LUX FORUM AMSTERDAM
Innovation Under Pressure: Technology Strategies for a More Constrained, Competitive Europe

From Signals to Strategy: Navigating the Next Wave of Technology Innovation using Lux’s Tech Signal

Technology scouting has long been a core capability for energy and chemical companies, helping organizations identify, evaluate, and act on emerging technologies as they move from early validation toward pilots, partnerships, and deployment. These are the technologies already visible in the commercial landscape: supported by startups, corporate activity, investment signals, technical progress, and market pull. Yet many organizations now face a growing challenge: no single technology domain commands universal attention. AI has overtaken climate tech as the dominant innovation force, and the next wave of energy and chemical innovation is becoming harder to read.

In this presentation, Lux Research will share how Lux’s Tech Signal framework helps organizations navigate this uncertainty by identifying and assessing technologies that are emerging into commercial relevance. Drawing directly from Lux Tech Signal data, the session will highlight technology areas poised to shape the next phase of the energy & chemical transition and show how companies can translate visible market and technology signals into strategic advantage.

Mukunda Kaushik
Associate Research Director at Lux Research

Matilde della Fontana
Analyst at Lux Research

The Grid Bottleneck: Unlocking Capacity for Europe’s Energy Transition

Europe’s energy transition is now inseparable from energy security. Still recovering from the supply shock triggered by the crisis in Ukraine, the region faces renewed pressure from instability in the Middle East, reinforcing the strategic imperative to reduce exposure to volatile fossil resource markets. Accelerating electrification across industry, transport, heating, and buildings will be central to Europe’s decarbonization and resilience goals, but it will also place unprecedented demand on a grid that is not yet ready for the scale, speed, or variability of the transition.

In this presentation, Lux Research will examine grid flexibility as a critical lever for maximizing existing electricity infrastructure and enabling faster, more resilient electrification. We will explore how hardware and software solutions can work together to unlock flexibility, highlight real-world deployments already creating value, and identify the key bottlenecks that must be addressed. Attendees will leave with a clear view of the actions energy companies, industrials, technology providers, and policymakers can take to better utilize existing grid capacity and turn flexibility into a strategic advantage.

Anirudh Bhoopalam, Ph.D.
Analyst at Lux Research

Juan Camilo Cortes
Analyst at Lux Research

The Refinery at a Crossroads: Survive, Thrive, or Retreat  

For decades, refineries have played a clear role in the energy and chemical system: converting crude oil into fuels, petrochemical feedstocks, and other essential products. That role is now being challenged from multiple directions. Demand for core products declines, newer integrated assets erode competitiveness, crude supply becomes less reliable, energy costs make production uneconomic, and carbon costs undermine the license to operate. For refinery majors, the question is no longer only how to optimize today’s asset base, but how to prepare for multiple futures in which the traditional refinery model comes under structural pressure.

This presentation will introduce a scenario-based framework for evaluating the strategic options available to refinery majors. We will examine how companies can respond across five potential disruptions through three strategic postures: survive, thrive, or retreat. The session will map these postures to enabling technology pathways — from operational efficiency and crude flexibility to biorefining, petrochemicals integration, electrified refining, carbon utilization, and asset repurposing — and highlight how leaders can distinguish no-regret technology options from more situational bets.

Cansu Doganay
Analyst
at Lux Research

Runeel Daliah
Penganalisis Utama di Lux Research

Finding and Assessing Innovation Providers

This session introduces Lux Lists and Innovator Assessments, two proprietary tools designed to help innovation teams scout technologies faster and with greater confidence in a resource-constrained environment. Attendees will learn how Lux combines AI-enabled screening with deep analyst curation to deliver a comprehensive view of emerging technology landscapes. The presentation will also unpack Lux’s Innovator Assessment methodology, refined over 15 years, and show how consistent, data-backed evaluation can identify winning startups earlier.

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Ideathon: Innovating for a Resilient Europe

Europe’s energy and industrial systems are being tested by a convergence of pressures: geopolitical volatility, infrastructure constraints, electrification demand, and energy security concerns. Building resilience is no longer only about securing supply or reducing exposure to shocks; it is about strengthening the systems and value chains that Europe will depend on through the next phase of its transition. Across the startup landscape, a new generation of innovators is emerging with technologies that can help address these challenges — from grid flexibility and distributed energy management to industrial efficiency, alternative feedstocks, and infrastructure resilience.

In this Lux Ideathon, we will host a live pitch session spotlighting emerging startups that can meaningfully support Europe’s resilience agenda. The session will highlight innovators developing practical solutions for a more flexible power system and a more adaptive energy and chemicals sector. Attendees will have the opportunity to evaluate how these startups could help companies respond to disruption, unlock new sources of flexibility, and build strategic advantage in a more constrained and competitive Europe.

Moderator:

Karthik Subramanian
Analyst at Lux Research

Guest Speakers TBA