ENERGY-VAULT
16.6.2020 09:32:07 CEST | Business Wire | Press release
Energy Vault , the creator of products that combine conventional physics with advanced machine vision software to provide utility-scale storage of clean energy, today announced its selection as one of the World Economic Forum’s Technology Pioneers of 2020. Energy Vault’s gravity-based, long duration storage technology is transforming the way electricity is stored and distributed, making it possible – for the first time – for renewable energy to be dispatchable and competitive with fossil fuels all day, every day.
This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20200616005363/en/
The World Economic Forum Technology Pioneers of 2020 are 100 of the most promising companies that are shaping industries from agriculture to healthcare, while also working on sustainability issues and much more. As governments around the world consider the possibility of pursuing a green recovery from the Covid-19 pandemic, Energy Vault’s technology is providing a cost-effective solution for governments and commercial enterprises to “build back better” while maintaining their commitments to tackling climate change.
Consumption of fossil fuels has dropped dramatically in recent months, reducing costs while increasing demand for renewables. As renewable energy is dependent on intermittent sources, reliable and affordable energy storage is an essential component of solidifying this progress and eradicating dependence on fossil fuels.
Energy Vault’s specially designed crane uses proprietary technology and machine vision software to autonomously orchestrate the lifting and lowering of massive composite bricks made from locally sourced soil or waste materials. Able to connect directly into national utility grids or to directly support off-grid renewable generation, the storage systems are deployed by energy providers such as utilities and other large industrial energy consumers. Energy Vault installations also localize their brick manufacturing, construction and ongoing maintenance, bolstering local economies and creating jobs. The company’s first utility-scale, commercial demonstration unit is under final commissioning in Switzerland and will be directly connected to the Swiss national grid in order to demonstrate full charging and continuous power discharging capabilities.
The World Economic Forum’s Technology Pioneers are early to growth-stage companies from around the world that are involved in the design, development and deployment of new technologies and innovations, and are poised to have a significant impact on business and society. The Technology Pioneers community is an integral part of the larger Global Innovators Community of start-ups at the World Economic Forum.
“We are pleased that the World Economic Forum continues to recognize both innovative and economic solutions that will help reduce our fossil fuel dependency,” said Robert Piconi, Chief Executive Officer and Co-Founder, Energy Vault. “Now is the time for the world to take substantive action. In the U.S., for example, the pandemic period has resulted in renewable energy consumption surpassing coal power for the first time in 130 years. Government policy makers and private sector companies have an historic opportunity to make a bold and fundamental choice: seize this opportunity to invest in powering our future economic growth with clean energy to preserve our planet for all future generations to come, making 2020 the inflection point in carbon emissions in our world’s history – or return to carbon emission growth to meet energy demand through the irresponsible expansion of fossil fuel energy generation, jeopardizing the future quality of life of our global ecosystems. A clean, sustainable recovery will help avert another devastating global crisis, and Energy Vault is uniquely positioned to make that an affordable reality while supporting local economies as they recover. As a member of the Global Innovators Community, Energy Vault will continue to pursue our mission to accelerate the pace of sustainable clean energy adoption while stimulating economic recovery to more locations and institutions around the world.”
“We’re excited to welcome Energy Vault to our 20th cohort of Technology Pioneers,” said Susan Nesbitt, Head of the Global Innovators Community, World Economic Forum. “Energy Vault and its fellow pioneers are developing cutting-edge technologies all over the world. Beyond their innovations, these firms are contributing greatly to improving the state of the world.”
This year’s cohort selection marks the 20th anniversary of the Technology Pioneers community. Throughout its 20-year run, many Technology Pioneers have continuously contributed to advancement in their industries, while some have even gone on to become household names. Past recipients include Airbnb, Google, Kickstarter, Mozilla, Palantir Technologies, Spotify, TransferWise, Twitter and Wikimedia.
Following Energy Vault’s selection as Technology Pioneer, Mr. Piconi will be invited to participate at World Economic Forum activities, events and discussions throughout the year. Energy Vault will also contribute to Forum initiatives over the next two years, working with policymakers and private sector leaders to help define the global agenda on key issues.
About WEF Technology Pioneers
2020 Technology Pioneer firms are shaping the future by advancing technologies such as sustainability, AI, IoT, robotics, blockchain, biotechnology and many more. The diversity of these companies extends to their leadership as well, as more than 25 percent of 2020 Technology Pioneers are female led. The firms also come from regions all around the world, extending their community far beyond Silicon Valley.
Technology Pioneers have been selected based on the community’s selection criteria, which includes innovation, impact and leadership, as well as the company’s relevance with the World Economic Forum’s Platforms .
The full list of and information on this year’s Technology Pioneers can be found here . More information on past winners, information on the community and the application link can be found here .
About Energy Vault
Energy Vault is the creator of renewable energy storage products that are transforming the world’s approach to long duration, utility-scale energy storage. Applying conventional physics fundamentals of gravity and potential energy, the system combines an innovative crane design that lifts specially designed, massive composite bricks with a proprietary, cloud-based software platform which orchestrates the storage and discharge of electricity. Utilizing 100 percent eco-friendly materials at unprecedented economics, Energy Vault is accelerating the shift to a fully renewable world.
The company was created at Idealab Studio , the leading technology incubator founded by Bill Gross.
For more information about Energy Vault, please visit energyvault.com and @EnergyVaultInc .
