New brand a prelude to CIGRE's 2nd century
As CIGRE approaches its second century, the global electricity generation and supply industry is in a state of change. The old linear model of generate, transmit, distribute is transforming into micro grids, distributed generation and much more besides. We are also seeing many other changes driven by decarbonisation and the emergence of renewables, and all the technical challenges that go with these new technologies.
These developments present both a challenge and an opportunity, and to prepare for this network of the future CIGRE has developed a new strategy. As part of this strategy CIGRE is repositioning itself to reach out to all the players within the power system, appealing to a much wider and more diverse audience of people and organisations.
This new positioning was launched in the form of CIGRE’s new brand at the recent Paris Session 47. The release included a new logo, a new online presence and a range of branded communication materials for use by the CIGRE community – including a series of video sequences that tell the story of CIGRE in a contemporary way.
Our new brand is designed to position CIGRE for the future and make it accessible to everyone in our changing industry. This work is underpinned by a series of initiatives within the organisation that are progressively contributing to the changing profile of our membership. These include:
- The focused addition of distribution organisations to CIGRE’s knowledge programme
- “Next generation network (NGN)” activities for professionals new to the industry and CIGRE
- Free student memberships
- Women in engineering forums and initiatives
- A joint venture with the World Bank focused on Africa
As CIGRE moves towards its second century, our new brand and initiatives are preparing us for a future in which the technical expertise of our community will be needed more than ever.
The CIGRE community is committed to the development and sharing of power system expertise for the benefit of everyone within our industry and the communities they serve. We are also committed to growing the young women and men of our own community into the next generation of experts, so that we can continue our history as the authoritative source of power system expertise into our second century.
We are excited about the future and we thank everyone who recently attended the record-breaking Paris Session 47, and if you are not already, we invite you to be a part of our unique global community. Everyone from across the power system is welcome.