Smart Energy: Competitive landscape and collaborative business models

During the recent years several technologies and services based in Internet of Things (IoT) and Machine-to-Machine communications (M2M) have appeared in many different sectors, like healthcare, transport, logistics, media or utilities. When new technologies (like Smart Grid or Smart Energy) appear two types of challenges can be defined: technical and business challenges, therefore innovation has to be applied in both of them. Too often innovation is focus on the technical evolution and underestimated on the business field, however it is a key aspect for new technologies and services to reach commercial success. Traditional business models in the energy sector will suffer big changes in the next years, as the Smart Grid concept is developed. By the advent of new services and applications, horizontal and vertical partnerships with competitors and other actors will take place. In this context collaboration between actors, partnerships and agreements will be of key importance. This paper investigates the different actors involved in a Smart Energy ecosystem, its possible activities and suitable business models for the different Smart Grid building blocks or milestones.