In March 2026, CIOmove will visit Uniper, one of Europe’s most important energy companies, offering CIOs a rare opportunity to experience firsthand how energy transition, growth, and IT transformation come together in practice. During our visit on March 12, participants will gain deep insights into how Uniper is navigating a highly regulated, asset-intensive environment while fundamentally reshaping its IT organization.
Uniper was founded in 2016 as a spin-off from E.ON and today operates across more than 40 countries, employing over 7,000 people worldwide. Headquartered in Düsseldorf, the company plays a central role in Europe’s energy supply and, since late 2022, is majority owned by the German federal government.
Ahead of the event, Uniper CIO Hans Pezold shares how the company’s transformation has reshaped the expectations placed on IT and what CIOs can expect when visiting the Scholven site.
IT as a Growth Enabler in a Regulated Environment
Uniper is investing billions in renewable energy, hydrogen, and new assets while operating critical infrastructure subject to strict regulatory oversight. For IT, this comes with a clear mandate: ensure resilience, enable scalable growth, and deliver measurable performance.
“For us, resilience is more than cybersecurity,” says Pezold. “It means building an IT landscape that can scale with the business – especially as we continuously integrate new assets, projects, and legal entities.”
As a result, IT at Uniper has moved beyond the role of a cost center. Today, it is positioned as a strategic enabler of profitability and transformation, closely aligned with energy trading, power plant operations, and new data-driven business models.
Three Strategic Priorities: Resilience, Performance, Data & AI
Uniper’s current IT agenda is centered around three core priorities:
- Resilience & Modernization: Scalable cloud platforms, regulatory compliance, and operational stability as a “license to operate.”
- Performance & Efficiency: Application consolidation, a stronger focus on strategic partners, and clear contributions to the P&L.
- Data & AI: From predictive maintenance and energy trading to the digital workplace – data is curated, AI is applied pragmatically, and business cases are rigorously measured.
Pezold describes Uniper as a frontrunner in applying AI within the energy sector. At the same time, he emphasizes the need for realism: “Without well-governed data foundations, AI will not deliver on its promises.”
Why This Matters to CIOs
Our event in March will not be a traditional site visit. Instead, it will provide a behind-the-scenes look at a critical industry in transition – one that is unfolding under tight economic constraints and significant organizational change. Participants will experience the complexity of modern energy systems and understand why this mirrors the challenges CIOs face with IT systems: they must appear simple on the surface while remaining highly interconnected, regulated, and mission-critical underneath. The program will include:
- Keynotes from Uniper leadership, including perspectives on IT, data, and transformation
- Insights into energy generation and trading operations
- A keynote by OGE , focusing on critical energy infrastructure, transformation, and how AI could become the game changer of the whole Energy transition
- Discussions on balancing resilience, innovation, and efficiency
- Open exchange in a trusted, off-the-record setting
As Pezold puts it: “As IT professionals we can learn a lot from the energy industry: Plugging into power or logging into IT may seem simple, but both rely on vast, intricate systems working behind the scenes. True simplicity is built on deep complexity.”
And that is exactly why CIOmove brings two worlds together: Uniper and OGE demonstrate how different critical infrastructure can be – and how similar the demands on modern IT organizations have become.
Registration for the event
Please register by sending an email to Claudia Michel.