across Europe.
05:37And essentially, we're hoping to be able to help all of their customers, first of all, measure their carbon footprint,
05:42but then also work towards decarbonizing their operations.
05:48Okay.
05:49Okay, great.
05:50Tell us a little bit about what you're doing here as well at VivaTech at the moment.
05:55What are you presenting here?
05:56Sure.
05:57So, essentially, in the same way that we're really looking forward to working with EDF and EDF themselves, but also
06:05their customers,
06:06like really at VivaTech, we're just talking to a very broad ecosystem, both partners, organizations, as well as potential customers,
06:15to really set the scene and showcase what Persephone can do and bring to the European market.
06:22Why did you choose to invest in these guys?
06:26I mean, there's other companies doing the same thing.
06:28What makes them different?
06:29I mean, the technology, really.
06:31They are very advanced.
06:33And I must say, they are very passionate about their topic.
06:36They are a very fast-paced company.
06:38They're developing really, really fast.
06:40And that's what interested us.
06:42I mean, they took a global view on these issues from the start.
06:48And that's something quite interesting.
06:51And it completes our offer.
06:53Because, as I said, you have to measure, but you also have to reduce and offset.
06:57And we created, we incubated our own startups internally at EDF to do those two last things.
07:04And for the record, VivaTech is a low-carbon event because of EDF.
07:10We're helping VivaTech to decarbonize the event through Urbanomy,
07:14which is a company we created two years ago,
07:17which is really a way to assess how to decarbonize cities, companies, and events like this.
07:25And Acteon Farm, which is a company that works on premium offsetting systems.
07:31And, for example, we bought four VivaTech forests near Paris
07:36to help offset the last carbon emissions from the VivaTech event.
07:41I want to go a little bit further into this relationship
07:44and understand how it's actually going to work for me.
07:46If I'm a client of EDF, if I'm a customer, how is this going to benefit me?
07:52Our customer often comes to us and says,
07:56I need to decarbonize my business, my process, my factory, etc.
08:00I don't know how to do this.
08:02It's very complex.
08:04It's very costly.
08:05So help me.
08:06I know you can help us.
08:07Help me.
08:08And our job is to mask this complexity.
08:11It's to offer them the whole, I mean, offer and everything we can to answer those questions.
08:18So their first question, actually, is how do I report, how do I measure, and how do I report my
08:24emissions?
08:25I need to report my emissions in my annual report for a financial standpoint, for example.
08:31And that's where those guys come in.
08:33Okay.
08:34And this is a big stepping stone for you in Europe.
08:36Is this an exciting deal for you guys?
08:40Yeah, no, absolutely.
08:41So as Julien mentioned, EDF is working with all of their customers to work towards that decarbonization.
08:49And we're very fortunate to be able to support them on that data piece.
08:53So, yeah, it's extremely exciting.
08:55Okay.
08:55What other companies are you working with, Julien?
08:58I know there's a lot of exciting things happening at EDF.
09:01So just to make it a bit larger, this is the first stepping stone.
09:04But what else have you got in place?
09:06Oh, I mean, we're working with a lot of companies.
09:08We invested in 20 startups, as I have said.
09:11And, for example, on VivaTech, actually, in the low-carbon park here at Discovery at VivaTech,
09:17you can ask for InnerBrain, for example, which is an Italian company.
09:21We invested in it last year, which is working through IoT, through small sensors,
09:26and a lot of artificial intelligence, of course, to decarbonize the, how do you say that?
09:35Sorry, the commercial operations and buildings, in a way.
09:40And those guys are very interesting because that's a very low-cost solution, very easy.
09:46And, I mean, any client can deploy these solutions in a matter of days.
09:51And that's what we are looking for, is companies, startups, that have very simple technologies that mask the complexity for
09:59the client,
09:59and that can help everyone to decarbonize their businesses.
10:04That's what we do.
10:05And how do you go about actually choosing these startups?
10:09I mean, it must be like a minefield of lots of different and interesting projects, but you have to sift
10:15through them all.
10:15How do you go about that?
10:16Well, the first, I mean, the most important criteria is strategy.
10:20Is this a strategic fit?
10:22A strategic fit for us is something that's of interest to our customers and a company that is a technologically
10:28advanced company
10:29and that can go faster than we can, in a way, because we are a big corporate, and I'm shy
10:36about that.
10:37I mean, we have lots of clients, but we are a big company.
10:41Maybe we're moving a bit slow sometimes.
10:43So we need those guys, those kind of guys, to go faster.
10:46And that's a win-win situation, of course.
10:49Wonderful.
10:50There's a certain sort of movement going on, new momentum that is building for the new generation of green tech
10:56solutions at the moment.
10:58How is this an opportunity for you?
11:01Oh, I mean, I don't know.
11:05For me, it's so obvious it is an opportunity.
11:08I mean, this movement is like benefiting everyone in the society, of course,
11:12but for us, as an energy company, as a leader in decarbonization,
11:17I mean, it's obvious that this is our path to the future.
11:21And if we want to stay relevant in 2050, we have to bring decarbonization to the world.
11:27I mean, that's our mission.
11:29Actually, that's our vision and our raison d'être, as we say in French.
11:33We are here to decarbonize the economy, here to decarbonize the world.
11:37Okay, wonderful.
11:38There's a lot of exciting things going on here, obviously, at VivaTech
11:41over the next few days and a lot of interesting companies that are here to present their projects.
11:47What are you most, I guess, excited about this year, both of you, at VivaTech?
11:53Let's hear from Elliot.
11:54Elliot, what's very exciting for the whole team of Persephone to see is,
11:59I mean, first of all, it's really nice to see the whole EDF team.
12:04But secondly, it's really great to see how the momentum for Persephone is building
12:09and how much interest there is from a lot of customers.
12:12As Julien mentioned, is that we're extremely automated.
12:16The technology is very powerful and it's really starting to show.
12:20Like you see that interest from the financial corporations,
12:24but also other organizations and that's great to see.
12:27Julien, I'm going to give you the last word.
12:29We've got about 30 seconds left together.
12:31But what are you most excited about for this edition of VivaTech?
12:33I have to mention electrification.
12:36Everything is going electric.
12:38And that's a really big deal because if you want to achieve decarbonization,
12:43it's through electricity.
12:44And every energy company, but lots and lots of startups are using electricity
12:49to decarbonize processes, industries, factories, but also our homes.
12:54And that's something quite unique and quite interesting.
12:57Wonderful.
12:58Well, it was an organic discussion like we often have here at VivaTech.
13:01I mean, we just saw Elliot in the backstage and he's in the audience
13:05and he came and joined us and it was great.
13:06It completed the discussion here today.
13:09Well, wonderful.
13:09Well done.
13:10Great solution.
13:11And great for finding them.
13:13You found each other, you two.
13:15Wonderful.
13:15So thanks again for this discussion.
13:18We will end this session and we'll reconvene here in five minutes
13:22to listen to Elliot Grant, Senior Director and Project Lead at X,
13:26the Moonshot Factory.
13:27See you in five minutes.
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