Energy: Innovation, Policy & Business Strategy

Catalog description

The energy industry is undergoing a profound transformation driven by technological innovation, policy shifts, and changing market dynamics. In recent years, this transformation has exploded with the rise of AI and the insatiable need for compute and energy to power it. This growth has created a clash between the free-wheeling way of Silicon Valley and the heavily regulated energy industry. In energy, regulation plays a central role in determining which technologies scale, which business models succeed, and how quickly innovation reaches the market. Understanding this interplay between technology, markets, and policy is essential for anyone seeking to build or invest in energy businesses. This course explores the rapidly changing energy landscape, with a particular focus on the electricity grid. Students will examine how entrepreneurs and innovators can harness emerging technologies to create new companies, reshape incumbents, and accelerate the energy transition. Through a combination of case discussions, analytical frameworks, and guest speakers from across the industry, each session will focus on a critical business challenge at the frontier of energy innovation.