EGNI 2023

Author Global World Atlas Licence CC BY-SA 4.0 Source Wikimedia Commons

 

Jane Lambert

"Egni" is Cymraeg for "energy" and there is a lot of it about in Anglesey both physically and metaphorically. Both kinds came together yesterday in EGNI 2023 at the Menai Science Park. EGNI 2023 was advertised as "THE low carbon and renewable energy event of the year." It consisted of a conference and exhibition with a parallel event for local schoolchildren.

The conference consisted of four sessions on the following themes:

• Why Net Zero?
• How are we doing it?
• Strategic and Large Energy Projects
• Young Persons' Panel.

The first session was launched by an impressive speech from a local sixth former called Owain. He did not say what he intends to do for a living but he has every chance of distinguishing himself in whatever career he chooses to follow. Owain was followed by speakers from the Welsh Government, Ambition North Wales the local authority and other institutions. The second session focused on local initiatives to achieve net zero. The third session was a panel discussion with representatives from BP, Rolls Royce, HyCymru (the Wales Hygrogen Trade Association) and other organizations on large-scale projects to develop renewable and nuclear resources. For the final session, Owain returned with another local sixth former called Seren and a student from Bangor University to quiz M-SParc's managing director and two of the speakers on their personal commitments towards achieving net zero. During the lunch and tea breaks, we were entertained by local artist Josh Weaver. The conference finished with a short concert by Eve Goodman.

I enjoyed all the presentations and learned a lot from each of the speakers but for me as an intellectual property lawyer, the panel discussion on strategic and large energy projects was the most interesting session The transition from fossil fuels to renewables and nuclear energy is potentially as important as the transition from animal power to steam in the 18th century. Every major economy is investing heavily in wind, solar, tidal and other renewable energy sources and the rewards for the companies that develop those technologies first will be substantial. With abundant wind and tidal power and half a century's experience in nuclear power generation, Anglesey is well placed for those developments. I invited the speakers to consider the worldwide licensing opportunities from those developments in a question to the panellists.

Yesterday was not the first time that M-SParc considered those opportunities. The theme for World Intellectual Property Day in 2020 was Innovate for a Green Future which the science park celebrated with presentations on the Intellectual Property Office's Green Channel and the WIPO Green database (see Anglesey to celebrate World Intellectual Property Day with Talks on Protecting and Exploiting Green Innovation at M-SParc 5 March 2020).

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