Earlier this year on the evening of 3 March 2026, IESE’s Energy Club hosted Global Energy Day.
For the past 13 years, the Energy Club has organised this conference to recognise the strategic importance of the energy sector and encourage future leaders to engage with it. This year, we wanted to widen the conversation.
For the marketing campaign, we used this image. It is the first calibrated colour mosaic of Europe’s electricity grid, created from more than 7,000 astronaut photographs, taken from the International Space Station and compiled by the European Space Agency. Each light reflects a system at work. Homes, hospitals, factories, data centres, schools, markets. It is a reminder that energy is not just one sector, but the foundation of every sector. That was the core idea behind Global Energy Day 2026.
Energy is often boxed in as a specialist topic. Something for engineers, policymakers or people already working in the field. However, much of what we study in the MBA at IESE rests on top of energy. Finance, strategy, operations, technology, even something as ordinary as switching on a light depends on a system of generation, storage, transmission, pricing, regulation and political choice.
That is precisely why developments in the energy sector matter so widely. When gas prices move with geopolitical tension, businesses face cost volatility and greater uncertainty. When Europe pours capital into grid infrastructure, it changes the conditions for industrial growth, electrification and long term competitiveness. When technologies such as hydrogen and AI driven optimisation attract investment, they influence where capital flows and which business models gain traction. These are not isolated sector trends. They are forces that shape inflation, resilience, competitiveness and the broader direction of economic growth.
Rather than treating energy as a niche topic, we designed the conference for a broader audience. We reached out to students and professionals interested in private equity, venture capital, investing, responsible business, consulting, entrepreneurship and technology.
Our aim was to show that energy is not relevant only to a small circle of specialists. It sits at the centre of many of the decisions shaping business today.
This broader view of energy shaped Global Energy Day 2026 from the outset. We wanted to frame the sector in a way that felt relevant beyond its usual boundaries, and the breadth of the audience suggested that ambition resonated. We welcomed more than 200 participants, including IESE students, Executive MBAs, alumni, energy professionals, speakers and attendees from other business schools. The range of perspectives in the room reflected the premise behind the evening: energy carries implications far beyond the sector itself. That idea also guided the design of the programme that followed.
Designing the conference
We built a programme that examined the energy shift from several angles. We wanted to move beyond a single sector narrative and instead show the transition as it is: industrial, financial, technological and political all at once.
We brought together companies including S&P Global, Naturgy, Engie, Iberdrola, RWE, BP, AFRY and Qualitas Energy to discuss the system from the perspective of those building, financing and operating it at scale. Across these discussions, the message was clear: the transition is not simply a matter of adding renewables, it involves reworking an entire system while preserving security, affordability and competitiveness.
What gave the evening added force was the way it concluded. This year, we introduced an Energy Tech Startup Showcase. Five startups had 7 minutes to present their business to a commentating VC (Vireo Ventures), which shifted the conversation from system level challenge to targeted innovation. Companies including Splight, Jolt, Wattium, Delfos Energy, and TetraxAI, brought forward a different perspective. What gave this segment its force was the way it picked up the unresolved tensions from the earlier conversations. Issues that can often seem structural or fixed were being tested, challenged and reworked right in front of us.
Earlier sessions had surfaced the structural pressures facing the sector, from grid capacity to fragmented data to capital intensity. The startups picked up those same constraints and showed how they are being addressed in practice through new materials, more intelligent software and adaptive infrastructure. The established players brought scale, operational realism and system perspective while the startups brought speed, agility and innovation. Together, they offered a fuller view of a sector being reshaped from multiple directions.
Behind the conference
An event like this does not come together on its own. Global Energy Day 2026 was led by MBA 2026s Alejandra Borrero Arce, Shubham Anand and I, as Vice Presidents of the Energy Club. Throughout the process, we had the steady support of the Club’s Presidents, Luciana Contreras Artieda and José Javier Villicaña Luna, and the help of an excellent team of first year directors, each of whom contributed in different ways to bring the evening to life.
We are also grateful to IESE and its technical team for their support on the operational side. Their help behind the scenes was indispensable. The same thanks goes to our sponsors, speakers and moderators, who brought insight, candour and generosity to the evening, and to everyone who attended and helped make the conversation as engaged as it was.
It was a collective effort in the truest sense. From operations and marketing to programme design, speaker outreach, moderator coordination, logistics and speeches, there was always another moving part to manage. It demanded time, consistency and a fair amount of composure under pressure. At moments, it was intense. It was also deeply rewarding. Personally, I came away not only with a stronger understanding of the sector, but with friendships I expect to keep for life and conversations with some of the most impressive people in the industry that I will remember for a long time. I am proud of what we built and the people I had the chance to build it with.
Some of the best moments came during the coffee breaks and when the conference commenced with a networking cocktail that ran late into the evening. Conversations continued, opinions were tested, ideas were exchanged and valuable connections were made.
That, perhaps, was the clearest sign that the evening had worked. Global Energy Day set out to show that energy is not a narrow sector concern, but a force that shapes business, investment, competitiveness and daily life alike. The panels and showcases explored that idea. The conversations that followed proved it had landed.
Written by Catherine Dow, MBA Class of 2026
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