Two days, more than 400 participants and one question: how do we scale up energy retrofits faster? ShiftUp was right in the thick of it at the Energiesprong Festival in Berlin on 7 and 8 September, both in the workshops and on stage.
Day 1: Innovation Day with new ideas for single-family homes
Around 120 invited guests took part in workshops, deep-dive sessions and an innovation market. They worked on standardised product solutions, digitalisation and automation.
ShiftUp was part of the ScaleUp Alliance for single-family homes. Florian Bonert joined fellow innovators from the energy and buildings sector to work out how retrofit solutions can scale more effectively.
Together with Nils Bormann (German Energy Agency, dena), he presented the “Wohlfühlhaus” (“feel-good home”) concept. The idea is that we don’t start by talking about retrofitting at all. Instead, we start with what really matters to people: their needs and their wish to feel comfortable at home. From there, we connect homeowners with local tradespeople in their area.
Day 2: Scaling Summit on the International Stage
On the second day, around 400 participants attended the Scaling Summit. The programme featured expert talks, best-practice examples for multi-family buildings, schools and owner-occupied homes, and discussions on the regulatory framework and market ramp-up.
On the International Stage, Florian Bonert shared lessons learnt from our EU projects:
Mobilising homeowners for energy retrofits: the power of collective projects
His key message was simple: retrofitting together gets you further. Neighbourhoods, local networks and collective projects lower the barriers and build trust. The audience asked lots of questions, and the conversations carried on long after the talk.
Our verdict: what an event!
We look back on two days full of inspiration, exchange and practical solutions. We’re leaving with plenty of new contacts and fresh ideas, and we’re looking forward to putting them into practice.