About World Economic Forum
The World Economic Forum, committed to improving the state of the world, is the International Organization for Public-Private Cooperation. The Forum engages the foremost political, business and other leaders of society to shape global, regional and industry agendas. (weforum.org and @wef and @Davos )
About the Global Innovators
The Global Innovators Community is a group of the world’s most promising start-ups and scale-ups that are at the forefront of technological and business model innovation. The World Economic Forum provides the Global Innovators Community with a platform to engage with public- and private-sector leaders and to contribute new solutions to overcome current crises and build future resiliency.
Companies who are invited to become Global Innovators will engage with one or more of the Forum’s Platforms, as relevant, to help define the global agenda on key issues.
View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20200616005363/en/
Link:
Social Media:
About Business Wire
Subscribe to releases from Business Wire
Subscribe to all the latest releases from Business Wire by registering your e-mail address below. You can unsubscribe at any time.
Latest releases from Business Wire
GenNx360 Capital Partners Promotes Pratik Rajeevan to Partner17.6.2026 13:00:00 CEST | Press release
GenNx360 Capital Partners (“GenNx360”), a New York City-based private equity firm investing in U.S. lower middle market industrial services and business services companies, is thrilled to announce the promotion of Pratik Rajeevan to Partner. Pratik has significant transaction experience having invested in over ten platform companies and 30 add-on investments during his tenure at GenNx360. His experience includes investments in aerospace and defense, utility and environmental services, and testing and inspection services. Pratik is a key leader in investments in NVI, Shenandoah, and Aeron in the GenNx360 Fund IV portfolio. Pratik led successful investments and exits in Miller Environmental and Aero3 in GenNx360 Fund III. Most recently, Pratik was responsible for the firm’s $2 billion exit from Precision Aviation Group, a global aerospace and defense maintenance and repair business in GenNx360 Fund IV. “Pratik is a disciplined and thoughtful investor with significant execution capabiliti
Vercel Brings New Agent Framework, Full-Stack Capabilities, and Enterprise Controls to Its Agentic Infrastructure Platform17.6.2026 12:13:00 CEST | Press release
As agents become the primary way software is built and deployed, Vercel connects its frontend, backend, and agent tooling into a single platform for shipping and running agents at scale. Today at Ship, its annual conference, Vercel introduced a set of new products that deepen its agentic infrastructure platform trusted by DoorDash, Helly Hansen, OpenAI, Stripe, and The Weather Company. Founder and CEO Guillermo Rauch and other Vercel leaders unveiled the lineup on stage, anchored by three shifts the products address: agents are now the dominant way software gets deployed, every application is becoming agentic, and enterprises need to run agents in production securely and at scale. The transition is well underway. Six months ago, fewer than three percent of deployments to Vercel infrastructure were triggered by coding agents. Agents now account for more than half. Token volume through Vercel's AI Gateway has grown from roughly two trillion to twenty trillion per month over the same peri
NIQ Introduces NIQ Cadence: A Compound AI Operating System for Marketing Effectiveness17.6.2026 12:00:00 CEST | Press release
One system unifies NIQ’s global data, models, and knowledge so marketers move from insight to impact faster, with deeper intelligence, at scale. NIQ (NYSE: NIQ), a global leader in consumer intelligence, today introduced NIQ Cadence, a compound AI operating system built to change how organizations measure marketing performance, optimize budgets, and act on what the data tells them. NIQ Cadence brings data and intelligence into one continuous environment, moving marketers off fragmented reports and onto a single system that empowers decision making. Marketing has never been more complex. Channels keep multiplying, data sits in silos, and the pressure to prove ROI keeps climbing. As a result, most teams still stitch insight and action together by hand, losing time and confidence at every handoff. NIQ Cadence closes that gap with one system where measurement and decision-making finally run together. “Marketing leaders don’t need more reports. They need a better rhythm,” said Jason Tate, G
Winning With AI Requires Organizational Transformation, Not Speed of Adoption, Finds New Arthur D. Little Report17.6.2026 12:00:00 CEST | Press release
To successfully embrace the power of AI, businesses need to remove organizational complexity and eliminate unnecessary work, rather than simply using it for fragmented, incremental improvements. Boards must act now to deliver this. That is the key message from AI-First or Disrupted: Beating the Nightmare Competitor, a new report from Arthur D. Little (ADL) based on concrete examples from leading organizations. Within three to five years, AI-first competitors will make faster decisions, have flatter organizations, and operate at lower costs. They will not just optimize handovers between teams, approvals, and reconciliation work; they will eliminate these complex processes entirely. AI is completely changing the economics of work and value creation, removing the need for coordination across multiple teams, while also enabling adaptive, predictive, and personalized products and services. This delivers both lower operational costs and a fundamentally stronger value proposition. However, mo
WISE Closes Oversubscribed Series D Financing Round of €30 Million, Welcoming ENEA Tech and Biomedical as Strategic New Investor17.6.2026 12:00:00 CEST | Press release
WISE S.p.A., a pioneering medical device company specializing in advanced implantable electrodes for neuromonitoring, neuromodulation, and brain-computer interface (BCI), today announced the successful closing of an oversubscribed Series D financing round totaling €30 million. The round was joined by ENEA Tech and Biomedical, an Italian foundation dedicated to innovation and technology transfer in the biomedical sector, which enters WISE's investor base as a strategic partner. This final closing builds on the first closing of the round completed in June 2024, which included a venture debt facility from the European Investment Bank (EIB) supported by InvestEU, alongside an equity investment from new investor Wallaby S.p.A. — the family office of the Scagliarini family (GVS S.p.A.) — and existing financial partners New Frontier S.r.l., Eureka Venture SGR, and Indaco Ventures SGR. This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20
In our pressroom you can read all our latest releases, find our press contacts, images, documents and other relevant information about us.
Visit our pressroom