The writer is the author of ‘Uncharted: How to Navigate the Future’ Years ago, when I ran tech start-ups, I met senior Disney executives to discuss the streaming technology our business was developing. Their politeness failed them quickly. I needed to understand, they insisted, that their precious creative assets were the work of geniuses whose artistry I could never appreciate. They would never deign to allow their masterpieces on to the philistine internet.
Strategy director Sam Peacock says that pursuing a number of potential new technologies provides strategic flexibility. In 2012, a huge investment at Greater Gabbard was, for years, the largest offshore wind farm in the world. That joint venture with RWE Renewables enabled SSE to gain expertise early. This was expensive in the short term but helped the company scale fast when prices began to fall. Today, SSE’s project portfolio includes carbon capture and hydrogen.