An Aspiring Energy Think Tank for Greece and SE Europe

The Greek Energy Forum was founded and headquartered in London in 2013 as an initiative that sought to establish an international energy think tank, in the form of a nonprofit volunteer association, consisting of Greek energy professionals holding international corporate posts, and sharing a common interest in the broader energy industry in Greece and Southeastern Europe.

Since then, its members have been working towards consolidating the Forum’s objectives, mainly to establish an international platform of ideas and dialogue amongst energy professionals so as to enable change in the energy setting of SE Europe/East Med, to inform investors and public opinion on the latest energy developments and “best practice” examples successfully applied abroad, as well as to propose and communicate energy policy proposals and reforms to governments and decision makers. The Greek Energy Forum, currently holding branch offices in Brussels, Athens, Nicosia, Dubai and Washington DC, holds regular meetings at different international locations in the form of networking events and round-table sessions, panel discussions or presentations, hosting guest speakers who share their views on targeted energy topics and contribute to the open discussion among members. Additionally, the formation of working groups within its member structure results in the publication of articles and opinions papers published across multiple media platforms Last month, the Energy Forum launched a new market intelligence service titled “GEF Reality Check” with the purpose to increase the visibility of fast unfolding developments that currently take place in the regional energy sector and to provide the incentive to the international community to explore potential business opportunities.

Despite the fact that the Forum is quite young, it has already implemented a number of initiatives, aiming to become one of the most promising energy think-tanks. Underpinned by this aspiration and the ideal of “Aien Aristeuein”, the Forum established its first annual Greek Energy Forum Awards ceremony in an attempt to acknowledge individuals and companies that have become a benchmark of excellence, competence, inspiration and innovation in the energy industry. Under the auspices of the Press and Communication Office of the Embassy of Greece in London, the “Energy Awards 2016” was held on May 9th at Cass Business School in London, where the members of GEF awarded representatives from the business sector, academia and research for their outstanding contribution in the field of energy in Greece and the broader area.

The awards panel included amongst its distinguished guests, HE Konstantinos Bikas, Ambassador of Greece to the UK, Mr. Euripides L Evriviades, High Commissioner for the Republic of Cyprus to the UK, Dr. Yannis Maniatis, Member of the Hellenic Parliament, Former Minister of Environment, Energy and Climate Change and Professor Kevin Featherstone, Head of the European Institute, LSE.

George Sakellaris, P.E. Chairman of the Board of Directors President and Chief Executive Officer Ameresco Inc. was the recipient of the award “Greek Energy Influencer”. The company “Corinth Pipeworks” received the award for “energy innovator”, the company Signal Maritime received the Energy StartUp award, while Ms Danae Azaria, Lecturer in Law at the University College in London, received an award for the “Research Project of the Year”, for her monograph Treaties on Transit of Energy via Pipelines and Countermeasures, which was published by Oxford University Press in 2015. For a more detailed view of the awards list visit http://gefenergyawards.eventsadmin.com/i/Awardwinnersbycategory