Jean-Benoit Ritz

Career:

• 2020 Chief Technology Officer, EDF Trading
• 2015 Director of Innovation, Blue Lab and Data, EDF Energy
• 2010 Executive Director R&D UK Centre, EDF Energy
• 2000 Head of R&D Energy Efficiency and Renewable in Buildings, EDF Paris

Jean-Benoit is responsible for Data, Quantitative Engineering, IT and Innovation at EDF Trading.

In his own words…

We are at the beginning of a significant sectoral transformation and innovation is the way to accelerate growth.

What are the biggest technological advancements happening in the energy markets today?

The energy sector is facing a massive shift led by four important trends: decarbonisation, decentralisation, digitalisation and data. The acceleration of these trends in the energy sector is redesigning the energy landscape and the energy market. New technologies related to these trends include renewable energy, storage energy, virtualisation, automation, peer-to-peer, artificial intelligence and machine learning. Our mission is to learn and adapt fast in order to benefit from these new technologies, maintain our competitive advantage and thrive.

Being more data-driven will be the differentiator.

Can you tell us about the value of data and automation?

Data and automation are deeply transforming our sector. Having faster access to various global data, generalising systematic trading and using AI or ML for predictive analytics is opening fantastic opportunities, putting data at the heart of our activities. 

Is innovation in our DNA at EDFT? If so, to what end?

There has never been a better time to innovate at EDFT. We are at the beginning of a significant sectoral transformation and innovation is the way to accelerate growth and change. We’ve created a Centre for Excellence which hosts innovation challenges, encourages new ways of working, promotes teamwork through hackathons and acculturation. We are always testing and learning, making bright ideas a reality and using them to generate value.