Ann Robin is a seasoned professional with over two decades of experience in energy efficiency, sustainability, and digitalization within the process industry. As Business Development Director, Industry at Gradyent, she focuses on optimizing industrial steam grids through end-to-end, physics-based Digital Twins, driving efficiency and decarbonization. Previously, Ann played a key role at Arup as Industry Sustainability Manager, where she led the design of Eneco’s sustainable electrification & heat storage solution for PepsiCo, a pioneering project in the Netherlands. She also held leadership positions at Emerson, spearheading digital transformation strategies across Europe. Her expertise spans business development, multidisciplinary project management, and energy transition technologies, with a strong track record in delivering innovative, low-carbon solutions for industrial operations.

Heat accounts for around 50 percent of global energy demand. Heating energy is therefore one of the greatest opportunities for decarbonization worldwide. Transforming heating networks unlocks the potential of low-carbon heat sources such as geothermal and waste heat. But as heating networks transform, they become increasingly complex and require a new approach to control and design. We believe that digitalization and data play a key role in this transformation and that traditional tools for district heating and industrial steam networks are inadequate. Gradyent has developed software based on digital twin technology that combines a digital copy of the entire physical heat system with geographic, weather and sensor data, physics-based models and artificial intelligence. In this way, Gradyent helps to reduce heat losses by up to 15 percent on average, CO2 emissions by up to ten percent and CAPEX by up to 20 percent - while at the same time increasing the reliability of the heat supply for end customers. Gradyent is headquartered in Rotterdam, the Netherlands, and the teams in Berlin and Emsbüren also have many years of expertise in the energy industry and IT, particularly in the DACH region. In total, Gradyent employs more than 80 specialists in energy, data analysis, application development and digital transformation and works together with major cities and district heating companies in Europe - such as Flensburg, Lübeck, Ulm, E.ON, Eneco, Helen (Helsinki), Uniper and Wien Energie.