NEFI at BUILD’n GREEN 2026: Focus on the Energy Transition in Industry

At the international WKÖ event BUILD’n GREEN, around 1,000 participants from more than 70 countries gathered in Vienna on April 28^th, 2026 to discuss sustainable solutions across the entire life cycle in the construction sector – from materials and smart buildings to the circular economy.

As part of Key Topic 2: Planning, Construction & Financing, NEFI hosted the session “Building the Energy Transition: New Energy for Industry, Integrated Heat and Smart Energy Systems in Practice”. The focus was on the move from strategy to implementation and on the concrete solutions that are already a reality today through the interaction of energy systems, industry and infrastructure.

Elena Balbekova (Business Upper Austria) explained how NEFI is actively driving the transformation towards a climate-neutral industry. Simon Moser (Energy Institute at Johannes Kepler University Linz) presented the Future Heat Highway project as an approach to the cross-regional use of industrial waste heat. Robert Schlesinger (LAT Nitrogen Austria) provided insights into the practical implementation of decarbonisation strategies in an industrial environment.

The session made it clear how important integrated energy systems, cross-sector approaches and international cooperation are for a successful energy transition.

Overall, the conference underlined Austria’s role as an internationally sought-after centre of innovation in the field of green tech and provided an important platform for exchange, cooperation and new partnerships.