The World Future Energy Summit, the leading business event for future energy and sustainability, ended its 15th edition in January 2023, setting a new visitor record. Visitor numbers rose 242% on 2022, topping a total turnout of over 30,000 with global energy professionals descending on Abu Dhabi National Exhibition Centre (ADNEC) for three days of hyper-powered knowledge-sharing, forward-focused showcases, and partnership deals. The event also set a record for international visitors, an increase of 14% on 2022, with industry professionals travelling from all continents for the event.
“We had anticipated an uptick in visitor attendance following a 143% rise in pre-registrations, but the final visitor tally, and strong international participation, surpassed our initial expectations – a clear demonstration that energy and its transition is now the pressing issue of our day,” explained Leen Alsebai, Head of World Future Energy Summit, and General Manager of Summit organiser RX Middle East.
The global focus on energy transition solutions also saw World Future Energy Summit exhibitor numbers reach a new high. The summit featured 330 exhibiting companies from across the globe, with 58 making their first appearance at the show, accounting for an 18% uplift in exhibition space compared with 2022. Overseas exhibitor participation rose 23% year-on-year with local participation recording a 14% rise. The UK and India were two newcomers with national pavilions, taking the total number of country pavilions to nine.
The event, hosted by Masdar as part of Abu Dhabi Sustainability Week and living up to its over-riding theme by being powered with clean energy supplied by the Emirates Water & Electricity Company (EWEC), which supplies power and water to the Abu Dhabi region, witnessed packed stands throughout its six exhibitions.
“We have received tremendously positive feedback from visitors who were particularly satisfied with the diversity of exhibitor representation, the super-charged level of innovation on display, the vertical segmentation and the business that ensued, all evidenced in our net promoter score ranking higher than ever. We also saw a number of high-level partnerships and MoU’s signed onsite, cementing the World Future Energy Summit as one of the region's leading platforms to do business” added Vasyl Zhygalo, Managing Director, RX Middle East.
For exhibitors, the event proved to be a technology showcase, business generator, investment incubator, new market access route and knowledge disseminator all rolled into one.
Global solar PV and energy storage solutions provider SOFAR launched its new innovative 100-125KTL-G4 inverter which quickly attracted business wins from Nanosun, Beacon, Noon Energy and Almajd while the UAE’s KNOX FXCO UAE signed an agreement with Solpanet for the distribution of the Chinese manufacturer’s leading-edge inverters.
The 2023 Summit also witnessed the arrival of the region’s first Carbon Capture and Mineralization (CCM) project by an energy company. ADNOC partnered with Oman’s 44.01 for a Fujairah pilot to turn the Muscat company’s Earthshot prize-winning CCM technology into rock to eliminate CO2 from the atmosphere, in co-operation with Abu Dhabi’s Masdar and the Fujairah Natural Resources Company.
Exhibitor satisfaction was evident. Mohammed Saadi, head of technical services and product management for Chinese module maker JinkoSolar said the event produced key take-aways for future planning. “We consider World Future Energy Summit as a lead generator for the development of our strategy for the region in terms of products and technology. This was our ninth time here, and we saw even more global players than in 2022. We also had the opportunity to meet with important consultants and media onsite, making this a very lucrative presence for us.”
Mohit Shrimal, Marketing Director for Huawei, said the event’s wide geographical visitor footprint was behind its regular World Future Energy Summit participation. “It provides easy access not just to the Middle East but also to the African market,” he explained.
Throughout the event the GCC’s prospects as potential green hydrogen exports were a hot talking point.
The Green Hydrogen Innovation Hub, which debuted at the 2023 event, quickly paid dividends for participants who demonstrated solutions to accelerate hydrogen adoption. The USA’s Ally Power reported that its Hub participation could lead to its breakthrough hydrogen electric fuelling station (HERS) platform being prototyped in the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia by early 2024.
“The Summit is proving to be a breakthrough venue into the Middle East, which we have identified as a high potential market due to the amount of activity taking place in the green hydrogen sector and the appetite for investment in it,” commented Walt Alfred, CEO of Ally Power.
There was standing-room-only across the five dedicated forums, which individually focussed on energy, water, EcoWaste, solar, smart cities and climate and the environment.
“We heard great outcomes from these knowledge-sharing forums, which enabled participants to gain clarity on a raft of issues, including the expanding legal requirements relating to sustainability and waste management, the impact of IoT, AI, data analytics and machine learning on building management systems, closing the loop on the circular economy through food support, waste processing strategies and the most promising markets for big solar projects,” explained Zhygalo.
The 2023 Summit’s knowledge-sharing programme was the most extensive and diverse in the event’s history, delivering in excess of 200 hours of expert and informed content across specialised Forums and subjects. The speaker platform calibre rose to a whole new level encompassing four times the previous representation of governmental and international organization officials, a strong C-suite contingent of 162 CEOs, presidents, founders, and partners of leading companies and with almost a quarter (24%) female participation.
Inaugurating the Solar & Clean Energy Forum Carlos Gascó Travesedo, Energy Policy Executive Director, Abu Dhabi Department of Energy, said the Summit plays a “fundamental” role in progressing the path to energy transition. “It’s a great opportunity to network, and a fundamental component of knowledge sharing,” he said.
ENOWA, the energy, water and hydrogen subsidiary of the new Saudi smart city NEOM, used World Future Energy Summit to demonstrate its innovative approach to new-gen ultilities provision for the mega-city development and hosted a well-attended one-day-only ENOWA ENACT conference to engage the wider industry. A key takeaway from the conference was a call for partners to help realise the transformative circular economies of the futuristic destination in the Kingdom’s Red Sea coastal province of Tabuk, which will be the size of Belgium.
With an impressive local, regional, and international media attendee contingent surpassing 400 from broadcasters, trade publications and mainstream outlets, World Future Energy Summit 2023 also proved its worth as an attention-grabbing launch platform. The occasion was seized by COP 28 which used the event to launch its ‘One World’-inspired logo for the 2023 session of the Conference of the Parties which will be held in Abu Dhabi in November/December.
And as Summit organiser RX Middle East turns its attention to the 2024 edition, which will run at ADNEC from April 16-18 next year, World Future Energy Summit head Alsebai said collaboration will be key to the refined agenda.
“Energy transition, the circular economy and the battle against climate change are global issues and require a cross-continental partnership approach. The 2024 Summit, taking place in a region with a keen appetite for collaboration, will be the platform on which these partnerships will be forged and nurtured to deliver a better world for the energy industry at large, all of its participant stakeholders and the people that rely on the sector,” explained Alsebai.
The World Future Energy Summit is hosted by Masdar and is part of Abu Dhabi Sustainability Week, a global platform for accelerating the world’s sustainable development. The event was held in partnership with ENOWA.
