Flexens was reinforced by recruiting Mrs. Anna Häger, who will shoulder the role as the company’s communicator. Häger will be in charge of the Smart Energy Åland platform, working with citizen engagement which is key for the project’s success. “My challenge and motivation are to make the science and technology behind our energy cloud feasible, thus invoking citizen engagement. In order for the project to succeed, the citizens of Åland need to be able to relate and feel involved with the project”, says Häger.
Flexens and Smart Energy Åland’s new communicator Anna Häger will initially take on her assignment and responsibilities alongside with her studies in Master of Science in Sustainable Development at Linköping University, Sweden.
– Already during my first year of study, I was passionate about exploring the seemingly endless possibilities that can be found within sustainable and fossil-free energy, says Häger and continues: I pondered on the question of what would be needed from my home island to achieve such a thing, and became fascinated by the idea of island models and their value within sustainable development.
Her research quickly led her to CLIC Innovation and their project: Flexens, which was launched as a company and she then reached out to Flexen’s CEO Berndt Schalin and expressed her interest in starting a career within the company. Häger was also appealed to Flexen’s corporate form, an innovation company, owned by multiple stakeholders within all society levels. Flexens launch of its citizen engagement project and demo-platform, Smart Energy Åland, was right on cue for Häger.
– The project has all the features I am passionate about, not just the aims and goals it sets out to achieve, but how it builds from the perspective of a bottom-up approach with citizen engagement as an indicator whilst also incorporating top-down solutions, making the project interesting from an investors point of view and a dream-come-true for stakeholders within innovation and technology.
Häger will now take on the communication channels, increase awareness of Smart Energy Åland and create the necessary involvement of all stakeholders who are needed to enable the transformation of the energy system. In addition to the work at Flexens and Smart Energy Åland, she will also assist the Åland archipelagic municipality Kökar’s reference group in the EU project Clean Energy for EU Islands.
Häger aims to make science understandable.
– The success for any transformation is communication. By explaining what we call the “Energy Cloud“, to show what it means for all invovled, will enable citizens and stakeholders to engage with the project and from there grant its success, says Häger and continues: A transition to a sustainable energy grid is urgent, and a multiscale transformation requires commitment from all stakeholders in all levels in a society.
