Innovation powering sustainable cities

Speaker : Michel Maschi is Head of EDF R&D’s Global Operations

Smart cities are poised to make a vital contribution to driving sustainable economic growth.

Today, our urban areas are the leading contributor to the world’s energy and water consumption, CO2 emissions and waste production. As cities grow, managing limited resources and protecting the environment will be crucial to their continued success. 

Going forward, the three main challenges that cities are facing are:

– Providing citizens with a high quality of life while limiting impacts on environment

– Adapting cities to climate change, sea level rises and flooding while minimising disruption to people’s lives

– Protecting cities against cyber threats and ensuring citizens’ privacy.

Being a global leader in low-carbon energy and the largest investor in R&D among European energy sector players, EDF Group believe that the application of innovation to industrial expertise will transform how our cities use energy, optimising our collective resources and massively reducing carbon emissions. Today, EDF R&D teams across the world are exploring the technologies of the future while also developing solutions for today, including energy efficiency in buildings, electric transport, smart grids and the integration of renewables into the energy system.

Michel Maschi supervises the activities of EDF Group’s R&D centres in France, the UK, Poland, Germany, China and the USA. His input will open the avenues for a lively debate!