Five early to mid-career professionals share why innovation is critical to delivering on nuclear power’s full potential
Innovation can mean different things to different people. For some, it’s all about the breakthrough inventions or new technologies fundamentally changing people’s lives. Others see innovation in the novel processes people follow to come up with and execute new ideas. Still, others understand that innovation can mean taking an idea others have already demonstrated and applying it to their unique situation.
It really doesn’t matter how innovation is defined. A common definition of innovation is less important than recognizing its myriad versions are essential to drive progress. What’s more important is to understand that innovation in its myriad forms drives progress. The role and importance of innovation in the nuclear power industry will take center stage at this year’s Global Forum for Nuclear Innovation (GFNI), a three-day event set to take place in June in Miami, Florida, USA. The aim of the event is both ambitious and simple: to equip participants with the tools, techniques, and mindset necessary to bolster innovation in their organizations and, importantly, to use innovation to turn ambition into action.
The GFNI does this by redefining what an industry event is; after all, an event devoted to innovation must defy expectations and provide practical tools for attendees to take home and apply in their organizations. These tools will “bottle up” the experience at the event and, when “uncorked,” support the actual innovation taking place in the day-to-day work of nuclear professionals around the globe. And there is good news on that front. A new wave of professionals entering the industry brings both a passion for delivering the full potential of nuclear power and an understanding that innovation is a key ingredient to achieving it.
