Arash Aazami

Arash Aazami is a globally recognized energy futurist, keynote speaker, and Internet of Energy pioneer, widely regarded as one of the foremost international thought leaders in the field of energy transition and renewable energy systems. As founder of Unify.energy and chairman of UniversalRight, he champions a world where every individual has the right to harvest, use, and share nature's abundant renewable energy. Raised in a Dutch-Persian family of development workers in Niger, West Africa, Arash brings a uniquely global perspective to his work. His career began in music — touring Europe and North America as a jazz guitarist in the late 1990s — before he transitioned into online technology, pioneering interactivity and e-commerce. In 2006, he became managing director at a Dutch utility, and in 2010 founded BAS (Beneficial to All Stakeholders), the world's first energy company with an inverted business model designed to earn more as it sells less energy. His groundbreaking Path to Zero business model, enabling energy users to personalize their journey to energy independence, was awarded by MIT in 2014. In 2016, Arash launched the Internet of Energy initiative, merging his expertise in internet technology and energy systems to develop AI-based peer-to-peer energy exchange models, smart grid algorithms, and next-generation self-balancing integrated energy systems — offering structural solutions to grid congestion, energy price volatility, and geopolitical energy dependencies. A Singularity University expert since 2017, he has collaborated with the European Commission, the International Energy Agency (IEA), IRENA, and numerous governments and enterprises across energy, telco, and IT sectors. Arash has delivered hundreds of acclaimed keynotes and workshops at TEDx, SXSW, The Next Web, Tomorrowland, Blockchain Summit, and the Young Presidents Organization, and was personally invited by His Holiness the Dalai Lama in 2022 for a dialogue on energy and climate. He also co-created Europe's largest sustainability conference, the Love Tomorrow Conference, in collaboration with Tomorrowland, and has authored influential publications including From Volume to Value, Smart Multi Commodity Grid, Deltagrid 2050, and the Dutch national policy agenda More than the Sum of all Parts. Named Speaker of the Year 2016, Arash's keynotes are widely acclaimed as insightful, hope-giving, and paradigm-shifting, inspiring future-makers around the world to rethink energy and accelerate the transition to a 100% renewables-based, inclusive, and just energy reality for all.