Higgins CAN is thrilled and exceptionally fortunate to have Eytan Lenko as our guest speaker at our Higgins Candidates Climate Forum at Malvern Town Hall on May 5.
While global warming is the greatest threat facing our existence on this planet, you can hear Eytan explain in person how Australia can thrive by embracing clean Climate solutions as it transitions to a zero-emissions economy.
Australia’s Opportunity
An entrepreneur with an engineering background who has built his career on anticipating waves of technological change, Eytan Lenko has a deep knowledge of the current state of Australia’s energy transition and is passionate about the exceptional opportunity we have to transform our economy in response to Climate Change.
Over the past 25 years, he’s been an innovator and leader across three of the most significant technological disruptions: the advent of the web, mobile technology and the current impetus towards decarbonisation.
Eytan understands the practical challenges businesses face to achieve decarbonisation outcomes in a real-world environment. He is a direct investor and advisor to several ambitious clean-tech companies.
So you can appreciate the expertise Eytan brings to our forum, here is a brief background about his career.
Former Chair Beyond Zero Emissions
Beyond Zero Emissions (BZE) is an Australian based Climate Change solutions think-tank established in 2006 to inspire political leadership and accelerate policy change.
It produces independent economic and public policy research on the transition of advanced economies to a zero emissions model and aims to provide detailed pathways for a rapid transition in each major sector of Australia’s economy.
In 2015, BZE published the Renewable Energy Superpower report proposing that nations such as Australia, which have abundant renewable energy resources, can be the energy superpowers of the renewable energy era. By making the most of its renewable resources, Australia could be the natural home for an energy-intensive industry, given the ever-decreasing cost of renewable technologies.
Eytan left BZE late last year. He made an incredible contribution to BZE during his nine years on the board, the maximum time allowed by BZE’s constitution. He continues to make valuable contributions to the work of Beyond Zero Emissions.
Co-Founder and Director Infrastructure Access Managers
Believing green infrastructure has a critical role to play in the decarbonisation of the global economy, Eytan co-founded Infrastructure Access Managers (IAM) in 2019, along with a committed group of investors, economists and climate advocates.
He saw the Climate crisis offered unprecedented opportunity for economic investment in assets that provide essential services to communities around the globe.
IAM products allow private investors, such as individuals, trusts, self managed superannuation funds and small institutions, to add hard-to-access unlisted infrastructure investment opportunities to their portfolio.
Mentor at EnergyLab
For the past two years Eytan has offered his expertise at EnergyLab, Australia and New Zealand’s largest climate tech startup accelerator and innovation network dedicated to reaching net zero emissions.
EnergyLab connects talented founders to the mentors, advisors, partners, peers and investors they need to succeed through a range of programs and initiatives tailored to overcome the barriers startups face when accessing the technologies and solutions necessary to decarbonise the economy.
The hub has developed three unique programs to give cleantech founders exactly what they need at each stage of their journey:
- Women in Climate and Energy Fellowship
- Climate Solutions Accelerator
- Energy Scaleup Program
Director at Australian Environmental Grantmakers Network (AEGN)
Established in 2009, Australian Environmental Grantmakers Network is a member-based organisation helping philanthropists to become more effective environmental grantmakers. By harnessing the power of philanthropy, AEGN aims to increase the amount of funding to projects protecting Australia’s environment and building a sustainable future in this country.
AEGN’s trusts, foundations and individual donors share a goal of a world in which people and nature thrive.
Co-founder/Director of Outware
Founded in 2009, Outware is one of Australia’s most awarded and fastest growing technology companies which was acquired in 2017 by Melbourne IT. Outware is a leader in mobile software development and has built apps for some of Australia’s biggest brands including ANZ, Google, Visa, AFL and Coles.Eytan and a couple of friends saw the big opportunity in building mobile apps in Australia to meet the needs of corporations. He began coding software apps himself, but the company grew quickly and the small group soon saw the importance of putting their stamp on the culture of the company and defining their vision.