More than 1400 attendees from more than 30 countries gathered at SPE Intelligent Energy 2016 in Aberdeen this week as the industry brought together international experts and technology developers to explore progressive smart technology.
The theme of the three-day event was ‘New Horizons: Intelligent Energy in a Changing World’. The exhibition showcased the latest smart technologies and intelligent energy solutions at the seventh edition of the biennial event being held for the first time in Aberdeen.
Asgeir Drøivoldsmo, SPE Intelligent Energy 2016’s Programme Committee Conference Chair, is the Principal Research Scientist with the Institute for Energy Technology in Norway.
He said: “Despite the downturn, SPE Intelligent Energy 2016 and Aberdeen has welcomed a high number of visitors from around the world and across a wide range of sectors and technical disciplines. The event explored a broad range of topics from big data and automation to robotics and artificial intelligence and the unified response from attendees is that IE has huge potential to reshape and galvanise activity in the energy industry.
“The challenge going forward is for everyone to learn more about smart solutions which are already on the market and we need to do this quickly. There must be more focus on how to make implementation happen within companies. This can free time and investment to develop and enhance our capabilities and efficiencies. Unsurprisingly, many of the key speakers have put the focus firmly on organisational and human elements to drive intelligent innovation in the future, which is critical, and necessary, to realise improved performance and value.”
As in previous editions, the 2016 conference has been produced by SPE and comprised of a three-day technical programme with more than 75 papers covering topics including technology, integrated operations, workflow examples and solutions, leadership, cyber security and big data. The exhibition, organised by Reed Exhibitions, showcased new and developing technologies and expertise by leading technology providers.