Innovation is no longer the missing piece - deployment is.
Christabel Ofori-Atta
BY CHRISTABEL OFORI-ATTA
“…the pipeline of innovation is stronger than ever.
The challenge is no longer whether solutions exist. The challenge is whether we can deploy and scale them fast enough”.
For years, conversations about Net Zero focused on technologies that did not yet exist, markets that had not yet formed, and business models that were still emerging. That is changing.
Across the UK, we are seeing a growing ecosystem of innovators developing solutions that can decarbonise buildings, unlock flexibility, optimise energy use and improve grid resilience. In doing so, they are also creating jobs, attracting investment and accelerating the transition to a cleaner energy system. From smart building controls and energy management platforms to flexibility services, digital twins, and AI-enabled optimisation tools, the pipeline of innovation is stronger than ever. The challenge is no longer whether solutions exist. The challenge is whether we can deploy and scale them fast enough.
Recent research from Energy Systems Catapult’s Innovating to Net Zero 2026 report highlights the scale of the opportunity. The report estimates that renewable capacity deployment enabled by flexibility technologies and services could unlock at least £70 billion in whole-system cost savings by 2050, while helping the UK manage increasingly complex peaks in electricity and heat demand. Achieving a cleaner, lower-cost energy system will depend not only on generating more clean electricity, but on becoming far smarter about how we use, store and manage energy across the system. This presents a major opportunity for UK innovators.
“Too many promising solutions still struggle to move beyond pilots and demonstrations into widespread commercial deployment. The UK has become very good at proving concepts. We now need to become better at embedding them into everyday infrastructure, buildings, businesses, and communities.”.
But innovation does not happen in isolation. While it is critical, the bigger opportunity now lies in creating the conditions for adoption. Too many promising solutions still struggle to move beyond pilots and demonstrations into widespread commercial deployment. The UK has become very good at proving concepts. We now need to become better at embedding them into everyday infrastructure, buildings, businesses, and communities.
A good example is commercial and public buildings, which account for a significant share of UK energy demand. The technologies needed to significantly reduce emissions from them already exist. Heat pumps, advanced controls, smart energy management systems, onsite generation, storage, and flexibility services are all available today. Yet building decarbonisation remains slower than many hoped.
Why? Because the barriers are rarely technological anymore. They are financial, operational, organisational, and behavioural.
Building owners are balancing competing investment priorities. Facilities managers are focused on maintaining business operations. Tenants and landlords often have different incentives. And many organisations simply lack the time or expertise to navigate an increasingly complex landscape of technologies and funding opportunities. This is where innovation support becomes just as important as innovation itself.
“The UK as shown that it can innovate. The next step is proving that it can deploy at scale. If the past decade has been about demonstrating what is possible, the next decade must be about delivering it”.
Organisations such as Energy Systems Catapult have spent years helping innovators test, validate, and refine solutions in real-world environments. The impact speaks for itself: since 2018, over 421 SMEs supported by the Catapult have secured around £800 million in public and private investment. Yet this remains only a fraction of what will be required to transform the UK's energy system at scale. Increasingly, the focus must shift toward helping more of those businesses reach true commercial maturity — connecting innovators with investors, customers, local authorities, building owners, and network operators who can accelerate adoption. Because the benefits extend far beyond individual buildings. Every smarter building, flexible asset, or optimised energy system contributes to a more resilient electricity network.
As transport, heating, and industry continue to electrify, demand on the grid will grow significantly. Building more infrastructure will be part of the answer. But it cannot be the only answer. We also need to make better use of the infrastructure we already have. That is where innovation can play a transformative role. Flexible buildings can shift demand away from peak periods. Smart energy management systems can reduce unnecessary consumption. Digital tools can help identify where capacity exists and where constraints are emerging. Collectively, these solutions can help reduce network congestion, lower system costs, improve resilience, and support the integration of more renewable generation. In other words, innovation is not just helping individual organisations decarbonise. It is helping the entire energy system operate more efficiently.
Of course, scaling innovation requires collaboration across the ecosystem. Investors, network operators, local authorities, industry, businesses, building owners, policymakers, and innovators all have a role to play in creating the conditions for success. Net Zero will not be delivered by innovation alone. But it will be very difficult to deliver without it. The opportunity now is to connect innovative solutions, scale them and deploy them where they can create the greatest value.
The UK has shown that it can innovate. The next step is proving that it can deploy at scale. If the past decade has been about demonstrating what is possible, the next decade must be about delivering it.
Christabel Ofori-Atta is Senior Modelling Analyst at Energy Systems Catapult.