The Digital Servitization Exchange Podcast
Connecting research and practice in the transformation from products to digital services.
The Digital Servitization Exchange Podast explores how manufacturers create and capture value through services and software. Designed for both researchers and practitioners, the podcast brings together academic insight and industry experience to unpack the concepts, challenges, and opportunities driving digital servitization.
Each episode delves into themes such as service innovations, subscription models, industrial IoT, digital platform ecosystems, and organizational transformation. Rather than focusing on individual voices, the podcast emphasizes relevant topics that matter across domains — offering evidence-based perspectives for academics and actionable ideas for business professionals.
By bridging theory and practice, The Digital Servitization Exchange Podcast provides a space where learning flows both ways: from research to real-world implementation, and from practice back to research.
Ideal for: academics, doctoral researchers, industrial leaders, digital transformation managers, service strategists, and anyone shaping the future of digitally enabled services.
The Digital Servitization Exchange Podcast
#17 From Power Plants to Energy Solutions: E.ON’s Reinvention in Germany’s Energiewende (2010–2025)
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Description
E.ON was once a classic European utility with big power plants, wholesale trading, and mass-market energy supply. Then Germany’s Energiewende changed everything: renewables surged, wholesale prices fell, nuclear phase-out accelerated, and customers became “prosumers.”
In this episode, we unpack how E.ON responded with one of the boldest restructurings in the sector: the 2014 strategy pivot, the 2016 Uniper spin-off, and the post-2019 reshaping after the innogy deal. We trace how E.ON moved from generation-heavy exposure to a model centered on regulated distribution networks, digital infrastructure, and customer solutions—spanning smart metering, energy efficiency, e-mobility, and integrated “energy-as-a-service” offerings for cities and industry.
You’ll hear what changed in E.ON’s capabilities (data, software, partnerships, operating model), what shifted financially (more stable earnings and investment patterns), and what the case reveals about how incumbents can survive—and even lead—during system-wide disruption.
Keywords
E.ON, Energiewende, Germany energy transition, utility transformation, Uniper spin-off, innogy acquisition, energy networks, regulated assets, smart grids, smart meters, energy retail, customer solutions, energy efficiency, distributed energy, e-mobility, EV charging, digital transformation, platform strategy, infrastructure investing, decarbonization, European utilities, corporate strategy case study