At Itron, our top priority continues to be the safety of our customers, partners and employees. Due to increasing uncertainty around the COVID-19 Delta variant, we made the decision to host Itron Inspire virtually. Originally, this year’s Itron Inspire was planned as a hybrid event with both virtual and in-person components.

While it is disappointing that we can’t gather in person, the event will still bring together leaders from across energy, water, industrial IoT (IIoT) and smart communities to exchange ideas that help move our industry forward, especially around pressing matters such as better preparing for natural disasters, managing the influx of renewables and electric vehicles. We have an excellent lineup of speakers and thought leaders including a number of customer lead breakout sessions.

Itron Inspire’s main event, the Knowledge Conference, will take place Oct. 4-6, 2021, and will feature two insightful keynotes, two big picture sessions and 20+ breakout sessions. Here are just a few highlights.

• Todd L. Inlander, SVP and CIO of Southern California Edison and Tom Deitrich, president and CEO of Itron, will kick things off with an opening keynote on the ongoing transformation of our industry, and how leveraging more intelligence throughout the delivery system can lead to more possibilities for innovation and efficiency. During the opening session, I will also unveil the results of this year’s Itron Resourcefulness Insight Report on grid resiliency.
• Hear from Tom Rand, co-founder and managing partner of ArcTern Ventures, during Tuesday’s general session, Trek to Decarbonization. Tom is one of the most creative and courageous public speakers in North America, challenging his audiences to recognize there are concrete solutions to the climate change crisis. Tune in as he takes this enormously complicated issue and reformulates it in a way that presents sound thinking for overcoming the impacts of climate change. Then Kimberly Britton, CEO of EPIcenter, will sit down with Tom for a fireside chat about innovation, decarbonization and the critical conversations we need to have around energy and water.
• During our Women in Utilities session, Denise Thomas, president of The Effective Communication Coach, will share powerful insights to help transform emerging and existing professionals into extraordinary leaders by mastering the art of effective communication.
• Featuring presenters with some of the industry's deepest experience, this year's Big Picture Sessions are sure to give you valuable insights into the future of energy and water management. Topics will focus on grid resilience and reliability and cybersecurity.

Attendees will also be able to dig in on a range of topics in breakout sessions spanning across four themed tracks: applications, outcomes and services; multi-purpose network solutions; mobile and measurement solutions; and data management.

For more information about Itron Inspire 2021, including details on securing a refund for your in-person registration and purchasing a virtual conference pass, please visit www.itron.com/inspire.