From Infrastructure to Impact: Innovating Energy Strategy with Purpose
By Professor Liliana Caimacan
August 14th 2025
When we talk about innovation in energy, we often default to technology: smart meters, EV chargers, apps, or digital dashboards. But as Marisol Garfias Garcia Torres reminded us in her lecture at Hult International Business School, real innovation lies in orchestrating change that’s human, strategic, and globally responsible.
Innovation as Strategy, Not Just Product
In her role at Iberdrola’s Global Business Strategy team, Marisol works at the intersection of massive infrastructure and evolving customer needs. What stood out to me most wasn’t just the scale of her projects, but her holistic approach to impact.
She emphasized that true transformation requires more than digital tools, it needs:
Clear vision aligned to long-term sustainability goals;
Customer-centric design that empowers choice, trust, and transparency;
Collaboration between corporates and startups to bridge speed and scale
These themes resonate deeply with the principles I share in class: innovation without purpose is noise. Strategy without empathy is disconnected. Real change blends systems thinking with human sensitivity.
Customers Want Clarity, Not Just Clean Energy
One of Marisol’s most compelling observations was that energy customers today don’t just want electricity, they want control, simplicity, and meaning. They want bundled offers that make life easier, green choices that don’t require sacrifice, and transparency that builds trust.
This shift challenges traditional energy providers to evolve beyond commodity thinking. As educators, we must prepare students to think not in terms of utility, but of experience, where value is measured not just in kilowatts, but in convenience, confidence, and community.
The Startup Corporate Tension Is a Strength
Marisol also discussed Iberdrola’s PERSEO program, a €200+ million corporate VC fund focused on startup partnerships. What I find most promising about initiatives like this is how they blend the risk tolerance of startups with the scale and stability of legacy players.
Too often, large organizations see startups as external disruptors, rather than strategic extensions of their innovation pipeline. Marisol’s view was refreshingly integrated: partnerships work best when built on mutual value, speed, and shared goals.
This is a lesson I emphasize with students: don’t just pitch to investors or partners, design collaborations that solve real pain points for both sides.
Global Strategy Requires Local Intelligence
From her work in Dubai, Egypt, Spain, and the UK, Marisol underscored the importance of cultural fluency in strategy. Innovation can’t be copy-pasted across markets. It must be grounded in context, responsive to regulation, and aware of human behavior.
As future leaders, our students must learn to lead with both scale and nuance, making strategic decisions that serve systems, while designing locally relevant solutions.
Marisol’s lecture was more than an exploration of the energy sector, it was a powerful case study in how strategy, sustainability, and social impact must converge.
As we prepare the next generation of business leaders, her insights reinforce a truth we return to often at Hult Ashridge Executive Education: Transformation isn’t about technology alone. It’s about people, purpose, and the courage to build across boundaries.
